Day 33 and 32: Estes Park and Water World, CO

Day 33:  Thurs, 7/14:  Estes Park, CO

We decided to check out Mary’s Lake to either fish or paddle board.  When we got there, we saw signs saying no swimming or boating in the lake, so Sam and Sarah fished while Andrea and Ryan did a little scrambling on the nearby rocks.  Then we headed to Estes Lake again, and found out that we had to pay for a boating permit and for parking if we wanted to paddle board there.  The funny thing is the water level in the lake was quite a bit lower than 2 days earlier.  We asked about this and were told that the electric plant that uses the water in the lake uses different amounts each day, so you never know if the water level will be low or high until you get there.  Seeing the low water level, and the restrictions on where we could paddle board, we decided that paddle boarding wasn’t in the cards today.  Instead, we went into town to see the owls again and have ice cream.  We then headed back to the campground to do laundry, clean up, relax, and fish in the stream.  Sam and Sarah fished in the river about 30 yards from our RV.  It ended up being a quiet and relaxing day.

Mother daughter enjoying nature at Alluvial Falls, RMNP, CO

Sarah fishing at the river in our Spruce RV Park, Estes Park, CO

Day 32:  Wed, 7/13:  Estes Park, Water Slides near Denver, CO

We drove over an hour to Water World to enjoy water slides on a hot day.  Ryan's favorite thing on these road trips--except Las Vegas--is going to the watermark!  We first went on a slide that was a pitch black tube that had small drops that you couldn’t see coming.  Sam and Andrea loved it, but the kids were not amused.  So we walked to another area of the water park where there were slides that were a little less intimidating.  The kids had a lot of fun and Sam and Andrea did too. Then we split up and the kids played in a fun house area where they could spray and drop water on other kids, as they were getting sprayed by others.  They had so much fun.  Sam and Andrea went on a ride we call the toilet plunge, where you go down a slide into this cylinder that you then slide around before dropping into an 8 foot deep pool.  We were soaking wet and cold, so we sat in the sun to dry off for a while.  When the kids were finally done at the fun house, they were both shivering and Sarah said she had a headache and felt nauseous. We had her sit for a while, but she felt worse and we ended up taking her to the first aid station where they took her vitals and let her rest and drink fluids for a while.  While she was there, Ryan rode on boogie boards on a wave machine and he loved it.  He said he can’t wait to go to the beach when we get back home so he can ride the waves. We decided to call it a day early to get Sarah back to the motorhome to rest, and the only tough thing was that we had over an hour to drive home.  Luckily, Sarah felt better after finally throwing up, she was able to sleep a little in the car, and by evening she was feeling much better.  We ended the day playing cards and everyone had a good time.