Random Adventures

We went up to Santa Cruz to hang with Aunt Josephine, Uncle Curtis and cousins Brian and Dagen. We had a delicious dinner on the water and it was so fun to catch up with everyone.

Hanging out in downtown Los Gatos complete with Powell's Gelato

Cousin Michelle and Kendel and Jamal came over to swim and for pizza

All week we were so excited to make a dessert called Hawaii Five-ohs. They are pretty much brownies with a bunch of yummy stuff on top. We finally tried...and failed. Oh well, we'll try again sometime. Tyler made up plenty of Whirley Pop to get us through.

Filoli Gardens

One day we made the short trip up to Filoli Gardens with Rachel! Filoli is considered one of America's castles (Filoli stands for Fight Love Live) and has gorgeous gardens all around the property.

San Fran

After our fun week in Denver, Mom, Tyler and I headed out to San Jose to meet up with Dad, Chris and Grandma! Saturday we headed up to San Francisco for some bay views, Boudin sourdough and a Giants game!

Pretty day by the Bay

Sourdough bread bowls at Pier 39

Back at AT&T Park, Chris's first time!

Gilroy Garlic Fries and the Beard! The Giant's won!

Devil's Head Hike

We had to take Dad to the airport Wednesday night so he could head for LA for a day so Mom, Tyler and I tackled the Devil's Head Hike on Thursday. What's a visit to Colorado without a hike?! Feast your eyes!

I LOVED having everyone here and being able to show off some of the things I'm beginning to love about this beautiful state. It was also so fun to be able to explore some of the places I've been wanting to go but haven't had anyone to go with! We had a blast. Can't wait until they come back!

Red Rocks, Dinosaur Ridge and Golden

On Wednesday we drove out to Red Rocks to check out the view.

Tyler ran the steps like a champ.

After Red Rocks we headed over to Dinosaur Ridge and took the tour. Thats a dino footprint!

Then we popped into the mountains to peek into the little town of Golden. Lots of cowboy stuff!

After checking out the town we took the extremely winding drive up to Buffalo Bill's Grave. This was a lookout point part way up.

The actual grave and the view from the summit.

Boulder, Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park

Sunday night we made a yummy dinner of kabobs and then Monday morning I took Chris to the airport. Then we headed for Kolaches! (naturally). Dad and Tyler liked them just as much as the rest of us.

After Kolaches we headed up to explore Boulder and I totally fell in love with it. It is a beautiful area and the little downtown has such a charming feel about it. After meandering through the shops for a while we (in true Molinaro fashion) decided spur of the moment to drive up to Estes Park. Why not right?

How cool is Estes Park?! It had just rained and there was mist all over the mountains. Looking forward to going back someday to camp! Who's with me?

Right as twilight was setting in we drove into Rocky Mountain National Park.  We saw barely anything but definitely enough for me to want to go back pronto.

Walking to check out a waterfall.

We found it!

Rockies Game and Pike's Peak

Happy August! I can't believe how fast the summer has been going. Here it is, August 3rd and I have catch up posts and pictures dating all the way back to July 15th! We have had a really fun last three weeks. Mom, Dad and Tyler came out to visit us for a week (Chris got to hang out all weekend before he had to go back to Cali for work), and then we all headed out to San Jose to visit my Grandma for the next week and a half! It was perfect because we were close enough to where Chris was working for him to come hang out the whole time too. It was so great to have some actual stuff to do and people to do it with instead of being lonely in Denver all by myself. It's hard to not live closer to my family so the last couple of weeks were especially special. Here's what we've been up to!

The day that everyone got into town we headed downtown for dinner and a Rockies game! The Rockies won and we got an extra little lightning light show to go with the game and everything.

The next morning we piled in the car and headed down to Colorado Springs to take the Cog Railway to the summit of Pike's Peak. Colorado has about 50 14ers in Colorado (14,000 ft or higher) and Pike's Peak is one of them.

The trail got pretty steep in a few places! The views were gorgeous.

We made it to the top! 14,110 feet. The temperature was a lot cooler up there and the guide told us that it has never gotten above 55 degrees. There were also some special donuts at the summit that have been featured on Food Network's show Unwrapped. Let's just say I would go back up just for the donuts haha.

After Pike's Peak we drove though Garden of the Gods, a collection of 500ft+ red rock formation at the base of the mountain.

And of course, whats a visit to Colorado Springs without a stop at Rudy's BBQ?! The family loved it.

After Rudy's we drove back up to Denver and went to the new Harry Potter movie. I loved it! It's weird to think that that part of life and growing up is over but I thought they did a great job finishing everything out.