Vacation: Colorado; Budget, Meals, and Reviews

Meal Planning, each meal served 4 adults and 2 children

Breakfasts:
Biscuits and Gravy - 24 biscuits cooked in a dutch oven over the fire. (I could have made less but parts of some were inedible)
3 pkgs instant gravy (6 cups) and 1 roll of sausage

Skillet Scramble - 12 eggs, 2 cups Wright bacon pieces, 8 oz cream cheese, shredded cheddar cheese

Pancakes - Hungry Jack -just add water pancake mix (I made the entire box)

Instant Oatmeal

Power Bars (on hiking mornings)

Lunches:
Power Bars

Lunchmeat Sandwiches
chips

PB & J
chips

NOTE: at the high altitude bread goes stale in minutes. Seal sandwiches in bags if you aren't eating immediately and seal your bread bags well so you don't come back to a brick.


Dinners:
Tacos - Pre cooked and seasoned meat, frozen and reheated on the camp stove
tortillas or individual frito bags for walking tacos
desired toppings

Skillet Dinner - Polish Sausage, a 64oz can of greenbeans, a jar of sauerkraut, an apple, and some brown sugar, all heated on camp stove

Salsbury Steak - Pre formed 1/3 pound patties at home. Two per person. Cooked in skillet on camp stove
Served with instant potatoes and gravy, also cooked on camp stove

Chili - left over taco meat, a can each of dark kidney, kidney, and pinto beans, and a can of crushed tomatoes heated over the camp fire with all the regular chili seasonings added
chips
sour cream
cheese

Shish Kabobs
Teriyaki marinade, beef cubes, bell peppers, onions, zucchini, pineapple and onions cooked over the camp fire
Rice cooked on the camp stove

Hot Dogs - 12 hot dogs cooked over the fire, buns and desired toppings
individual chips served as a side

Snacks:
Peanut M&M's
Larabars
Lunabars
Brookside fruit and nut bars
Roasted chick peas
Apples
Bananas

Overall Review: Amazing as expected

Weather: I was surprised how hot it was. During the day we saw temps as high as 80 a few days although each night it would dip well into the 40's. I hadn't packed clothing for that warm of weather so the girls had to re wear their only t-shirts during the warm part of the day before bundling up in several layers to get through the night.

Camp Review; Mary's Lake:
Perfect campground. The location is nice. Very close to the Park entrance which is convenient.
They have showers which are affordable ($2.00 for 6 minutes) and laundry at the camp office/store. The items in the store are very steeply price so be sure you've packed all the ingredients you need.
There is drinking water near the camp store so bring a drink cooler and fill as you need.
The camp store also sells ice, very reasonably priced, for packing and repacking your cooler.
My very favorite things about Mary's Lake camp ground is the dish washing facility. It's located on the outside of the bathrooms and has nice hot water. It is a single sink so you still need a dishpan for washing or rinsing as to not waste a ton of water.
The campground has a very nice play ground and pool.

Camp Review; Pinion Flats Campground:
The campsites here are packed in closely but you still feel secluded as each campsite has a stone wall around it with a few trees between you and the next site.
Showers: NO
Bathrooms are decent but don't have soap so bring germX.
There is a "dish washing station" located at the bathrooms but it doesn't have hot water so isn't much of a dish washing station in my opinion. You could just use it as running water and go heat it over your fire, I suppose.
There is no camp store or information site at this camp. There are camp hosts who have signs at their campers so you could ask them questions if you had them.

Park Review; Rocky Mountain National Park
The park has a few visitor centers although I only went into the Alpine one. Wesley went to the Fall River Visitor Center and did pick up a few maps and received helpful information. I enjoyed the Alpine Visitor Center and did some souvenir shopping and coffee buying there.
The park has many many trails, trail heads, and just lots of beautiful scenery.
I definitely would recommend the seasonal Old Fall River Road.
We hiked the Alpine Ridge Trail, which I enjoyed a lot, its a short hike and relatively easy.
We started at the Bear Lake Trailhead and hiked to Alberta Falls then on to Mills Lake. Its a well maintained trail that covers lots of different terrain. I'd put it at a moderate hike. Lots of Aspen groves which are beautiful.
Our last hike we started from Milner Pass. Poudre Lake had lots of wildlife around it. the hike is along the Continental Divide so it allows for a lot of breath taking views.

Park Review; Great Sand Dunes National Preserve
Pinion Flats Campground is located in the park which we find very convenient.
The Visitor Center is very informative and well kept. The gift shop in it has several nice items ranging from a variety of prices.
The Dunes are very neat. You can wander as you want, hike, roll, we even saw people skiing and sledding. They're just a lot of fun. It is very cold out on them in the morning before the sun reaches you but the instant the sun does reach you you will start sweating and feel the sand warm beneath your feet before it starts cooking. Thankfully you can always dig yourself in a little and find cool sand once again.

Restaurant Review; The Egg & I:
Well run, busy little place. The management/staff were very friendly with our kids, they brought an entire lunchbox of toys with as they sat us.
We all enjoyed our food and found the prices reasonable.
We purchased their house made hot sauce as a gift for my dad. It's not very spicy but pleasantly jalapeno-y.

Restaurant Review; Poppy's Pizza and Grill
They have several different variety of pizza's. It reminded me a lot of the pizza I grew up eating as its much the same style as my mom makes: the crust isn't thick but it's not cracker thin and crunchy, heavy on the cheese as well as the rest of the toppings. It was very filling and although a little expensive for a group you are definitely getting your money's worth of ingredients; its a solid pizza. We ordered their olives as an appetizer and they were very enjoyable and only $3 for about half a pint jar full.

Restaurant Review; The Golden Burro
The history of this place in neat and the food is fine. They have a lot on their menu and I chose the Burro Bowl; a heap of mashed potatoes with corn and fried chicken pieces smothered in gravy, it was pregnant lady paradise and was plenty to feed me for $7.
They aren't very kid friendly although they do have a reasonable kids menu.
Overall I would probably only visit here again because of the nostalgia of it being the site of Wesley's and my first date.

Budget:
Camp;
Mary's Lake Camp Ground - $150 for 5 nights
Pinion Flats Camp - $20 for 1 night

Groceries - $300

Prepared Food - $150

Coffee Stops - $15

Vehicle Park Pass - $30

Souvenirs - $152 or as little as you chose to make it
[3 adult t-shirts, 2 kids t-shirts, hat, 2 coffee mugs, and stuffed animal]

Gas - $90 - 3 fill ups in Colorado [We got "free" gas through Kansas]

Trip Total = $907

Keep in mind the food quantities would have been different for a different group. We were traveling with 4 adults and two children.

And there you have it, my most detailed break down of a trip, or the most detailed I can come up with at 1:15 AM.. I'm really trying to get back into this blogging thing, working it in around life ;)

I hope this inspires you to plan a trip. It really can be affordable and the memories will be worth it!
~Haley

Vacation: Colorado Adventure

This trip is so near and dear to my heart. As many of you may recall, on the original "Grand Adventure" I took to Colorado with a group of amazing friends is when Wesley proposed to me. Here is our entire story if you haven't but would like to read it. And here is where you can find a few pictures and sappiness about the original trip.

This years Colorado trip came about because there was not going to be room for us in the beach house on our annual Smith Family Holden Beach vacation. We still wanted to have an adventure, though, so Wesley got to work planning a trip. He booked campsites months in advance and as the dates got closer I did a lot of list making, packing, food planning, and buying.
Two of Wesley's brothers, Lemuel and Gabe joined us on the trip.

We headed out on a Friday evening, Wesley driving his car with the girls, I, and our clothing, and, Lemuel and Gabe in Lemuel's Expedition packed to the brim with all of our camping supplies. I had big plans. I went all out. We brought our market canopy, a folding table, and camp stove so I could set up (well, so the guys could set up for me) a nice kitchen area. We had our tents, our sleeping bags, lots and lots of blankets. Folding chairs for relaxing at camp. The Pack and Play in case Eowyn needed containment at camp. A few weeks prior to the trip I had nabbed two framed hiking carriers from a resale site for really good prices; those things don't collapse for great packing though, they took up a lot of room. I brought my BOB jogging stroller, that thing is huge and doesn't pack very compactly either. You get the picture, I brought a lot, it's a good thing Lemuel's vehicle is spacious.

We drove through the night, stopping several times for Jerusha to go potty, a few times for coffee and snacks, and once to try and nap. We arrived in Estes Park, Colorado at Mary's Lake Campgrounds about 2 MT and set up camp before the guys all crashed and I attempted to entertain the not exhausted girls.

Our first night at camp I heated up taco meat I had made and frozen ahead of time for dinner. I served it with the option of tortilla's or individual bags of fritos for 'Walking Taco's'.

DAY 1, SUNDAY
Sunday morning I fixed Biscuits and Gravy over the fire. Some of the biscuits got a lot well done but we broke off the burnt outsides and the inside was still good, the other two batches I made turned out quite a bit better.
After our breakfast was eaten and the dishes washed we headed out to drive around Rocky Mountain National Park. We chose a one way seasonal road for our adventure and it was beautiful. There were switch backs that were pretty tight, drop offs that you just tried to ignore, and a few spots for stopping to get out and take in the amazing views. We drove up the the Alpine Trail where we got out and hiked to the top. The guys had some trouble with adjusting to the altitude and carrying 25-35 pounds of girls on their backs. I was pleasantly surprised with how well my pregnant self was adjusting and didn't find the air or hike difficult to handle. The views from the top were beautiful and amazing. You're going to find I'll use those two words a lot in this post.
Sunday afternoon Wesley and I took the girls to the Campgrounds pool where they enjoyed swimming.
For dinner Sunday I fixed Sausages, Sauerkraut, and Green Beans on the camp stove. After dinner we drove down to Estes Park and found some public parking so we could walk around and explore. We went to lots of shops and had some Ice Cream.

DAY 2, MONDAY
Monday morning I fixed a skillet full of bacon, eggs, cream cheese, and cheddar cheese all scrambled together. After clean up we drove into the Park to the Alberta Falls and Mill Lake trails. We were trying to acclimate. If I remember correctly it was only about a 4 mile round trip hike. We took it relatively slowly, stopped a few times so I could take Jerusha off into the woods to pee.. stopped for snacks, drinks, and picture taking but made it to Mill Lake in good time. This is a hike we had done before so it was cool to see the few things that had changed and try to remember what was up ahead.
After our hike we drove back to camp and I started dinner. I had premade Salsburry Steaks so I cooked them in a skillet on the camp stove and made a pot of instant potatoes. I also used instant gravy packets. Although the meal had "fake" aspects it is one I am most proud of and enjoyed the most.

DAY 3, TUESDAY
Tuesday morning we left camp at 5 and headed into the Park to get to the Mt. Ida trail head. On our drive in we saw a lot of elk herds and as we began our hike we saw a moose and some mountain sheep. We were pretty bundled up and the girls were pretty sleepy as we started our hike. Wesley carried Jerusha and Lemuel Eowyn while I led the way for the most part. The hike was beautiful. The area was unlike any of the other trails we'd hiked in Colorado. More romantic I'd say. Lots of bright lush green moss, tall thick pines, and a few boulders scattered here and there throughout the woods. The first part of the hike was the toughest for me, I just wanted to make it above the tree line. It was also very steep but there were quite a few sets of stone or log "stairs" which I found to be easy while the stride was harder on the guys with longer legs. We made it above the tree line and to a knoll where we could look out and see forever in most directions. I knew Wesley was wearing out but I really wanted to keep pressing onward. The altitude and additional weight of Jerusha were zapping his energy very quickly. We saw several Deer and lots of Marmots. The mountain was beautiful, astounding, I loved looking ahead and seeing this faint dirt path leading for as far as the eye could see, steadily winding its way around hills and always upwards. It just was so inspiring and fulfilling to me. I know God is in the deepest valley and throughout all His creation but when I am up in the mountains looking ahead at a path it is all so metaphorical and, in some way, closer to God.
We did end up turning around and heading back having made it a little over half way to the summit. It was hard for me to accept defeat as I was actually feeling really well in spite of being lazy all summer and being pregnant but I understood that we needed to. When we did make it back to the trail head and load up I had to drive back as Wesley was feeling very sick. We went into Estes Park for lunch at The Egg and I, trip advisors top rated restaurant, which all but Wesley enjoyed. His sickness continued to worsen and lasted for the rest of the day. He had all the typical signs of altitude sickness so he rested most of the afternoon and gave up the plan he and Lemuel had of leaving the girls, Gabe, and I at camp the following day so they could summit Longs, another fourteener.
Dinner that night was Chili cooked over the camp fire.

DAY 4, WEDNESDAY
Lemuel went ahead by himself to attempt Long's Wednesday morning while the rest of us stayed at camp. When I got up to start pancakes Gabe pointed out some Elk nearby. Wesley and the girls got up to see them and it delayed breakfast by quiet a bit. They wandered throughout the camp grounds and eventually right through our own campsite. They are massive animals but reminded me of cows in demeanor. They just bumbled along, not very graceful or thought out looking.
Finally I got to start the pancakes but by then I had waited entirely too long to eat. Wednesday was my most pregnant feeling day. I was glad we didn't have much planned as I was awfully slow and kept having the stop to rest and snack.
After breakfast I took all of the dirty laundry to the camp store where I hung out for about two hours, spending $12 washing and drying three loads.
Lemuel made it back but hadn't been able to find the trail to the summit but did hike to the lake at the bottom and had some neat pictures to show us.
Eventually we headed into Estes Park for lunch and to do our souvenir shopping. We ate at a pretty snazzy pizza place then wandered around. Wesley got a t-shirt, I got a hat (I have yet to find Maternity souvenir clothing;)). and we got the girls each a t-shirt as well as a stuffed-animal Elk.
I had to go grocery shopping for dinner items and the foods we'd need for the next leg of our trip.
Dinner this night was Rice (which did not cook in a timely fashion as I failed to realize my pot lid wasn't snug enough so all the water was just evaporating instead of soaking in), and Teriyaki marinaded Shish Kabobs. I had premixed the dry and wet ingredients separately so once back to camp I combined them along with the beef cubes, veggies, and canned pineapple I had bought. They turned out really well cooked over the fire.

Swinging at camps playground :)

DAY 5, THURSDAY
This day was pretty special for me. On our previous Colorado trip, Leadville, is the closest town to where we had stayed when hiking and summiting Mt. Elbert so it is a tiny little town that will always hold a special place in my heart. Well, it was going to be a bit out of our way but Wesley routed it in so we could revisit it along with the site of our first actual date.
After packing up all of our camp and heading out we drove through a very windy, hilly, section of Colorado and made it to Leadville by lunch time. We did some more souvenir shopping, it was probably goofy of me but I wanted to get matching Leadville t-shirts, just as we had 4 years ago. Wesley also asked me to help him pick out a meaningful piece of jewelry from one of the shops as an anniversary gift. He is the most thoughtful..
We ate lunch at The Golden Burro then followed it up by a stop at a coffee shop we had also visited 4 years prior.
Back on the road we drove through what is probably my favorite area in Colorado. Rolling foothills with boulders, streams, and lush pastures, all over shadowed by inspiring mountains rising to the clouds.
Then we got to the flat boring part arriving at Great Sand Dunes National Park about 5. We set up camp then walked to the dunes. Jerusha really loved them, Eowyn tried to eat them. They were as cool as I remembered. We walked back to camp and had hot dogs and I started a Berry Cobbler. It rained before that had finished but thankfully not enough to put out the coals so it did keep cooking. We sat in the tent with the girls while it rained, reading books by flashlight lantern.
The most amazing part of the sand dunes are the stars but I'm disappointed to report that our night there it was cloudy. The area is so far out it is unadulterated by light pollution and we were really hoping the forecast would change.

DAY 6, FRIDAY
Our plan had been to stay an additional night at the Sand Dunes but as the weather wasn't looking likely to improve, after a breakfast of bacon, eggs, cream cheese, and cheddar cheese scramble along with left over cobbler, we headed back out to the dunes for some last-time fun before starting the drive back towards home.
We drove for nine or ten hours through the most boring destitute part of Colorado I can imagine exists. We made it into Kansas and got KFC before checking into a hotel for the night. With Wesley's job he earns a lot of reward points so we were able to stay for free.

DAY 7, SATURDAY
We enjoyed the continental hotel breakfast before continuing on our way home. We arrived around 7 and managed to get everything unloaded, a few things put away, and visit a tiny bit with family before shutting ourselves in and crashing.


Our trip was amazing, it was nearly everything I'd hoped it would be. I am so blessed to have a husband who always makes taking adventures and creating life long lasting memories a priority; having toddlers hasn't stopped us, expecting a baby didn't stop us, at this point I don't imagine anything can. It is a blessing I cherish as I know it is easy to find reasons to stay at home but trust me, adventures can be taken and memories made on a very reasonable budget and they are oh, so worth the investment.

I hope you enjoyed this trip with us to Colorado as much as I enjoyed reliving it in the compiling of this post!
~Haley

There will be a follow up post with budgeting, detailed meal plan, and reviews of our experiences.

Vacation - Upper Peninsula, Michigan

(I had this in drafts for quite a while, waiting to organize pictures for it.)

This is a trip I have always dreamed of taking. Prior to marriage my family had talked about doing it but it had never happened.
Last year Wesley and I started working on some mapping, planning to take the trip ourselves at some point in time. That got the ball rolling. We were looking into camp sites and multiple hiking/area's to visit but as we started our planning my family joined in on the idea and with such a large group and so many littles we switched to looking for a rental cabin(s) or house.

About eight months ago we found and booked a house. It was right on a river that spilled out into Lake Superior, within view of the houses back porch.

It was quite the adventure. On Friday morning (much later than my itinerary planned for;)) my family picked my girls and I up. Wesley was working enroute to Michigan so the weekend before we had packed all of our things into his car so he could drive up straight from work. We drove until we arrived where Wesley was working and the girls and I switched over to riding with him.

First stop was to visit my grandparents in the mitten of Michigan. We spent the evening and night there before heading off in the morning for the UP.

Our stay in the UP was much of what I had hoped and dreamed of. We spent a few warmer afternoons at a public beach access about a mile from the house. We didn't have to fight for beach front as the weather isn't really worthy of swimming. My siblings all swam, as did Jerusha and Wesley, but, I never ventured beyond wading. I would sit in the surf and collect rocks or sit under an umbrella reading..
A lot of fishing went on but not a whole lot of catching. Wesley did catch a nice large Pike, I unfortunately don't have a picture of it though. I was very excited for him but mainly because I had gotten him a rod and reel and some gear for his birthday this year and I was happy it hadn't been a wasted gift.
One day most of the guys went on a charter fishing boat and combined with the few caught from the river we had a good fish fry on our last night there.
We went to the town of Marquette a few times and discovered a lovely shop, Donkers, that had a restaurant upstairs which served very good food, and an ice cream and chocolate shop on the main floor. We didn't try any of their chocolates as we found them to be quite pricey, but, they did look delicious. I can tell you, however, that their ice cream was incredible. We went there a couple times and tried a few different flavors. We had a specialty sundae on one of our visits and it was the best sundae I've ever had the pleasure of eating. I liked the place so well that I even purchased one of their shirts as my trip souvenir.
One day we went to Pictured Rock National Lakeshore and hiked a mile and a half to get to the shore. There were many times I questioned if it would be worth it, or if I would even make it there alive as my bottle of mosquito spray was quickly disappearing; well, we made it and it was worth it. The water was a little warmer in this area, my guess would be that the rocks hold the heat better. All of the kids swam and climbed all over. I explored a bit and got to enjoy some beautiful shoreline that I'd always wanted to see. Where we were the rocks weren't particularly colorful, as they're known to be in other sections of the Park, but they still were amazing.
A couple days into our stay my oldest sister, her husband, and children decided to drive up and join us. It was fun to visit with them and watch the kids all interact as we don't often get to spend much time together.
We created "teams" for the cooking, cleaning, and laundry chores and for the most part everyone pulled their weight. We definitely ate well the entire week.

the view from our houses porch

finally! Lake Superior!!

Pictured Rock National Lakeshore

Jerusha climbing around and exploring

Our little family all strapped in for the hike back. Both girls promptly fell asleep.. It made it easier for me but not for Wesley..

On our last evening Wesley and I canoed our girls out to Lake Superior for one last hurrah

heading back

 I'm so sorry it has taken me nearly two months to get this post up, I have had trouble getting blogger to work on my phone and rarely have energy to do anything on my computer once the girls are put to bed. I hope you enjoyed a glimpse of our vacation, even if it is incredibly late.

{Foodie Post No.11} Teriyaki Marinade

This was a childhood favorite. It is actually one of the first things I remember "helping" to make with my mom. It was one of those "Here, stir this" scenarios where it is nearly mess free and your toddler feels helpful, now, as a mom, I'm an expert at finding those sorts of jobs around the kitchen ;)

This recipe works great on a variety of meats and veggies but on this particular day I chose chicken, zucchini, pineapple, and onions.

I took a lot of pictures, feel free to scroll to the bottom for the recipe.

I didn't make a ton of marinade so I soaked the chicken over night and then just soaked each veggie option for about ten minutes prior to cooking.

In the back you may notice the pan of "sauce". Not everyone may be comfortable with this idea but I simply boiled the used marinade for a few minutes, trusting that to 'cook' chicken particles and it thickened it a little, as well.

TERIYAKI MARINADE
1 c. firmly packed brown sugar
2/3 c. ketchup
2/3 c. vinegar
1/2 c. soy sauce
1/2 c. vegetable oil
5-6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tsp. freshly grated or ground ginger

SHISH KABOBS
Choose your favorite combinations
Pineapple, fresh or canned
Mushrooms (puking face)
Onions
Bell Peppers
Cherry Tomatoes
Zucchini or Summer Squash

Chicken
Beef

Prepare vegetables and meat; place in marinade. Allow to marinade overnight. (Or for however long you have before dinner time ;))
Skewer marinated ingredients. Grill or broil to desired doneness, brush with marinade during cooking.
If desired place remaining marinade in a sauce pan and boil for several minutes until it begins to thicken. Serve over rice with your shish kabobs.