Vail

So by the time we got to Vail, there was no parking at the trailhead we wanted to go on. So we went to another right down the road. 

it started out not too bad...

photo op!

A little hill

a happy dog.

Got steeper.

About 5 minutes after this I threw in the towel. Straight up, no plateaus to catch our breath. So down we went.

At the trailhead Mike swears we ran into Kevin Sorbo. I was distracted and didn't look at him because he was trying to tell me not to step in his dog's bidness. 

We went  into town, lunch in tow.

Picnic lunch on Gore Creek. This was such a pretty location.

And the kids got to play in the creek, which was an added bonus!

We walked the length of the creek to the edge of town to the Betty Ford Alpine Garden, where it promptly started to rain. We took shelter in a picnic pavillion.

What a lovely garden!

The rain let up enough for us to get back to one of the bridges, and then it started to rain again.

Alas.

Lots of artwork in town.

Blaaaaah!