Our Holiday Far, Far Away Part 1

 After a year of struggles and trials, our family was ready for vacation immediately at the start of winter break, so we can get away and have some fun. Because our trip is so layered I have split the post into 2 parts. Here are the stats, 4810 miles total 2716 miles on an airplane, 2094 miles in a car. 5 hours and 45 minutes on a plane, 1 hour and 30 minutes of delay, 30 minutes in security, 38 hours in the car, about 2 hours at stops, and too many snacks devoured.

Start of the long ride

We started our trip with a hefty car ride, split into two days. We took 8 hours to get to Amarillo, Texas, and there we took a detour to the Cadillac Ranch, where you're able to spray paint the cars endlessly. we all painted something on the cars and were able to see actually graffiti artists do their thing. We also had dinner at The Big Texan, where they have a challenge if you eat a 72 oz. steak in under an hour, you get the meal free. We didn't attempt it, we instead ordered normal-sized food.

Very yellow wouldn't you say

Who knew that T-rex loves churros?

If you know what this symbol is, you're reading the right books.

On our second day of driving it was a shorter drive to Colorado Springs, but we ended up making a detour in the middle of it at Capulin National Monument, which was an extinct volcano you could drive to the rim of, and hike down the cone. It was at this point we were far enough from Texas where we could actually see and play with snow. It was an interesting experience to hike down into the cone of a volcano, in a jacket and shorts.

It's quite the view 7.000 feet above the ground

In the heart of the volcano

We then made the rest of the way to Colorado Springs, so we could revisit an old friend of ours and our old home. We stopped at our house first and saw the old scenery we used to see every day and our dead plants, which had been butchered by the new homeowners. It was a nostalgic experience to see Colorado again, it just felt like home. We then drove to The Gray's home so we could stop by and have some fun. Recently, Aidan had been in an ATV accident and crushed his pelvis. He was told he couldn't walk again for a while, but when we got there he was up and moving, he even wrestled with us! We played games and talked for a while, but all good things must come to an end, and we had to go up to Denver, so we could settle in at our Grandma's place, and reconnect after a long time.

Oh how I missed you Pikes Peak

You have to be serious first

Then weird out

We stayed until Boxing Day at our grandma's place playing games and watching movies, but of course, our favorite day was Christmas, but we'll get to that.

We arrived on The 22nd late at night, but my Dad and I still had to pick up our ski rentals for skiing the next day. And The 23rd was an eventful day indeed. The plan was to wake up really early, so we could make it to the resort when it opens at 8. It was supposed to take an hour-and-a-half, so we left at 6 in the morning to be safe. We would have to have left at 3:30 to actually make it on time. It took four-and-a-half hours to get there because mixed with very bad traffic, negative temperatures, closed and icy roads, and Colorado drivers equals a long wait. We finally made it at 11 after helping some family out of a snowbank, and Dad's tiny bladder, we could finally put our gear on and attempt to ski. Boy was it cold though, in fact, it was negative 3 and below the whole time, but mixed with the winds, it supposedly felt like negative 30 and below. Us Texans weren't ready for that, because almost as soon as we stepped outside, despite all the layers we had on, we started to freeze. And I did not know how to ski apparently, I even created my own garage sale in the process. We ended up skiing for an hour before our digits started freezing, so unfortunately we left way early, and it took us 5 hours to get back. In fact, we spent more time in the car that day than we did on the first day of driving. 9-and-a-half hours in the car, for one hour of skiing. My Mom's blog has more details on what the rest of them did the whole day because I really don't know.

We ended up getting there, then having lunch in the parking lot

The condensation on the balaclavas froze making them stiff for the time we skied

Christmas Eve was a chillax day, Dad and I were pretty tired from the previous day, so all we did is play some Jackbox games, and watch the new movie Greenland, which kinda freaked Alex out. But we went to bed anticipating Christmas morning.

Christmas Eve Dinner

Christmas morning, the first thing we did is open our presents. I ended up getting a lot of socks and candy along with a game I wanted. After presents, we had our delicious cinnamon rolls and I was surprised by my Uncle Kevin who wanted to give me his Apple Watch because it didn't find much use for it. I was very grateful, because I had always wanted an Apple Watch, and I had lots of fun customizing it to my heart's content. That day we also walked to a nearby park and played before the altitude got to us, and packed our bags for Part 2.