And then there were six!

Colorado Springs, CO

The big event of the day was our reunion with Jared in Estes Park. We hadn't seen him since he left on May 26 (5 weeks ago) for his summer job and in that time has gotten a nice tan, broken his wrist, and grown to LOVE Colorado! He has a whole new list of life-goals now, most of which involve climbing mountains and visiting national parks--not bad ambitions for a 19-year-old. After picking him up and looking around the YMCA of the Rockies, we headed over to Fort Collins (had a quick lunch in Estes Park first) for Jared's doctor appointment. His old cast was removed, and they gave him a new, neon orange/pink waterproof cast to wear for 2 more weeks.

From there we headed South through Denver back to Colorado Springs. We had saved some of the big attractions in this city to see with Jared, so our first stop this evening was the Garden of the Gods National Natural Landmark. We walked around the red rock formations at sunset for a couple of hours, enjoying some good family time. Then we went to Zio's Italian Kitchen for a delicious late dinner. Finally, we checked in to our Fairfield hotel--the same one we had been at earlier in the week--at about 10:00 p.m. We've decided not to stay here tomorrow night as previously planned, as the only thing we have to do in Co. Springs tomorrow is Pike's Peak in the morning. So we'll move on back to the Denver/Golden area instead where there's still lots more we'd like to see.