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Ahhh, Estes Park - you have my heart.  I loved this place.  The scenery, the weather, the quaint little shops downtown (the only thing I did not love was the restaurants, but I'll get over it).  Anytime I can wear a jacket in the summertime, it qualifies as a good vacation.  Mom and Steve joined us on this leg of the trip, which made it extra fun.  We shared a three-bedroom condo that was to die for!  Gorgeous place!  I am happy when I can stay at nice places – I'm a little snobby that way.  A good clean bathroom with granite countertops just speaks to me, what can I say?!  And the view from the balcony took my breath away.  HAP.PY.

Here is the first installment of our E.P. adventures…

FISHING

We took the boys trout fishing at a stocked pond to ensure the rate of success.  We had found this pond the night before while waiting to be seated at a restaurant – they were closed but the owner and his son invited us to help feed the fish.  So we went back the next day and the boys were ecstatic with their catches.  Here's the catch – the cost was $.95 per inch of fish.  So in approximately 8 minutes we had caught 80 inches worth of fish!  Yikes!  It was perhaps a little too easy, but the boys sure did have fun, as you can see from their ear-to-ear grins.

Sam's catch – I love how he's looking at his fish!

Watch this sequence with Caleb who's fish tried to escape…

Caleb also caught the biggest fish of our excursion at 18 inches!

Jacob is my true-blue fisherman who was hoping for a little more of a challenge (although thrilled with the outcome) and could have fished for a lot longer than 8 minutes.  The budget didn't quite allow for any more, but he had fun anyway.

Derek did grill up all of that trout one night and we had it for dinner, so the cost wasn't just for the fun!

BOATING

We were hoping to rent canoes on Lake Estes, but found the water to be very choppy and the wind to be a-blowin' so we opted out of that possible disaster in waiting, and rented a pontoon boat instead!  It's a pretty lake (although small) and it was a nice way to get out on the water.

HATS

On the second night of the trip, Mom and I found these fun hats that we just HAD to have.  So we wore them the rest of the trip, everywhere we went.  We even got stopped on the street by a lady complimenting us.  It was fun!