Sledding is awesome!

You'll have to forgive how far apart my Colorado posts are and will continue to be. I'm getting them up as fast as I can, but I took about 400 pictures, so that will take a while.

On our first full day in Colorado we decided to go hunting for snow. We were all raised in Houston, so we rarely even see snow, let alone get to play in it. The house we stayed in just happened to have a small sled parked in the garage. We loaded it in the car just in case we found a place to use it. It didn't take long:) Our first stop was Loveland Pass.

Here we are just after getting out of the car. Thankfully, we all threw our coats in the back of the car because at this elevation it's COLD! I was struck by how quiet it was up there. All I you could really hear was the wind blowing. At first, we just played around in the snow. Snow is such a novelty to us that just touching it and walking in it was fun! We had a little picnic in the most beautiful setting you can imagine with some of our most favorite people in the world (Adam & Casey). So far, the day was perfect.
Then, we got the idea to try out sledding here. The mountain was secluded and looked safe, so the guys went back to the car to get the sled. Adam went first to try and figure out how a sled works. (None of us had ever ridden one before:) Here he is falling off:


The first patch of snow we slid down was pretty small. This picture gives you some idea of the size. If you look just past the third patch of land you can see where the mountain we were standing on drops off. Since there was a clear stopping point (the bare ground) there was little chance of sliding off the mountain. After Adam and Jeremy tried it out we let the kids have a bunch of turns. They LOVED it, of course.

Each video only lasts about 30 seconds. They're not great quality, since they were taken with my camera and not our video camera, but priceless nonetheless.
Will's ride:

The trek back to the starting point was difficult for the kids. The snow was about 4 feet deep and we weren't exactly prepared with snow shoes. Mallory did her best to help Will, but he usually ended up falling.

Here he is yelling, "Help!"
The hill wasn't that steep. However, the sled worked up a pretty good speed for Mallory which made her a little nervous. Listen to her scream at the end.
Mallory's ride:


I think she liked it!
Next, Casey decides to give it a go. I'm not sure you could actually call this a ride, though ;)
Casey's...uh...ride:


After we all got our fill of sledding down the small hill Adam announced that he wanted to try out the neighboring slope. We all thought he was joking. I forgot to take a picture of the whole slope, although it was so big I'm not sure I could have anyway. This picture was taken with me looking down towards the bottom of the slope. You can see from the way Casey is climbing up just how steep it is. If the picture continued to the left you would see that the slope continues pretty much straight up.It was MASSIVE, very steep and didn't appear to have an easy stopping point. Death was definitely an option. Or even falling off the side of the mountain. Adam was determined, though, so we all just sat and prayed...oh, and videoed.

Adam's death defying Ride



Once Adam proved that it could be done without serious injury, Jeremy just HAD to do it himself. It should be noted that it took a good 20 minutes just to climb up to the starting point of this hill. There wasn't a clear path, so we had to climb over s bunch of big boulders..with the sled dragging behind. Since we were at 12,000 feet breathing also became a little difficult. This picture gives you some idea of how difficult the climb was. Jeremy's just getting started here as he has to walk up to the far right corner of the picture and beyond.
Jeremy's ride:


Not to be outdone by my brother and husband, I got the urge to try it myself. I can't explain how exciting those 30 seconds were. I kind of felt like I was flying, albeit out of control :) If it hadn't taken so much to get to the top, I would have done it all day. Note: I was the first person to make it down without falling off.
Megan's ride:

Casey can ride after all ;) She goes the furthest and doesn't fall off either.

Casey's ride:


Casey's well deserved victory pose

It was exhausting to make that hike to the top and then out of the bottom of the snow bowl. We also had a good size walk back to the car to face. So, after a couple of times sliding down, we were ready to go home. Everyone agreed that it had been an awesome experience, though, and that we would definitely have to do again one day.