Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine

We've been in Pueblo, Colorado for the past few days and have made day trips to the Royal Gorge and to the Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine.

At the mine we donned our hard hats and jackets and waited for our "ride" to arrive.  Nathan is adorable in his oversized outfit!

We were amazed that they managed to fit all 8 of us in this tiny 3 foot by 3 foot "cage"... that was an adventure in and of itself.  We were smashed as tight as sardines, literally no room to move.

Once we got down we walked along tracks through all kinds of tunnels.

We learned all about how a gold mine operation works.

The kids were amazed to learn that we were 1,000 feet underground.

Poor Nathan wanted "up" the entire time.  Or perhaps I should say poor Daddy and poor Uncle Mike, as they were the ones who carried him through the whole mine.

A picture of my brother Mike.

Nathan was THRILLED to learn that we got to take a train ride under ground!

Uncle Mike and Nathan

The "cage" that brought us back up to the surface.

Finally... some pictures from Yellowstone!

Ready Aim Fire

The Buffalo Bill museum had a shooting gallery which the kids loved, especially Andrew.

Andrew now fancies himself quite the sharp shooter!

Elizabeth

Alex

and binky boy Nathan enjoyed themselves as well.

The kids got 15 shots to try to hit a variety of targets.

Some were moving targets and some stationary.

Andrew also thoroughly enjoyed the firearm's museum.  He informed me that there "was even a gun that was as small as my pinky finger" at the museum.

Buffalo Bill Historical Center

After we left Yellowstone we traveled to Cody, WY and went to the Buffalo Bill Historical Center.

I arrived knowing very little about Buffalo Bill.

I don't think that the kids knew much either....

though they loved to play around his statue.

The kids played in a teepee,

ran around all over a huge map of the area (made up of thousands of tiles),

and played dress up with a buffalo hide.

They also tried out a saddle.

Alex was one wild rider.

Nathan was being bashful.

Hutch enjoyed playing with the buffalo.

I know that I haven't shared many Yellowstone pictures.  It rained much of the time and I didn't want to risk ruining my camera.  I didn't manage some pictures of Old Faithful.  I'll have to share those sometime soon.

Rain Rain Go Away

We've seen a lot of this on our trip....

Lots of rain, and even some snow in Yellowstone.

Last week we traveled from Laramie to Jackson, WY to the Teton's and Yellowstone.  I LOVE the Tetons... some of the most beautiful mountains in our country...

But alas, we couldn't see the mountains due to all the rain.

Thankfully, though, there was an amazing Visitor Center just outside the park.

The kids were impressed with the sod roof!

You can see from the jackets that the weather is much different than in Massachusetts at this time of year!

We spent quite a while at the Visitor's Center.

We learned about the different animals, their habitats, type of fur, scat, and animal tracks.

We also enjoyed using binoculars to look for animals outside on the observation deck.

We were also all impressed by the arch of antlers across the street.