Well, this past Saturday I had the boys for the day and decided to make a little off-road excursion with them up to Chinns Lake. The boys call these trips, "Going to the bumpy road!". They particulary like any trip that includes water so they can throw in some rocks!

This is a spot we head to when we only have about a half of a day, as its relatively close to home. We haven't been out in awhile, so I was excited to get off the pavement. On top of the normal fun of this trip, we received a bonus for our driving effort. Turns out this was peak fall color time in the central part of the mountains. There's nothing quite like the "quaking" golden leaves of the Aspens off-set with a blue sky and evergreens! The boys also had a great time throwing rocks in the lake, checking out the old cabin, and then climbing on some bigger rocks.

Check out the pics!

Living in Colorado gives me a great chance to indulge my fascination with ghost towns. The history of Colorado is rich with boom and bust stories of mining towns, and many make the perfect day trip. Below are some photos from a trip in October of 2007 to the North London Mine on Mosquito Pass. It was cold, and the pass already had a few icy patches (one that almost slid me off the west side of the mountain on the way down!), but it was well worth it. Enjoy the pics!