Johnson Family

In late June, Holli, Ben, David and I headed out for our 3rd annual summer adventure. This year's destination: COLORADO! We left little Levi in good hands with Grandma and Grandpa and headed in our brand new (rented) mini-van west! Boy, Iowa and Nebraska are LLLOOOONNNNGGGG states! :)

Anyhow, first stop: Rockie Mountain National Park (pictured at right). We camped, hiked some beautiful places, and shopped in Estes Park, a town outside the national park.

Next stop: Aunt Jennifer's and Uncle Jim's palace in Denver! We were greeted warmly by the Berry clan with open arms, rides in Jim's brand new Mustang, and fresh burritos! We enjoyed the evening with Jim, Jennifer, Jimmy, Jen, Marnie, Chris, and Holli's aunt Venetta and uncle Gary!

The next morning, we were to do a very early morning hike up a 14er (14,000 foot mountain...I didn't know either). However, poor Holli had suffered through the night with a horrible case of something nasty, so I happily stayed home with her (enjoying needed sleep and great conversation with Jennifer and Jim). As you can see from the pic, Ben, David, Jimmy and Jen made it atop Mt. Democrat, quite a thrill for our Michigan adventure-seekers!

Then, we headed south to Durango where we road the Silverton train through the mountains, white water rafted through the Animas River, camped, stayed 2 nights in a bed and breakfast owned by an Austrian chef (great French toast!!), and visited Messa Verde which are cliff dwellings built into the sides of mountains by Pueblo Indians many years ago (pic below).

We made it home 8 days later, safe and sound (with a small crack in the windshield...dumb rocks) and happily re-greeted our little guy who after a moment of a strange and confused look offered us the following grin:

It was a great trip, but it's good to come home!