Uno Carrera de los Muertos 5K 2019 (Hydraulics)

Carrera de los Muertos 5K (3.15 miles)

Let's not talk about pace this time ...

I ran this race three years ago, on it's 10th anniversary.

Three years isn't so long ... or at least, it doesn't seem like it ... until you revisit the recap photos from that year:

OMG my baby!!  How has he gotten so big?!

Just for reference, a similarly skeleton clad photo from Halloween this year:

Ah!  I miss my cute, squishy mushy baby.  But he's sure fun to hang out with now, too, when he can tell me stories and funny jokes.  Plus there's the no diapers thing.  Trade offs ...

Anyway, this is a race recap.  Not a mom post.  Moving on ...

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As I mentioned in my previous race recap, since I enjoyed this race in 2016, I decided to use the 2019 version as a motivator to get me back into running.  Because what better than skeletons and a post Halloween trip to Chicago to get me motivated, right?!

Beyond the excellent race swag, what I remembered liking about this race held true in 2019 as well - a festive pre race atmosphere, a unique cultural immersion, and beautiful artwork on course.

New to this year (or at least, I didn't see this in 2016), a SUPER SWEET hydraulics car display.

Note: this car drove away post race honking its horn, and yes - it played La Cucaracha.

Other items to add into the plus column for this race: an on time race start, well organized race corrals (though, plenty of people thought they could "walk" a 10 minute mile, so there's that ... but race organizers can't fix stupid), and even an on site cotton candy vendor!!!

Not going to lie, I was VERY tempted to purchase a bag to bring back to the hotel for my son.  But ... Halloween literally JUST happened a little over 24 hours prior.

I think that's plenty of candy for a three year old, no?!

In addition to other positive race attributes for this 5K, there's also the AMAZING placement awards.  While I'll never likely qualify for these skulls, I can still admire them ... right?!

Ugh - I do have to say, I'm never so jealous of fast runners as I am at this race.

Oh - and what else served as a good motivator for me to get back into running shape for this race?  Getting someone else to do this with me so we're both holding each other accountable, of course!! 

Since my sister is usually game for my shenanigans, together we committed to training for this race ... though we totally spaced and didn't take any photos together to document the experience.  And even though I held back this recap about 2 weeks to allow for race day photos to be published, still no luck.  DAMN!  Oh well.

Speaking of race down sides - though the race had plenty of positives as mentioned above, there were a few negatives as well.

The biggest negative was no packet pickup in the days most immediately prior to the race.  I was very confused by this - how is an out of town runner supposed to pick up their bib and shirt when the only dates available for pickup are the Saturday, Sunday and Monday the weekend BEFORE the race?!

Other negatives for this race were a general lack of organization and communication.  Using the above as an example - notice the address for packet pickup is the same for both pre race and race day?  Yeah ... that's very wrong.  Pre race pickup was at a local run shop, but same day pickup was at the school hosting the race.  Two totally separate addresses roughly a mile apart.  I actually messaged race organizers directly about this twice before they realized the error and fixed it.  Which means that all their social media posts for the weeks prior to the race, and the e-blasts for pickup reminder ... were all wrong.  Oops.

Another example of the lack of organization paired well (or rather, poorly) with this race day packet pickup issue.  Because if you're expecting a fair percentage of your runners to pick up their shirts just prior to running ... you'd think runners might want to know where bag drop is, right?  I mean, I myself don't particularly enjoy being a pack mule ...

When I asked at check in where the bag drop tent was, I got a deer in the headlights look and a "Uh ... I don't think we have one, sorry."

Good thing I was really motivated to not run with an extra jacket, a race shirt, and a reusable bag I brought along for bag drop ... which I discovered I didn't need to bring.  After a lot of aimless wandering, I finally found the "GEAR CHECK" tent, where they were providing clear bags for drop off.  (And yes, when I found the bag drop area, I explained to them the confusion at check-in.  I was answered with a very peppy "got it!" and a girl ran off to take care of the issue for others.)

Honestly, the minor negatives of a forced race day packet pickup and a slight feeling of disorganization from event planners isn't enough for me to take issue with this race.  So, I won't get too hung up on it.

I can get hung up on the crap weather, though.  Yuck!  I forgot how nasty a cold, pre-race morning can be.  On the plus side, I'm glad I last second panic packed a run cap, a long sleeve base later, gloves, and a bag drop fleece jacket - because I needed ALL of it, and then some.  #frozentoes #wishIpackedHotHands

Me, actual race day live stream.  

After a melting pot of excitement for the morning - both good (cotton candy, hooray!) and bad (can't find the bag drop, boo!) - it was finally time to settle into our start points.  And before we could even get too uncomfortable from standing still in the cold, it was time to take off!!

Overall, the race course felt like what I remembered from 2016.  All I noticed was a minor adjustment in start and finish points, which I thought was actually a vast improvement over 2016.


2016:





2019:

Though looking at the maps for comparison now, I see there was quite a bit of difference.  But, the "essence" for this course ... at least for me ... are the murals on 16th and 18th.  Which you can see in both courses takes up the majority of the route.

Here's some photos (from current and past years) for reference:

With everything to hear, look at, or just mentally process - the first mile cruised past.  And even stopping for walk breaks with my sister, with all the local folks offering entertainment on course (mostly DJ based, but also some traditional dancers, etc) the course just flew by.

Here's a video demonstrating what I mean about the stimulus overload:
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=430420604341365

At some point, I don't even know when, I saw a bichon frise dog dressed as a unicorn.

Yes, it was running with its owner.

Yes ... it was beating me to the finish.  (I'm not too proud to admit this, after all ... I have been beaten to the finish by wiener dogs in the past, so ... breed upgrade at least???)

Of course, there were a lot of other amazing things to process on course as well.  But before I could even absorb them all and think about how to express them here, a woman was yelling on the side of the course ...

"Around this corner - THIS IS IT!!!  YOU CAN SEE THE FINISH LINE!!!  YOU CAN DO THIS!!!"

And then we were there, and that was it.  My sister and I logged another race for the books.

But damn it, if I didn't omit my free churro again this year.  With a line easily 100+ people deep, and already over 10+ minutes lost trying to get my dropped bag back, I just couldn't handle the cold anymore.  So, instead - I dialed up a Lyft back to the hotel and mentally prepared for a steaming hot post race shower ... that I may or may not have had to fight my sister for first dibs on LOL!

Oh well to the churro - thanks anyway Pilsen, it was fun!!

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And that's the story of how race bib #85 joined my collection.  Here's to another race soon ... though I doubt it will be in 2019, since I'm a bit of a wilted flower after this cold race.  What can I say?!  I live in Minnesota, yes ... but I sure hate running outside when the temps get below freezing!

Minneapolis Halloween Half Marathon, 5K & 10K 2019 (Mr. T)

Minneapolis Halloween 5K (3.15 miles)

Let's not talk about pace this time ...

Good lord.  I just looked back in my blog history to try and figure out how to recap this race.  Doing so has forced me to acknowledge a sad fact: I haven't run in a timed competition since this 5K back in 2017.

Ooof.  Two years ago pretty much to the day.  No wonder why running sucks so much for me right now.  Which reminds me, I should state something before I get too far into this post: I'm not going to bother reporting my time or pace from this race.

Why?  Because I'm not running right now for speed.  I'm running for mental sanity.

In the last two years, I've dialed back my fitness routine WAAAYYY too much, and I've turned into a giant crab as a result.

No, not like the cute kind:

More like the stabby kind:

Yeah.  It hasn't been good.  And although there's other things making me generally crabby (issues at work, the stress of moving houses last year still wearing off, mom life, etc.) ... really, at the end of the day, working out less has contributed to my overall bad attitude quite a bit.

In an attempt to rectify my situation, back in August I decided to register for one of my all time favorite races with my sister.  (Side note, that's a spoiler for a future post).  While that registration did help me get back into a routine some  - I am once again holding myself accountable for 2 body pump classes a week, plus teaching my Tuesday night strength/cardio class, and have done a bit of running - I will fully admit I slacked more on the running part that I ought to have in the last two months.

Instead of faulting myself for not training enough for a casual 5K, I'm going to be positive and say: at least I got back into a fitness routine of some sort.  The rest I'll worry about improving on in the future, ok?!

In the meantime, let's talk costumes, because after all ... this IS a Halloween 5K.

Ok, yep - I skipped any kind of preamble and just spoiled it.

Let's face it.  After years of running races in pretty much any kind of costume imaginable, I've become somewhat unable to top myself.  I mean, think about it.  Here's my list (and this isn't even 100% of what I've actually done):

unicorns (yes, two different kinds as evidence here and here)
skeleton and calevera
flight attendant
mariachi
robot
Hamburgler
Statue of Liberty (with torch)
giant winged butterfly
mermaid
Wonder Woman
two different versions of a ball of flames (this and this)
ninja turtle
a rainbow with a pot of gold

Seriously!  What the hell is left BESIDES Mr. T, right?

I PITY THIS FOOL!

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Race day.

Since I already did (a very uneventful in-store) packet pickup the Thursday prior, my only job on race day was to show up.

Oh - side note, here's what the advertised race swag was:

FYI, that the shirt is actually more of a purple/gray space died tech t.

And being a Halloween fan, I couldn't skip out on the optional (for purchase) socks:

Anyway, on race morning ... since I am woefully OUT of practice on this, I hobbled together some sort of "what's supposed to be normal?!" routine of eating a smallish breakfast and trying to poop.

Yes, I said poop.  This is a runner's recap, you shouldn't be surprised by that.

After a quick coffee and peanut butter toast (my bananas were over ripe and I was afraid to try other "untested" fruits), my partner in crime showed up and we took off.

Following the parking guidance, we ended up on the wrong side of the river for race start.  Based on the course map below, somehow the organizers though having us park near where it says 5K (in black & white) was a good idea ... ???  I don't get that at all, because there are surface lots on the proper side of the river, within 2 blocks of the start line.

Oh well, whatever.  Since the walk from the parking lot (I think it was 5th & Washington) wasn't terrible, and we had plenty of time, I didn't bother moving my car.  And actually, it was an unexpected win, because I was only charged $3 upon exit.  #NOTBAD!

My co-runner in this race had selected the option of having her bib mailed to her pre race, so that meant she needed to do shirt pickup on race morning.  After grabbing her shirt, which was a painless process, we then headed over to bag drop.  That was ... interesting, to say the least.  Leaving your bag in a giant, unmonitored pile, in a public park's race pavilion downtown Minneapolis was a ... concept ... that's for sure.  I still can't believe there was no kind of check in / check out process with the bags, and I wonder how many things got lost or stolen.  So weird.

With all our pre race needs met, we dilly-dallied around for awhile, and even managed to talk some volunteers into letting us take pictures with the official finish tape:

While we killed time waiting to run, both my friend and I remarked how boring this year's costumes seemed to be.  Less than 50% of runners were wearing anything even remotely festive - and once you factored out basic things like tutus and leggings, the amount of actual costumed runners was maybe 25%, if that.

BOO MINNEAPOLIS!  YOU CAN DO BETTER!

Eventually, it was time to line up.  Not going to lie, I had a lot of unnecessary dread building up at this point.  Knowing I was in zero shape to run, I had no idea how this run would go.  My friend and I both kept audibly telling each other that "this is just a 5K", and that it would "be just fine".

Then the announcer said go, and we were off!

Surprisingly, the first mile went better than I anticipated.  Of course, running the two (smallish) hills, didn't help my endurance much, but I was happy to know I could manage.  Even if I was at a fairly conservative pace.

Of course, people watching as we went helped.  A few of the more remarkable costumes we picked out as we plodded along included various versions of Nintendo characters (Mario Kart, Classic Mario & Luigi, Yoshi), the typical Things 1&2, various character onesies or inflatable costumes and so forth.

Being passed by the tight pants guys on the second hill was entertaining:

And somewhere in the mix was a pretty good chicken & The Colonel (he was even carrying a real KFC bucket):

Speaking of carrying accessories, I had to give this duo credit (having run as Lady Liberty more than once, I know carrying something as you run is definitely a commitment):

Around the 1.25-1.35 mile mark or so, my running partner and I slowed for a walk break.  This is where I was disappointed to discover that the 5K course had no water stop.  In fact, after a bit of consideration, I realized there was basically no course support of any kind (aside from police at intersections).  While technically a water stop on a 5K is unnecessary, since I forgot my pre-race routine of a large glass of water, I was a little desperate for a drink. 

Of course, this grated on me a bit.  I mean - I paid $35 to run this thing ... is a water stop too much to ask for?!  LOL!  #BitterOuttaShapeRunner

Trying to bury my unjustified resentment, I redirected my focus.  Time to get moving again.

Prior to the 2 mile mark, it was time to run once more.  Since I was afraid I wouldn't make another continuous mile plus stretch, and didn't want my partner to suffer because of it, I told her to not worry about my pace and just go.  Mostly, we kept up with each other, though I was a bit behind and off to her right.  However, the crowd got in between us enough that I eventually lost visual site of her until after the finish.

No matter, I had other things to look at as I carried on.

Side note - don't you hate the jerks that bid $1 more?!  I do!

The final stretch of this race followed along the Stone Arch Bridge.  Knowing the finish line couldn't be far, I decided to force commit myself to finishing strong and held my (slow) running pace.  Which means I was thrilled to hit the finish being able to say I only took one walk break. Of course, it helped that the announcer called out "And here comes Natalie ... I PITY THE FOOL!!!"

Yes!  At least one person appreciated the joke that was my costume. 

Dang millennials not knowing 80's culture.  Maybe if they got off their dang e-phones and i-kindles, they'd know a thing or two.

Despite the lack of on course amenities for the 5K, at the finish line all was redeemed.  Picking up metals, water and post race snacks was a smooth process, and in fact better than most other races I've been too.  So for that ... OK fine, maybe I'll run this race again some time.  (wink)

But ... since it was the weekend before Halloween ... we didn't stay around much longer after finishing.  With all the other Halloween events in the cities going on, how could we?!

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And ... that's the story of how race bib #84 joined my collection.  Since it's been FAR too long since I've done this ... here's to another race soon!!

Happy Halloween!

Colorado 2019 - Kid Friendly Summer Vacation - Days 5, 6 & 7

On somewhat of a whim, a few weeks back we took a one week getaway to Colorado. You can read about the beginning of that story here, days 1 & 2 here, and days 3 & 4 here.

Below is the summation of our trip - days 5, 6 and 7.

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Wednesday, August 7th - Day FIVE
Leaving Breckenridge



Stop one - Florissant Fossil Beds NM

Along with mining precious metals, Colorado also has ample natural resources in other interesting rocks and minerals, including fossils.  Being that most three year old boys love dinosaurs, and keeping with our "stamp the passport" goal, the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument seemed like a no brainer.

After packing up at the hotel, we drove about 1 hour from Breckenridge to Florissant and headed directly to the park.  Of course, we could have timed our arrival a little better, I suppose - arriving at 8:30am to a national park that opens at 9am isn't exactly great planning.  Whoops!  Good thing the historic farm nearby (the reason this park exists) wasn't gated - the corn dogs prairie dogs there kept my son entertained for quite some time.

Finally, when 9 o'clock rolled around, we headed directly to the main park entrance.  There we signed or son up for the Junior Ranger program and stamped his passport.

Using the ranger program as a loose guide, we wandered around and took things in.  Disappointingly, the fossils at Florissant are not dinosaur related (my own fault for not researching this point), so my son had a hard time getting terribly excited about fossilized tree stumps.  Though we adults found it interesting, as apparently Walt Disney did in the 1950/60s (read more here and here).

Mostly, we utilized the hiking trails that lead to various fossilized stumps and enjoyed the views.  Since my son really enjoys hiking (a surprise to all of us), this was enough to keep everyone entertained for about an hour.

Eventually, we completed the tasks required of the Junior Ranger program, and helped our son get his "badge".

Once his "induction" ceremony was over, we packed up for more driving.



Stop two - Pike's Peak

Another stop on our "long way to Colorado Springs" tour was Pike's Peak.  I had never been here before, but my husband insisted it was worth the experience.  By experience, I later learned he meant "we will be driving up a steep and narrow mountain pass, with sheer drop offs on almost every corner, and you will feel like you might die".

Obviously, I did NOT die.  That's not to say I didn't suffer some fairly extreme sweaty palms along the way, though.  Well, that and some minor lack of oxygen giddiness at 14,115'.

Since Pike's Peak is currently renovating their summit visitor's center, and parking at the top is limited (being occupied by various construction vehicles that I was trying to picture how the HELL they even got up there), driving the full distance to the summit was not allowed during our visit.  I was OK with that after seeing how much elevation the road started gaining around the 10 or so mile marker.

Our options were to park at mile marker 7, 13 or 16 and then ride a courtesy shuttle the rest of the way up.  Originally I figured we'd head to 16 and then shuttle up, but after the elevation change around 10 ... I changed my theory and suggested we select 13.  This actually worked out in our favor, as we could park our questionably preforming rental car and leave the driving to a seasoned shuttle person.  Plus, there was a gift shop at 13 that proved useful as a pre-summit potty stop, and a post-summit refreshment prior to departure.

Overall, I did think the trip was interesting, and definitely one of those bucket list items everybody should do once if they can.  Due to the renovations at the peak, it was a little hard to appreciate that portion of the experience - but I may have also been a tad distracted because of how close my son desired to get to the mountain's edge.  I think if you had older children or only adults in your party, you'd likely get even more out of the experience than I did due to your freedom to hike around and explore a bit.  With a three year old just coming off several previous days of hiking and mountain views, our son didn't really understand the novelty and just kept saying how cold it was ... or trying to follow the old train tracks down off the cliff edge, heh.

Of interest - mile 13 was also the point where a mandatory full stop break check was preformed with a laser temperature probe.  And clearly they took proper downhill driving seriously at this park, as we saw rangers pulling over violators several times during our trek.



Stop three - New Hotel, Hampton Inn Colorado Springs

We ended up 2 for 2 on early hotel check-ins, thankfully getting into our Colorado Springs hotel room with ample time for a nap.  And even better, the stay at this hotel was much improved over Breckenridge.  I later discovered the hotel was displaying a "best of" award in their lobby from a year's previous.  "Well", I thought, "they definitely deserved it!"



Stop four / Dinner - Phantom Canyon Brewing

While my son napped, I did some covert tap room research.  Since we hadn't hit up any local breweries in Colorado yet, I felt like we were due for at least one on this trip.  Unfortunately, the articles I read led me awry.

Phantom Canyon Brewing as a restaurant - good food, decent service, ok price.
Phantom Canyon Brewing as a brewer - meh.

It's not to say that anything was bad while we were there.  I just got the feeling that Phantom Canyon was a restaurant that backed into a brew shop.  This makes me sound like a beer snob, I know.  I'm just not a big fan of brew pubs who spend more time on a food menu than on their beers.  When I seek out a brewer, I'm not worried how good their cheeseburger is, you know?!

Regardless, our meal was good.  With full bellies, we headed back to our much improved hotel situation and enjoyed a very restful night of sleep.

Thursday, August 8th - Day SIX
Exploring Colorado Springs



Stop one - Garden of the Gods

Hands down, anyone who's been to Colorado - when hearing I was going to Colorado Springs - unanimously said "Garden of the Gods".  And as much as it might be one of those people-y, tourist-y spots ... I have to admit, I agree.

The best part about this park is the approachability and predictableness of it from the perspective of being a parent of a young child.  From what I saw, every trail was well maintained and walkable for pretty much any able bodied adult - not to say you won't have to work on some of the trails that are basically staircases to heaven, but my point is ... at least there are well defined "stairs" and not scrabbles up loose rocks, etc.

Yes, Hollywood sign, I'm looking at you.

And also, the park is well mapped and well staffed - so if you simply tell the staff at the visitor's center your hiking ability and time available, they will recommend the exact spots you should visit.  This is how we ended up hiking:

The main garden area

The Siamese twins trail

And stopping to see the balancing rock

Each of these trail heads had access points via separate parking lots, so with little legs on board we decided to drive to each starting point (rather than just hike the entire park on foot).  Even with driving from point to point, we spent about 2-3 hours in the park.

If it weren't for the fact that the mid day sun was really starting to get roasty, and it was soon to be lunch, I would have said "let's stay longer".  But, considering it was also getting more and more people-y, I was OK with calling it quits for lunch.



Stop two - Manitou Springs

You may notice I gloss over some meals on this trip.  I figure no one cares what fast food options we dropped in at out of convenience.  So if we fast forward over our fast food lunch and nap, that brings us to Manitou Springs.

I had read online that Manitou Springs has an old fashioned penny arcade to die for, and I wasn't disappointed.  Or rather my son wasn't, as there were quarter operated novelty ride on vehicles as far as the eye could see.

Speaking of eyes seeing - my husband dropped a nickle in an old timey sailor peep show.  Meanwhile, I enjoyed wishing to be BIG.

After letting my son drop $5 in quarters, which lasted a surprisingly long time, we began the painful process of cashing in our hard earned tickets.  Leaving 3 saltwater taffy candies, 3 rainbow tootsies, and one TINY plastic airplane "richer", we decided to explore the rest of Manitou's little main street area.

Most of the area was typical tourist shops, and the infamous Colorado-legal CBD friendly stores, but one thing was particularly interesting: the namesake of the town.

My son enjoyed splashing his hand in the free flowing "healing waters of Manitou" so long that I eventually had to cut him off in order to redirect us to dinner.



Stop three - Manitou Springs Brewing Company

Having basically done zero research on food options in Manitou Springs, we happened to stumble across Manitou Springs Brewing Company along our walk and thought - if they serve food, we're in!

Lucky for us, they not only brewed excellent beers, but served delicious and reasonably priced burgers, and mac and cheese for kids!

Having not much enjoyed our previous night's brewery visit, this stop was kind of like a redemption for us in Colorado tap rooms.  Thumbs up for the happy accident.

Friday, August 9th - Day SEVEN
Leaving Colorado Springs, visiting Denver area and O'Dell Brewing



Stop one - Dinosaur Ridge

With our trip nearing an end, we needed to start heading back towards Denver in preparation for departure.  That meant trying to find activities near our new and last hotel - in the hopes that we could have a fun morning and immediately check in for nap.

Giving our son the choice between something dinosaur themed or something airplane themed, he chose dinosaurs.  So, in an effort to make up for lackluster fossils in Florissant, we headed to Dinosaur Ridge.

We opted for the shuttle tour during our visit, which ended up being very kid friendly and entertaining, although fairly short at less than 45 minutes total.  Regardless, my son thought it was awesome to see dinosaur bones embedded in bedrock, and LOVED that the tour guide encouraged him to climb a wall in order to walk in real dinosaur footprints.

After the tour, we visited the on site museum (pretty small, but well done given the limitations), and then we "dug for fossils" in the sandbox out front.  Moms and Dads, fair warning - be prepared to spend lots of time "helping" scoop sand with kitty litter sifters in an effort to find one teeny, tiny, oh so precious and important, replica fossil.  It's all in the name of learning and memory making, I promise.

Though I felt like this stop was a bit of a tourist trap, the dinosaur presence is very real, and for that I thought it was at least an OK visit.



Stop two - Hotel whoops - let's adventure!

Somehow at this point in our trip, our early check-in luck at hotels ran out, and we couldn't get a room at our new Denver hotel in time for nap.  Since we had no other option, we crossed our fingers that our son could make it through the last day of our trip without and carried on.

Since our intention post-nap was to pop into Fort Collins for a quick beer with a local friend before heading back to Denver and wrapping up our trip, we just pushed our agenda up and hit the road.  Before we knew it, we were wandering around Old Town Fort Collins - which is yet another Disney connection for this trip, who knew?!

We had anticipated going to Fort Collins only for O'Dell-and-go, so with zero agenda and running over 2 hours early, we were somewhat at a loss.  Randomly exploring stores, we were amused by whatever came our way - including one gift shop where the owner let their large white dog with a PINK MOHAWK roam around ... my son is STILL talking about that weeks later, LOL!

Since my son was being such a good sport with the lack of nap and all, at the suggestion of my local friend, we stopped in at old timey candy store Rocket Fizz - AKA child heaven.

Leaving one giant bag of gummy worms heavier, and sweating like bandits due to the heat, we gave up on shopping and headed to O'Dell to cool down.



Stop three - O'Dell Brewing

Knowing we would spend a fair amount of time at O'Dell chatting,  I had packed a selection of things to keep my son entertained.  Two things I hadn't planned on were: (1) the giant bag of gummy worms we picked up at Rocket Fizz, and (2) that my husband and I would be too distracted managing other things to jointly monitor said gummy ingestion.  Whoops.  At least the gummies provided a solid 30 minutes of entertainment.  And besides, he didn't eat the WHOLE bag ... there was ... maybe half a serving left in a 5 serving economy bag?  Yeah, I definitely killed it at momming on that one.

Quite honestly, though, my son was a self-entertainment champ at O'Dell.  My husband and I even got to enjoy a few flights of beer ... and some Ghostbusters.

 

Eventually, my husband ended up taking my son out on the patio to run off his gummies while my local friend and I chatted.

Not wanting to leave - both good company and good beer - it was becoming apparent that my son's limits were coming to a max.  Saying our goodbyes, we departed Fort Collins for Denver ... and flew out at 8am the next day.

Sigh - vacations: the only bad part is when it ends!!