Trowbridge Family Reunion

Sorry for the radio silence over the last several days, but Joe and I have been on a whirlwind vacation to Montrose, Colorado for a family reunion with my Mom's side of the family.  For the last 20 years or so, the Trowbridge family has gotten together every other summer to visit, catch up and have fun with everyone since we always seem to be spread across the entire country.  Each reunion is planned by one of the 6 Trowbridge siblings, and the locations they pick are always beautiful and memorable.  Over the years our group grew to include Mimi and Papa, 12 aunts and uncles, and 20 grand kids (ranging in age from 28 to 5!)  Papa hasn't been with us since 2008, but his love of the mountains, nature and visiting new places that he instilled in his children has been passed down to all the grand kids and is still very evident every time we all get together.  We all miss Papa, and I know he'd be happy to see the tradition continue.

As I mentioned, this year's reunion was held in Montrose, Colorado which is west of Colorado Springs by about 4 hours.  Joe and I left home at 4:00 am last Wednesday morning and drove 13.5 hours to Montrose. We missed the first 2 days of the reunion, but still had a blast seeing everyone for the last couple days.  Each morning started off with a walk down to a little coffee shop for breakfast.  On Wednesday, a group of the guys went on a guided fly fishing trip, and from what I hear they were pretty successful!  But it was catch and release, so we didn't get to enjoy the fish they caught.  It was Joe's first time fly fishing and, he caught 7 that day.  While they were fishing, the rest of us explored downtown Montrose, then had lunch at the hotel before heading to a city park.  We played some frisbee and basketball, and Grace and I hiked to the top of the hill to get some great views of Montrose.  In the evenings we hung out by the hotel pool, played bocce ball, and ate some tasty food the parents prepared while letting us "kids" play.  Of course at those times, I am more than happy to still be considered part of the kids group :)

On Friday, several of the family members left for home and the group of us that remained made a trip to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.  It was a little bit of a scary drive to the bottom (16% grade!) but the canyon was absolutely beautiful!  We hiked around the river for a little bit, then drove back up to the canyon rim for some more scenic views.  Compared to the Grand Caynon, the Black Canyon is pretty small, but it was still stunning.  Friday night we went out to dinner in Montrose then played a couple board games before heading to bed.  Saturday morning we went to the coffee shop one more time before Joe and I hit the road for the long drive home.  We had such a great time seeing everyone and catching up on lost time.  We hadn't seen some our family since the last reunion in South Dakota two years ago!  We missed the aunts, uncles, and cousins who weren't able to make it this year, but look forward to seeing you sometime soon.

Now, I have to admit that I was TERRIBLE about taking pictures of the actual family at the family reunion.  I've got a few, but mostly there are pictures of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison.  I hope you enjoy the pictures I did get and I'll try and put a little caption about each one.

The littlest Trowbridge, Rebecca.  She was pretending to be a whale :)  

Adeline, Patrick, Joe and Grace playing bocce ball.

(Seated L-R) Patrick, Dad, Adeline, Kate, Lila, Grace, Thomas, Mimi, Charlie.  Good job to Mimi for being the only one smiling!

Grace at the top of the hill in the Montrose city park.  There was a frisbee golf course that went all the way too the top of the hill!

View from the top of the hill.

 

Can you find the prairie dog?  Grace spotted him on our hike down the hill.

The Gunnison River.  

Patrick.  Contemplating the great questions of life. :)

Mom.  Looking for some fish. :)

Hi, Gracie!  This makes up for the lack of pictures of you at the Robinson reunion.

The Black Canyon of the Gunnison, as seen from the bottom.  This was a relatively "shallow" portion of the canyon.

L-R: Andrew, Joe, Grace, Uncle Vaughn.

Can you spot Michael?  He was king of the rock.

View of the canyon from the top.

The river seen from the canyon rim.

I was a little nervous looking down into the canyon.

Joe and me, living on the edge.

 

Mary and Michael at the top.

This was a view from our car on the drive home.

A screen shot of our Garmin at the top of Monarch Pass.  It was a long climb to the top which is along the Continental Divide.  

View from near the top of Monarch Pass.

I guess that's it for tonight!  Again, we loved seeing everyone who was there and missed those who weren't.  In other news, I've got a fun cake planned for this weekend.  I hope it turns out as cool as it looks in my head :)  Either way, it will make an appearance on the blog.  Have a great week!