Dad and I went on a short morning hike on the trail we failed to find the first time.
Pretty little flowers of an unknown variety.
Looking down on the ranch.
Pretty little flowers of an unknown variety part 2.
Dad hiking up the trail.
Mariposa Lily. I had not seen these before on our hikes and thought they were quite beautiful.
And another.
And before unfolding.
We finished our hike to discover that chaos had been happening down below. We were supposed to be piling into cars to drive through Rocky Mountain National Park to go rent pontoon boats.
We were still doing this, however the time had been moved up.
I'm kind of glad I was hiking during the chaos.
At least these guys were ready to go. Byron, Zephan, Karen, and Tamzin.
Lone Elk.
Many elk photo from the car.
Many elk photo from Gina, who stopped and got out of a car.
Alpine Visitor's Center pit stop.
Don't Dan and Michael make the cutest couple? Meara in the middle.
Everybody point to the elevation sign!
Tamzin had had enough of being in the car. And Byron's singing.
We made it to the marina! And then total chaos ensued. 50 some people on 5 boats should be 10 people per boat, right? NOPE. Some boats could have 8 other could have 12, it was a mess.
Tamzin is ready to go whenever this all gets sorted out.
Carey at the helm, Grandpa, Brendan, Ken, and David.
We were all supposed to meet at some island for lunch.
Several of us were very hungry and getting grumpy.
The island was an Osprey nesting zone.
Redneck yacht-club.
Finally food! Tisha is drinking with one hand and eating with the other.
Back out on the boat:
Weather device?
We weren't sure we'd fit under this bridge, but we did.
And then we weren't sure we'd fit through this bridge, but we did.
And then we won the great lake water battle because my mom drives like a maniac. She kept zooming past the boat with all the water guns. Occasionally she'd get them to spray into the wind, getting themselves wet. It was a lot of fun and very silly.
No more boat rides. Now we rush to get back to the ranch in time for dinner.
And by rush, I mean stop back at the Alpine Center to bag the Alpine Center peak.
Dan and Michael got a new wee person! Zephan!
Colin attempting to call a friend of his.
I stole these two photos from Karen. Thanks Karen!
You can't even tell, but I swear there are a ton of dots in the middle of this photo and they're all elk.
Gina's crew also "rushed" home for dinner:
RJ, Molly, Tracy, Max, and Holt.
Michael and Mary.
A....marmot?
I swear this isn't a scale model. Something about the lighting makes it look like one though.
Since this was the last night of family togetherness, we gathered in the lounge.
Mike, Patrick, and Andrew.
Grandpa, Mark, and Ken.
Michael, Mary, RJ, Tracy, Matt, and Brendan.
Jenny and Carey are done with the family togetherness.
Cameron, Gina, Sally, Mary, and Nancy. I think....Tisha is hiding on the right.
The core that made it to the end: Susan, Tisha, Mike, Sally, Grandpa, Nancy, Mary, and Gina. Billy, John, Barney, and Tommy were all here at some point, but they had to leave early to get to the Sturgis biker rally thing.
We had a lot of the family out at the reunion at some point or another. We missed (in no particular order) Kindred, Knight, Kevin, Wan Mai, Madeline who was on her way, Monica, Josephine who was on her way, Dee Dee, Aaron, Heather, Ryan, Kristen, Lauren, Renee, Nathan, Randy, Katy, Robbie, and Kelsi. I hope I didn't miss anyone.
This concludes AnVollstal 2015. See you all in 2017!
