Colorado and California... vacation!

Every once in a while we need to get away from the day to day and take some time to relax. This year we made the trip from Cedar Falls to Estes Park Colorado before continuing on to California to visit family. It was a long drive, no, wait, it was a LOOONG drive, but it was definitely worth it. We had  a great time and it was awesome to see everyone.

Got up at 4:25 in the morning to hike to Dream Lake for sunrise. It was a steep grade and absurdly early, but this was one of the most beautiful sights I've ever seen.

The sunrise reds on Hallett Peak only lasted 11 minutes so I didn't have much time for multiple locations. Took this photo just after the best light had passed. Maybe next time! 

The walk back from Dream Lake felt SO much easier than the walk there. My father and I enjoyed taking our time walking back and the light was still phenomenal.

Kenny didn't go on the hike with us, but man was this kid a trooper! He drove 4300+ miles in a car seat but was awesome about it. As long as someone (usually Mommy) was sitting beside him he was content. My son is awesome.

ATTENTION CAMPERS: This is exactly why they tell you not to leave your trash laying around. This bear found an open dumpster and capitialized on it about 200 yards from our campsite.

Kenny's a ladies man. Fact.

We were waiting for road construction on Trail Ridge Road, thought I'd make the best of the delay. 6 shot composite.

It wasn't extensively planned, but this turned out to be one of my favorite shots from the whole trip.

I thought Dream Lake was an early day... wrong! Was up at 4:00am to get to Emerald Lake by sunrise. Well worth the hike!

Still working the kinks out of this one but decided to post it anyway. 6 shot composite.

On the way home we stopped in Lake Tahoe for a day to spend some more time with my in-laws. Beautiful place.

A stormy lake made for a pretty good panorama, too bad the woman in a too small bikini ruins it. Ah well, such is life.