Gillen Family: Gunnison, CO Trip

We went on a little mini-vacation this week, and it was wonderful to get away for a few days. Our friends Mike, Pacita, and their 3 kids came down for a "sleepover" Saturday night. The kids all played while the adults had a few fierce games of Uno! LOL. It was a nice relaxing evening. Sunday morning we all got up, got some gas and McDonald's and than headed up into the mountains. They were calling for some snow, but nothing that was supposed to amount to anything (1 to 3 inches depending on the area - unlike this upcoming weekend where they're calling for a foot in many areas). It was not a fun drive to say the least! The roads were slick and required chains for commerical vehicles in many areas. It was supposed to take us about 4 hours to get to Gunnison. We made it to Monarch Pass after about 6 hours (should've been able to do it in about 3). We made the long ascent to the top, and when we were about 2 miles from the top we got turned around because of an avalanche!!!! These photos are of what the top of the pass looked like...white out conditions at times!

Chris was driving...

And this was Katelynn's look for most of the trip - doesn't she look thrilled?!?

So we turned around and went back down the pass. We stopped at a gas station to figure out where we should go next. We decided to head south and take 114 up over Cochetopa Pass, but as luck would have it that's the same way everyone else decided to go, and yep, you guessed it, we got turned around because this time a bus overturned and caused a 30 car pile up. I guess we were just not meant to make it to Gunnison on Sunday, so we headed about 20 miles further south to Monte Vista, CO, where we got a hotel room for the night. Monday morning we got up and set out again. This time Cochetopa Pass was clear - minus a few patchy spots along the very windy road.

Mike and Pacita's car behind us...

Katelynn was much happier! Plus she had Vinson to keep her company.

Once we got to Gunnison on Monday, we checked into our hotel and then headed into town to a park for the kids to burn off some energy! Katelynn had a blast on all the "rides."

She loved the see-saw.

She liked climbing up the slide, and loved going down it too, but couldn't figure out how to keep from falling backwards while slidding down.

And one of her favorites has always been the swings. This is her and Leilani swinging together.

And a family shot...

We headed over to Blue Mesa Reservoir after lunch and took a bunch of photos. It was completely frozen, and very beautiful.

People actually walked out on it! So, I figured, why not? :)

I caught you taking a picture of me, taking a picture of you. :)

A picture of the 3 of us.

There was a little beach area that was really pretty and easy to access so we got out and took a bunch of photos of Katelynn. I'm sure someday she's going to be annoyed by all the crazy places we sat her!

The beach area.