Good old what's his name (Mr. Ranch? Mr. Salad? Inigo Montoya?) started participating in triathlons a couple years ago. He participates in Olympic distance--1.5K swim, 30 mile bike, 10K run. When he does more than one a year, the kids and I sometimes don't go to all of them, but this year, since he only did one, we went to cheer him on. This race was in Loveland, Colorado, a couple of hours away, so we stayed at a hotel the night before, since we needed to be at the race for IM's 6:30 start. This year, we went up early in the morning on Friday to have a couple extra adventures.
The children scampered into the back of our dealer loaner Acura MDX (mine wasn't ready for pick up, remember the "child repellent" was being added) for about a two hour drive.
Stop #1...doesn't look like much, does it?
But wait, what is this? A blast door?
Welcome to the
Weld County Missile Silo park and "museum". I first found this place on
Road Trippers, when I was looking for "things to do in the Loveland area that we hadn't done before". Here is the insignia of the unit that used to be stationed here. There are several other painting in the entrance to the bunker.
Here's the view as at the entrance--pretty cool!
I found this sign particularly entertaining. The silo was active in the early 60's..when smoking was not only allowed, but expected (around the nuclear missile?) but not allowed in this specific room, which is now used to store county records.
This tour definitely doesn't have any bells and whistles. We were the only three people on our tour, but over the years many people have donated lots of "stuff" that should be in a museum, with the caveat that they be put in the "silo museum". Some of the things donated really should be in a museum, but the county just doesn't have the resources or interest in creating one or sending the stuff somewhere else. At the moment, most things are in the area where the missile was originally, some things in displays and some are literally just sitting around, like this barrel of drinking water, suitable for storage in your bomb shelter. Our tour guide recently retired after twenty years in the Air Force, in which his job was to supervise active missile silos,so he was an expert on how things worked and why they were set up the way they were.
Kids by the blast door...
Kids taking turns shutting the blast door. When the silo was active, there was an electronic way to open and shut the door, but like many other pieces of equipment, the military took the electronic door device when they deactivated the silo. We were the last tour of the day (tours do have to scheduled in advance) and our tour guide needed to go mow the campground. Like I said, no bells and whistles, but a great tour.
The Boy watching the door close--you can see some of the displays in the background. Our tour guide pointed out that there is a lot of cool stuff, but that the moisture in the silo does affect the displays. When the silo was in use there was a giant dehumidifier(also removed when the military left) to keep everything at the right humidity.
And here we are--over-reacting in front of a mural of the Atlas missile blasting off.
After we visited, we found this cool video of
someone else's tour--we looked for the tv segment referenced, but I haven't found it yet.
After our tour, we were famished, so we set off in search of food. We arrived a Qdoba and had a yummy lunch, during which The Boy had several Boy-isms (stay tuned for another post on those).
After lunch (what, did you think we were finished?) We proceeded to the park next to where the triathlon was scheduled--we've always seen it from across the lake and wondered what was going on over there. Apparently Loveland is famous not only for its yearly
Valentine's day postmarks, but for their
sculpture and sculpture gardens.
This fellow is near the playground--he is pretty cute!
Still not done...There is a
train. Kind of like the one at the Denver zoo, only not as roomy.
Here's my view of The Boy....
and The Girl.
Selfie....
As you may have guessed, the three of us (and another mother and her toddler) were crammed into this:
Continuing our need to do ridiculous things, here is The Girl on the playground. Please notice that it is not a sparkle unicorn, but rather a panda, her favorite animal ever.
This was one of those "huh" moments. For years, we've looked at this statue from the other side of the lake as IM ran by it. I always thought it was a pelican...clearly it is an owl. Interesting.
Not pictured is our visit to the
Loveland Visitor's Center, where we learned that we have now done everything there is to do in Loveland (ok, not really) and purchased a shot glass for IM's collection, a magnet to turn into a Christmas Ornament, and some candy, ironically made in our town.
Since we (ok, I) was tired, we retired to the hotel to change into our swim suits and play in the pool (not pictured, but here are some funny photos of The Boy doing something)
And The Girl looking at him funny...
After the kids played in the pool for a while, IM arrived and we visited 3 Margaritas for a lovely dinner, followed by some wonderful Disney channel programming and bed!
Bright and early we all headed out to the race grounds--IM is in that group somewhere--we didn't find him before the race began, but we were there, eating our bagels at this convenient picnic table.
I don't know what she is doing here...sniffing her cowbell?
Here he comes from the bike portion!
And there he goes for the run!
This is our favorite place to watch--we can see the other side of the lake and know that IM is more than half way done with the run portion. And there are ducks and swans to watch!
After the race, the kids and I headed home and I was able to pick up my new car (yay!). It was a fun weekend--easy adventures --even the surly Girl admitted she enjoyed the tour and the train ride! (And the pool, of course!). Stay tuned for more summer adventures, I'm sure we'll have some doosies for you soon!
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