Colorado 2014- Day 2 & 3- Westcliffe, CO

My uncle has a secluded cabin in the mountains near Westcliffe and he always invites our family to come and stay in it on our way to Breckenridge.  My parents and sister have been there before but this is the first time we have had the chance to stay there.  I didn't know exactly what to expect but it was better than I could have ever imagined.  It was quiet, had no internet/phone access, and was surrounded by nature.  The kids are not used to this kind of environment and they were in heaven! 

 

We were greeted in the driveway by my uncle and one of the deer that lives in the woods near his cabin.  This particular deer was very calm and curious.  My uncle fed him some corn and after he ate it, he kept inching closer and closer to where we were sitting.  We were finally able to get him close enough to feed him some crackers out of our hands.  Because of that, we nicknamed him Cracker!  Cracker stayed around until we left for dinner that night and was back early the next morning waiting for us to feed him again.

The other highlight of our time in Westcliffe was getting to ride Uncle Jodie's four wheelers. Parker and Lily hopped right on, but it took us a little while to coax Eden into trying them. 

 This was Eden before...

 and this was Eden after we convinced her to take a ride.  I knew she would love it if she just tried it.  As we were riding, she kept yelling, "THIS IS AWESOME!!!". 

Emily and her family had taken a detour on the way to Westcliffe to eat dinner with Jon's dad so they didn't get to Westcliffe until bedtime.  My kids couldn't wait to tell them about Cracker!  Luckily, they got to meet him the next morning when Cracker showed up again along with four of his friends. 

Addison and I were able to feed Cracker a little breakfast but all of the other deer were very skittish and would not get anywhere near us.

 

After breakfast, we spent a couple of hours taking the kids on more four wheeler rides around the mountain.  They could not get enough!  We even convinced Granna to take a ride!

Just like everything else in life, all good things must come to an end!  We hated to say goodbye to Westcliffe, but we still had a three hour drive into Breckenridge so we had to load up and head out after the last four wheeler ride.  We stopped for one more family pic at the top of the Hoosier Pass on the way to Breckenridge. 

When I asked the kids what their favorite part of Westcliffe was they all agreed it was the deer and four wheelers.  I think our time in Westcliffe is something they will always remember and we are so thankful to my uncle for opening up his beautiful cabin to us for the night.