Buck's Mountain Top Birthday Experience

We began with a bit of a sleep in—past 8 a.m. Might have been 9, I’m not sure if my phone time-changed photo stamps. The boys remained zonked while Buck and I headed to a donut shop called Sweet Coloradough . . . fun, unique place, but we felt as if we were missing the inside scoop. All the coffees etc. were available with alcohol and there were CBD-infused donuts. IDK if the fella behind the counter was being clever, trying to upsell us, or if we were being offered extra *opportunities* in code, but we laughingly said, “No thanks,” and headed out the door. We walked past the funky painted bus and antique police car, then headed back to the hotel. The boys were still asleep when we returned—we’ve been really busy every day, so being wiped out is pretty reasonable! The donuts were . . . meh. Very greasy fried, and my cup of spiced cider tasted like watered-down warm apple juice, BUT Buck enjoyed his coffee and the raised-donut he noshed, so that’s what matters—because it’s his birthday!

Our next adventure once again required us to sign waivers! That’s the best kind of adventure, right? We listened to an enthusiastic spiel from a mustachioed man who loaded us onto a gondola and sent us into the sky! The ride up was beautiful, despite the windy chill in the air—we were thankful this was an enclosed gondola as it cranked us smoothly up the mountain.

At the top, we stepped into a quiet little amusement park perched on the mountain’s crown. We decided to walk around a bit to get the scoop on the place and somehow ended up at the most terrifying ride in the park—what a start! Brennen and Graysen took what may have been the very first ride of the day--seated with one of the staff members in charge of running the ride (the second one rode with Buck and me, and Brennen, again).

So how was it? Well, a giant hydraulic swing—with us strapped to it—flung itself out over a cliffside until we were horizontal, parallel to the earth 1,300 feet above the Colorado River. At speeds of 50 mph. Buck and I weren’t even on the “scary side” looking straight into that plummet. I couldn’t help but scream, not like terrified screaming, but emitting high-pitched vocalizations in an uncontrollable manner—enough so that the girl in line for the next ride opted to stand on the viewing deck while her sweetheart flew above the mountain without her. Once was enough for Graysen, for Buck, and for me. Brennen just laughed while I sang my mountain high solo. Oh my goodness, what a ride!

After being so far above the earth, we decided to try looking inside of it. Our all-day fun pass gave us access to anything that was open for the season, for as many trips as we wanted to take. Typically, one of our family vacation mottos is “if there’s a cave tour, we go on it.” This park had TWO cave tours and both were pretty cool! I liked the Fairy Cave . . . so named because the holes punched in old tin can lanterns (more than 100 years ago) resulted in candle flicker spots on the cave walls, which looked like little fairies flitting about. Then the gold-miner turned entrepreneur who discovered the caves (when he didn't discover gold) added electric lights—some of the first electric anythings to appear in Colorado. The guide said the mule-riding tourists of the past were more interested in seeing that newfangled electricity working, than seeing the caves themselves! The discoverer decided his tour needed to end with a wow factor, so he blasted out a tunnel to a cliff—apparently without a railing and then only a rickety one—to a stunning view of the river valley before. You can see it, plus the swing ride we all took in the distance behind G$. It was one of the best cave tours we’ve taken!

Our day passes also included a 4D movie (which we forgot to see) and unlimited trips on the Alpine Coaster—a sort of sled experience on a rail! The guys called me out for using the brake in my photo, but I wanted to enjoy the view more than fly out of my seat, lol! Buck took a photo on the rails (he didn’t see the *strictly prohibited* sign) and I got a little video and some photos of the start of their second ride. If the candid photos hadn’t been so expensive (we did pay $20 for the cave photo, because we were practically besties with the photobooth guy who laughed his way through our swing video—oh yes, not just photos for that ride!—but Graysen was smiling, so Buck said we had to have at least one of him smiling on vacation, hee hee), we would have gotten Buck’s and Graysen’s Alpine Coaster Take II photos which were intentionally hilariously posed :)

Let’s see, we played a round of laser tag with a family from China (maybe?) and the mom whooped everyone, except Graysen—who won the whole thing! 

Next, the guys grabbed burgers in the surprisingly tasty (I'm told) park restaurant, before we headed to the next cave tour. Oh, I forgot—the caves have phosphorescence. So, in the Fairy Cave, after the guide used blue lights to “charge” the cave’s insides, he turned out the regular lights and we could draw on the walls with bluelight flashlights; I drew Buck a birthday candle :) That was a new experience! The same glowing affect was distantly available in the second cave (below), only a very selfie-photo-focused fella didn’t turn off his phone screen the entire time, so his glow outshone the one we were hoping to see. 

Cave bacon :)

The second cave was different than the first, more cavernous and the levels were connected by a series of 120 stairs. I’m not sure if it was the pulse-pounding rides previously, the stories of the first cave explorers and their seeming total lack of self-preservation sensibilities, the air-tight, sealed metal and “garage” doors ahead of and behind us (with coordinating lights going out), or the climb back up the steps in the middle of the mountain—but my heart was POUNDING. The tour guide seemed a little out of breath, too, which made me feel better about my own fitness level. But I had a crazy few moments on one platform that felt like raw fear. I’ve never experienced that before, panic combined with feeling trapped. I could logically push through the feeling, thinking *this must be how people who are in actual danger must feel,* and recognized how seemingly wild or illogical actions I'd heard about in others' stories make sense to them in a “flight” type moment. I was ready to Superwoman it up the remaining stairs and rip the door off its hinges with my bare hands!

It might also have been the physical sensation of it being hard to breathe and suddenly wondering if there was enough oxygen to sustain the 20 or so of us. Again, illogical (because they wouldn’t offer 15 tours a day if that were the case). So, I sang “Jesus Loves Me,” in my head and forced myself into having normal, out-loud conversations with Buck and the boys. It was all just a few seconds, but wow, what a crazy experience! God is with us, even in the depths of the Earth. There's nowhere we can go, that He is not with us. That's a promise and a fact!

Back out of the cave, the sun was shining and all was well! We visited the gift shop, took that second Alpine ride, and then hopped the next gondola back down the mountain. 

Our hotel was about a minute away, so we came back for naps (after we reset our keys because they no longer worked in our door), a terribly burnt bag of microwave popcorn (which came after housekeeping waked in thinking the room was empty), and our first official Africa team meeting via Zoom (while Graysen played his XBOX on the TV). After that wrapped up, we headed out for Buck’s birthday dinner—burgers again, but buffalo this time! With more fried food—it seems to be everywhere in Glenwood Springs—onion rings, tempura cauliflower, even my sweet potato fries. 

For dessert we walked under the weird road bridge (that plops a highway smack dab through the middle of the original old town) to a fancy ice cream shop. Buck likes ice cream even more than he likes cake, so this was a good find! The boys and I sang him Happy Birthday while a double rainbow appeared in the sky outside the window!

After that, we relaxed at the hotel watching a Jumanji marathon on whatever TV service was included with our room. I’m glad we got to celebrate Buck’s special day in a special way—"It felt like a teenager birthday," he said. Donuts, amusement park rides, laser tag, burgers, ice cream, movie marathon . . . I guess he's right! :) 47 going on 17!