Riley and Avery

We finally made it to Cheyenne Mountain State Park last week (yes, I'm behind on blogging. Nothing new there!) We headed right over after picking Riley up from school, since it's closer to her school then our house. We got in free due to the disabled veterans tags on our car (score!). We started off with a picnic, which Avery was REALLY excited about. She kept yelling "nicnic!" Since it was pretty windy and there was still blowing dirt from the on-going construction, we took shelter in the pavilion with the park information signs. Avery and Riley downed half a watermelon and chowed on a huge sub sandwich.


Unfortunately, the signs boldly illustrated that we were in black bear/mountain lion/rattlesnake country and Avery became rather frightened. Eventually she would shriek and scream whenever her feet touched the ground, so she had to be carried the whole hike. Riley seriously did not stop talking, uphill and downhill she talked, up and over rocks she talked. At one point, Rudi had to turn back to use the restroom, and he was able to follow the sound of Riley's voice to find us again on the trail. Avery eventually fell asleep, and we all got a little pink from the sun. All in all, it was a great day outdoors and I'm happy to report that I'm not as out-of-shape as I thought I was. Not that we walked all that far, perhaps about two miles, and Riley walked the whole way with only one brief complaint on a prolonged incline. I don't know how she managed to walk two miles while talking the whole way. Apparently she needs less oxygen than the rest of us.