Hipwell Family Reunion - Day 0-1 {Driving, Driving, Driving… Bear!}

Finally, the Hipwell Family Reunion!  Unfortunately, it’s already been two months since the reunion and despite my best intentions I haven’t written anything down.  So hopefully the photos will jog my memory!

As much as I look forward to our family reunions, I immediately dreaded the 20-hour long drive the moment my sister booked the lodge we’d be staying in Silverthorne, Colorado.  We considered flying there; however, Denver would still be over an hour away and then we’d need to rent a van ($$$) once we got there.  So driving it was. 

We left in the morning on Friday, August 7th and arrived at my Mom’s that night.  I picked up Café Rio as we entered Herriman and Mom had made brownies to greet us when we arrived – yum!  We slept there that night and hit the road once again the next morning Colorado-bound.  I directed Justin to a gas station conveniently located near a Swig.  Justin’s first Swig experience – won’t be his last.

Perhaps I should acknowledge that the cookies were for my own personal enjoyment

Carly and Jason were the lucky two to ride in Grandma and Val’s car.  They were ahead of us until Val got pulled over, then we didn’t see them again until we got to the cabin.  It felt a little strange not to have a van full of kids.

It sure was a pretty drive into Colorado.

We were the first of the family to get to the cabin so we got settled in.  There was a note on the counter from the manager letting us know that the previous tenants had a bear in the trash every night.  Our first animal sighting that evening was our fearless fox.  

Then around 10pm, I heard a whack and suspected the bear had just thrown open the lid of the dumpster.  We ran out to the porch to have a look.  In hindsight standing on the front porch less than 15 feet from a wild animal isn’t really the smartest idea, but it really was fascinating and obvious that the bear was much more interested in his dinner than in us.

The bear actually did get on high alert, even growling, when that fox came creeping back.  We could have had our very own Animal Planet – Bear eats Fox episode had the bear not decided to just chill out.

I posted this video that night.  I laugh every time I watch it and hear my brother Ray, say “I’m on fox patrol!” and “Don’t eat the car!”