More of the Maroon Bells Campout

I am not going to lie I thought that camping for 3 nights with 3 little kids was going to be torture. But it ended up being a lot of fun. Yes, it was cold. Yes, I didn't sleep very well. But it was beautiful! When the sun came out the weather was perfect. It was nice not having electronics and errands and chores. The kids were really well behaved. I honestly think there were less tantrums than at home. The weather was cold at night but perfect during the day. It snowed the night before we got there and rained the day we left. We could not have timed it better. And it was actually a relaxing vacation.

We left on Monday morning and drove to our campsite at the Silver Queen campsite outside of Aspen. We set up our tent and the camper and then decided we needed to go see the beautiful Maroon Bells. We got really lucky and arrived the day after the first snow which made it even more beautiful. That first night was the coldest. I think it got below 30 degrees. I froze that night. Dan ended up sleeping with Ethan and I slept with the baby. Parker slept all night. We never heard a peep from him. On Tuesday, it was too cold so we loaded up in the Jeep and drove to the Maroon Bells again. Dan wanted to get some pictures with the nice morning light. The lake was surrounded by photographers waiting to get the perfect picture. It was hard to find a spot to take a picture. The kids and I stayed in the warm car and ate breakfast. In the afternoon we drove into Aspen. We got some delicious pizza, walked through the John Denver Memorial park, and walked around downtown. On Wednesday, we spent the morning in the car again because it was so cold. We got some juice and donuts and then went for a drive. We took a short hike towards Cathedral Lake and stopped to see the ghost town of Ashcroft. At night we had a nice roaring fire and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. Thursday morning we took some more pictures of the Bells and then headed home. It was a great trip!

Setting up.

Exploring around the campsite.

Roasting hotdogs.

Hobbes and bear went everywhere with us.

The ghost town.

Sleeping in the camper.

Eating lunch.