Fall in Colorado

From the look of these pictures you would think we had a wonderful day enjoying the aspens and Colorado mountains. The truth is this past Saturday was a series of bad decisions resulting in a 9 hour trip that should have taken around four. Fall in Colorado is beautiful and the yellow aspens are amazing but it is very short lived and you have about a month to enjoy them. I really wanted to go to the mountains and see the aspens before all the leaves are gone. We decided on Saturday to drive to Estes Park and then on into Rocky Mountain National Park. Bad decision #1, we left a little after noon (we should have been in the car about two hours earlier). We then proceeded to drive north to Boulder. Once we were there and sitting in football traffic Andy asked about the directions which led us to bad decision number 2, I had forgotten to bring a map. We pressed on and made our way to Estes Park where we found ourselves smack in the middle of Elk Fest 2008 (this is not a joke, this is a real festival). Trying to avoid the absolute traffic jam in town we took a "detour" also known as bad decision #3. The "detour" turned into about a 20 minute drive in the wrong direction, complete with pulling over on the side of the road to feed Edward. An hour later we were back in town, back in traffic and determined to make it into Rocky Mountain National Park. Of course it started to rain as were pulling into the entrance but we were determined to press on and paid our $20 entrance fee. Once we made it into the park we were awed by the aspens and actually began to enjoy ourselves. We walked around Bear Lake and took in the views, snapped some pictures and then warmed up in the car. This is where we made our 4th and final bad decision. We thought that as long as we were in the park (and had paid $20 to get in) we should see as much as possible. So we decided to drive all the way through the park and take a different route home. It should have taken about one hour more than going back the way we came. We way underestimated the time it took to drive the windy moutain roads. We also understimated Edward's patience in the car seat. Two hours later with Edward crying the whole time we were still in the park just praying we would make it out. The rest of the drive home a mission to get back with our sanity and before Edward had a second meltdown. We pulled into the garage at about 9:30. The question we asked ourselves- Was it worth it? Look at that smile on Edward's face.