Monarch Mountain

Off we go to Monarch! We drove 7 hours after work.

Our first views of snowy peaks!

The cool thing about this part of the mountains is the far right peak is the mountain Grant and I did a mission trip on with our youth group in 2016!  It was neat to go by in the winter - different look! 

First run up - glad we took a picture on this day as the following day was snowy and gray, and the last day Reid was sick!  Yes, yet again on vacation, Reid got a fever! We knew Saturday after lunch he wasn't doing great when he had tears.  102.7 when we got back to our house!  So, Reid and I hung out the following day and read books and napped (it was just fine with me!).

Monarch isn't the biggest mountain but the view from the top is spectacular!

Even Grant falls... :) 

Reid did so much better this time than last on getting on and off the lifts, and he became a lot more confident in his skiing ability.

The playroom in our house - they had fun. This was their first activity.

Jason noticed it - our assigned locker sure had a great number combination - 5/18!

Kyle needed a break (emotionally) so we grabbed some hot chocolate just as the snow was moving in on Saturday morning.

Visibility coming down the mountain on Saturday

Down in Salida, the snow never arrived on Saturday.  It was a great afternoon (at this point, Reid was much happier than on the mountain and I hadn't felt his head for a fever - but, he had one!)

This is the Arkansas River and the ramp on the left is where we put in our raft in 2017 for our overnight camping/rafting trip.  That was part of what made the darling little town of Salida extra special for our family.

  Our house was FOUR levels and this was our view

The parents went pub-hopping while the kids watched a movie.  It was super fun and just down the block from our house.

Jason, Grant and Kyle had a ball on Sunday skiing.  They said it was colder but without the windy snow, it felt a little better.

We met up with the Streeters, who were also at Monarch, for dinner.  Reid was still a trooper, but had to be sitting away from the other kids.

 This was the view from the master when we woke up to leave on Monday! 

WHAT!

Beautiful

This was our drive for about 3 hours.  Take in to account the snow and ice, but then add wiper fluid that was a frozen, and a muddy windshield, it became slow-going for a while.

 We are thankful for another fun trip and safe travels and many new memories with our little Walker crew and our trails we leave behind....