Zombie Crawl

The news is out. This year's Zombie Crawl in Denver broke the record yet again with 45,000+ attendees. They collected hundreds of pounds of food for the local food bank. I'm proud to say that my family was there.

We were all dressed up as gross, grey zombies. I found this awesome tutorial on instructables for applying some fancy zombie makeup with normal household stuff. I will admit that I had to buy some colors of eye shadow that I don't normally own. Then, I found this helpful list of ways to make fake blood. We used the first recipe. Cub thought it was delicious.

We tore up our clothes and glued stuff to our faces and put eye shadow in places I'd normally never allow. That is, except for Cub. He did not want makeup on him at all. The whole process was unusual and loads of fun.

We got the clothes from the thrift store and the pile of stuff were were already going to throw out. So the kids got to go crazy, stomping things into the mud and cutting/ripping holes in things. The twins got to do some of their own makeup. We looked amazing, especially as a family.

The night before the crawl, I asked Cub what he wanted to wear. He specifically asked for a dress. So, Papa and I picked up a fluffy dress for him at the thrift store... something that would tear nicely. But, when we got it home, he fell in love with it and didn't want to ruin it. He wanted to wear it to bed. So, we picked a dress that had been retired to the play clothes box for him to soil instead.

When Papa took the twins to gymnastics the next day, some other parents were talking about the Zombie Crawl, saying they wish they could have gone. Papa said we went... and we took our kids. The other parents, a bit surprised, said they would definitely not take their kids. It would be too scary.

Our kids didn't enjoy that event, but not because it was scary. The costumes were fun and interesting. The problem was the lack of entertainment for them. 45,000+ people were there. We felt like we were being trampled more than half of the time. One end of the even was flooded with loud music and people, with nothing else of interest to be seen. We never made it to the other end of the event because of the crowd-induced chaos.

I emailed the even coordinators before we even floated the idea of attending. I asked if they thought that this would be the sort of event that kids would enjoy. Their website said there would be games, but wasn't clear about what that actually meant. I was assured that kids would love the Zombie Crawl, but probably not the "Organ Trail" scavenger hunt scheduled for earlier in the day.

We loved getting dressed up, getting dirty, getting messy, and putting crazy makeup on. The event itself was a huge flop for us. The kids only really enjoyed when we found a place to sit quietly and eat, away from the crowd. Cub probably had the least trouble with the crowd, because he was in a stroller and has no social fear. M, who tends to be much more shy, was overwhelmed but well-behaved. The twins just didn't have any fun because they couldn't go anywhere, do anything, or even see anything.

So, regardless of whether or not monster fear is an issue for your kids, I really wouldn't recommend the Zombie Crawl for children. Keep in mind that mind are 8 (S), 8 (C), 6 (M), and 2 (Cub). I saw several other kids there. Most of the kids I saw having any fun at all were probably at least 12.

Hanging Lake

Hanging Lake - joshuahicks

It's a place I've wanted to go for years. But, you know, there are places you can drive to on your day off, and there are places you can fly to on vacation. Then there are places you never go because they're somewhere in between. They're too far away to want to drive there for a day trip, but too close to justify a vacation. Hanging Lake is one of those places.

I didn't realize, when I moved to Colorado, that a lot of the beautiful places I loved when I was a kid would be on that list, actually. It was easier to go on long road trips on summer vacation to see the Rockies than it is to find the time to visit them now that I live here.

Having lived in Hawaii, I should have seen it coming. People who have been on vacation in Hawaii often ask how awesome it was to live there. Not. It was not awesome. It was expensive and the only houses I could afford to buy didn't have central AC, so it was hot. Just living there left me so broke I could barely do anything. You vacationers went to Hawaii to do things. I could not afford to do things.

Living in Colorado presents basically the same problem, but with a different currency: time.

Papa and I were finally motivated to go on this hike, 3 hours from my house. One of the ladies I went backpacking with wanted to go. She's from Texas. She moved to Colorado for school, which is pretty weird because my college is mostly populated with sensible people who live nearby. She's graduating in December, and wanted to see Hanging Lake before she goes back to Texas. Funny how it takes something like that to motivate me to do something I've been wanting to do for myself for years.

The lady we went with is a few years older than me, and was homeschooled when she was a kid. It's no surprise that we bonded while backpacking. We're both studying biology and, besides, we shared a tent.

We didn't take the kids. Hanging Lake trail is almost 2 miles long in one direction, and gains 1050 feet in elevation. About halfway up, we saw a woman being evacuated on a stretcher (with a single bicycle wheel to aid in the descent. I had never seen one of those before). Day Hikes Near Denver says, "Close to the one-mile point, you'll climb a steep staircase of rock complete with handrails. While the handrails are helpful, it would be easy for a child to slip over one. So, we'd recommend that you keep your smaller children on the inside of the steps as you ascend and hold their hand. It's a sheer drop on the other side of the handrail." ... I can't even imagine.

The hike was beautiful and fun. I'm glad we went with a friend. If you go, don't overlook the little offshoot trail called "Spouting Rock". I think people go to Hanging Lake with an end point in mind and maybe don't realize what they're missing. At the lake, you can see a lake. There are falls on the other side and the water is remarkably clear. There are little fish swimming around in it and it's mesmerizing, but it's not terribly interactive. DO NOT WALK ON THE LOG!

But at Spouting Rock... you can walk under a tall waterfall and yell at your hiking companions because the sound of the rushing water hitting the rocks is just too loud for normal communication. It's maybe not as strikingly beautiful, but it is more fun.

I took lots of pictures of the lake, but none of my pictures do it justice. It really is beautiful. I guess I was a bit disappointed that it had a boardwalk built around the edge, like so many popular hikes do. I know, these things are necessary, to preserve the natural beauty and biodiversity and all. They just aren't attractive. I was also sad to see some garbage washed under the boardwalk... *sigh* humans.

All in all, I highly recommend this hike... but maybe not for your kids (though I did see kids on the trail who were... doing okay I guess).