PIPESTEM!

Pipestem was amazing!! First of all, its GORGEOUS! It's a state park/resort in the mountains, with amazingly beautiful views everywhere.

So, anyways... we left at around 9:30 (i think) Monday morning, and we got there around 5:30-ish. There was a TON of traffice on 95 (because of construction. I was going about 15mph...) and this HUGE truck decided "I want to be OUT of this traffic, so it's O.K. if I tailgate this little itsy-bitsy car that I can only barely see in front of me, because I. WANT. OUT!!" Or something along those lines... That was stressful. But other than that, the drive went GREAT! I drove all the way there, which is normally 6 hours, but because of the traffic, it turned into 7.

When we got there, we were the third family there. The only other people there were Opa and Mama Elaine and Uncle Mike and Aunt Sue (Burns). So we procrastinated unpacking, because there was talk of a kids cabin. While we did not get the kids cabin, Mitch and I stayed with Aunt Betsy, Uncle Craig, SarahBeth, Katie, Calvin and AJ (Combs). So we kind of did have a kids cabin... Just minus the younger ones.

The cabins at Pipestem are arranged in little courts, I guess. We were in "court" C, which had two little mini courts inside of it... Not really confusing, I guess, if I could explain it right. So the Combs had cabin 17, my family and Aunt Laurie and Donna had cabin 18, the Burns had cabin 23, and Uncle Rigg and Aunt Denise and their family (Mohlers) had cabin 24. So we were in walking distance of everyone, which is another fun part of this vacation. Also, Opa and Mama Elaine had a room in the lodge, with a view overlooking the mountains. SOOOO AMAZING!

So I slept on an air mattress in Katie and SB's room, which was sooo much fun! They are probably my favorite cousins, but mostly because Katie's almost exactly a year younger than I am, and SB's about a year and a half older than me.

On Monday, we went up to the lodge to go swimming :) I love their pool there!! It's indoors, and heated, so it felt sooooo good, especially after a long drive! That was fun. We stayed probably until 9:30-ish (pm), just swimming and diving, and swimming some more. On our way back, at the entrance to the lodge, there were these two little fountains that lit up at night. SB (not me, surprisingly) decided she wanted to sit on one. So she did! It was pretty funny...

On Tuesday, we slept in, had cereal for breakfast, then left for the pool. Then we got back, invited the Mohler girls (Emmy[9], Terese [7], and Sally[5]) over to the Combs cabin, and painted each other's nails! Just a tad of girly time. After that, we made reservations for an hour-long trail ride at the stables. That was incredibly fun. SB, at one point, mentioned that she forgot to look at nature. So one of the guides (not the one up front but the other one) rode up to me, scrunched his eyes shut and said "I forgot to look at nature". Definitely making fun of her. But then he gave her a feather to put in her hair, so it was all good. After the trail ride, we ate, then Uncle Mike, Mom, Mitch, AJ, Trey and Calvin went fishing. Mitchell caught four, and AJ caught one (but his was the biggest). Nobody else caught anything, as my brother informs me. During this time, I was back at the Combs cabin, just chilling and reading my book a bit (and almost falling asleep). The girls and I then got a ride to the Canyon Rim Center and rode the tram down to the Mt. Creek Lodge. Did I ever mention that Pipestem is gorgeous? We got there when the sun was setting, but it was right behind a cloud. You know those cartoon suns, that rays sticking out of them, shaped like triangles? Well, imagine a large, blue-ish gray cloud with pink-ish orange rays coming out from behind it. Unfortunately, we did not have a camera. The height of the tram REALLY freaked Katie out, so SB and I decided to take full advantage of that by standing up, leaning against the sides, etc. It was quite entertaining.

Wednesday was our last day, unfortunately. We didn't really have time to do anything except eat (blueberry pancakes at the Mohlers!!!!) and go and visit Opa and Mama at their suite in the lodge. That was when I was bestowed with the vacation hat to take to Colombia with me. I felt so special! We then had yet another 7 hour drive, through much more traffic (construction AND an accident) and really really heavy rain. Not fun. But we're home safely, and that is all that matters, correct?

So that was the extent of my wonderful crazy awesome beautiful totally fun family vacation. I miss my family already!!

live.love.laugh :)♥