Last Minute Labor Day in Laramie

I love college towns. I love that atmosphere, the people, and all that comes with being a college town. When I told Marshall that I really wanted to go somewhere for Labor Day weekend, I wasn't expecting to visit two college towns. But, that is exactly what happened. Last minute plans are often the best - no big expectations - just being together as a family for a new experience.

We left Friday after work (my work sent us home early which was very nice). We booked a last minute hotel on Hotwire (for $60) in Fort Collins for Friday night. We ended up at the Hilton next to the CSU campus. We got Runza (I've always wanted to go to this Colorado Runza) and then the kids hit the pool. For as much as we travel, we rarely stay in hotels so this was a treat for the kids.

We got up on Saturday and grabbed a snack and coffee at the Starbucks in the lobby and took off for Laramie via historic downtown Fort Collins. I had always wanted to see their cute downtown, but didn't realize that the Tour de Fat was going on Saturday in downtown Fort Collins. It took us an hour to get out of town, but we got to see a lot of Fort Collins and the boys enjoyed keeping their eyes out for the crazy bikes.

After picking up Matthew and the climbing gear, we headed to Vedauwoo outside of Laramie to do some climbing. Under the expert guidance of Uncle Matt, D-man (and Marshall) were able to climb the rock formations. Of course, we didn't think about telling D-man how to get down, so Matt had to go get him. T-man enjoyed exploring the rocks and climbing around where we had camped out.

D-man climbing under the watchful eye of Uncle Matt

beautiful Vedauwoo

our little rock climber

climbing the rocks

That night, we got a sitter for T-man and we headed to the Wyoming/Southern Wyoming football game. It was the first night game at War Memorial Stadium in quite a few years. It was a beautiful night and Wyoming enjoyed their first victory of the season.  I took D-man home at half time, but he thoroughly enjoyed the cannon, the game, and seeing the marching band. It's funny that with Nebraska, Colorado and WSU allegiances, his first college game was at Wyoming.

D-man's first Division I football game - Go Cowboys!

Yo bro!

On Sunday, we enjoyed going out to a local diner for breakfast, checking out the rail yard (it scared me to death when the train went under us), and exploring downtown. The boys and I headed home Sunday afternoon so Marshall could enjoy some alone time with his bro. The boys were great and even though D-man was not feeling well, this last minute Labor Day in Laramie was just perfect.

Uncle Matt giving the signal to blow the whistle (they did)

Yup - the train goes RIGHT under ya!