Holidays are the best!

I love three day weekends!  That one extra day makes such a huge difference.

We headed out to a new hiking trail on the 4th of July--Spruce Mountain in Douglas County.  It was recommended by my friend Scott.

It's a pretty small mountain by Colorado standards--about 7,500 feet which means it's an easy, family friendly hike.  The entire loop is about 5.5 miles, but somehow Irv and I missed one of the loops so we only ended up going about 4.9 miles.

The trail head starts at the base of the mountain with beautiful trees including a lot of scrub oak.

There were really cool rock formations all along the way.

White cliffs at the top that overlook some beautiful meadows that my horses would love to live in.

 

 

 

Of course you can always find nice people at the top to take your picture so you don't have to resort to a selfie with the cell phone.

 

 

Do you see Pikes Peak in the background (you may have to squint really hard).

 

 

The trek down on a service road was a little more steep than the switchbacks we took on the way up.  Of course we met several people who were running up that steep trail...crazy!

 

 

I think Irv was questioning his choice of socks that he wore with his hiking boots...something a little taller would have been more comfortable.

 

 

At the bottom the trail opened up into Spruce Meadows.  It was a lot warmer down here without any shade trees which undoubtedly encouraged me to pick up the pace.  I had my run keeper going and we were averaging about 30 minutes per mile because I was stopping to "smell the roses" and take lots of pictures.  The last couple miles were completed at a 20 minute pace.

 

 

And speaking of "stopping to smell the roses", here's some of the flowers we got to enjoy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's days like this that make me question my desire to live in Arizona, but in a few months when it's freezing outside I will remember how much I dislike the cold.

 

 

We finished our day with a delicious dinner of smoked chicken followed by s'mores over the fire pit.

 



 

Then it was time for our own fireworks display (You can do this legally when you live outside the city limits although I will admit that it scares me.)

 

 

 

 

One thing that Mr. Beans has learned from his pappy is "safety first".  There are two hoses out by the fireworks area along with shovels and other tools.  There was also all kinds of mowing done beforehand.  We take the possibility of lighting our neighbor's land on fire very seriously.  Mother Nature also helped us out with a down pour of rain earlier in the afternoon.

 

 

It was a terrific day.  I vote that we have a three day weekend every week.  Who agrees?