Rocky Mountain Highs (a non-Disney Trip Report) - COMPLETE 2/17

Chapter 4: You’d Better Cut The Pizza in Four Pieces Because I’m Not Hungry Enough To Eat Six.


We took our time coming down off of our mountain high, stopping at a few overlooks here and there to give the brakes a rest. By the time we made it to the Crystal Creek Reservoir, we were all getting hungry (despite our donuts and Heavenly Cheetos earlier) and decided it would make a good spot for lunch.


A dam on Crystal Creek forms the reservoir, which in turn provides a popular recreational fishing spot with Pikes Peak serving as a dramatic backdrop to the area. There’s a small visitor center and gift shop as well as some hiking trails nearby. All in all, it’s the prettiest dam site on the Pikes Peak Highway.


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Lunch, if you’re not familiar with our road trips, consists of peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches. This is the primary menu item because it’s portable, it’s cheap, and you can generally make it last several days even in a hot car. Between free hotel breakfasts and PB&J lunches, this helps extend the budget so we can make the trips last a little longer and hopefully see more sights along the way.


The downside, of course, is that we all get sick of PB&J after a while. But that wasn’t an issue yet.


We ate our lunch and enjoyed the view, and then we made our way down to the water’s edge. It was such a beautiful spot that we decided to do a little family photo shoot here. As you all know, in the social media age it’s very important to capture those perfect family photos so everyone will be convinced that your family is always happy, always smiling, always beautiful and never, ever has any issues concerning temper tantrums, cranky exhausted parents, cranky exhausted babies, and/or flatulence.


The 3 big kids:


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Hard to believe we had just driven to the top of that mountain back there. We were able to corral Baby Drew long enough to get him to pose as well.


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And the beautiful shiny married couple. We kept our sunglasses on so you wouldn’t see the bags under our eyes.


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And now, here’s an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the making of those perfect family photos.


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But hey, it’s all worth the effort.


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Christmas card?


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Ok, I think we’ve all seen enough of the reservoir. We can go about our business. Move along.


After what felt like an inordinately long bathroom break, we finally left and were back in Colorado Springs. The next stop was Garden of the Gods, a Colorado state park featuring several large red rock formations on the northwest side of town. Because it a) seemed very crowded, and b) the baby fell asleep in the van, we ended up just doing a quick drive-through.


This is Balanced Rock, near the south entrance. Sorry, no photos of us pretending to hold it up on our own. I’ll try and do better next time.


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And…that was it for photos until we reached the other side of the park. We found a space at the Visitor Center, where we checked out the building in shifts. Julie took Sarah and Scotty inside first while David and I sat in the van with the sleeping baby. Rule #1 of Parenting: Never, ever wake a sleeping baby.

Rule #2: Carry Ny-Quil with you.


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Our turn:


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After that brief visit, we hit the road and drove back to Denver. We had a little time to kill before dinner, so we thought this would be a good time to address Scotty’s shoe problem. We went back across the street from our hotel to the Target. At first, it wasn’t looking good. The selection wasn’t very large, and the shoes they did have were in the $50 range. We found one pair of shoes in Scotty’s size on the clearance shelf, but he didn’t like them. Finally, we found a box in his size on a different shelf that had a clearance sticker on them. They were a brownish color, but I sold them as looking like good “hiking shoes”. That seemed to do the trick. $14.95 later, we solved the shoe problem.


Thankfully, our dinner spot was not downtown. But unfortunately, we would still need to drive north on I-25. We had to go 5 miles, so we gave ourselves a half hour to get there. It took 22 minutes.


Our destination was Beaujo’s Colorado Style Pizza.


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This was another spot we’d seen on TV somewhere—maybe the Travel Channel, on Food Paradise? Their specialty is—get this—pizza. Beaujo’s is known for their unique crust—it’s thick and hand-rolled into a twisty shape, designed to hold in the mountainous toppings. After you eat the pizza, you’re supposed to take the crust and drizzle honey on it as an after-dinner treat.


As an added bonus, we were meeting a DIS friend here! Jill (@jedijill ), our aforementioned Denver-area resident and travel guide, was actually willing to be seen in public with us. So we had that going for us, which was nice.


At least, it seemed like she was willing to meet with us. We arrived at the restaurant only to get a message from her that she was running late.


So we needed to occupy ourselves. Thankfully, Baby Drew found this bike rack outside. He walked through the “tunnel” about 20 or 30 or 80 times.


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Just a little while later, we were seated and Jill arrived. We were having such a good time talking that I think the server got tired of waiting around for us to put in our order, but eventually we did. Supposedly their “5-pounder” would be enough to serve 5-6 people, so we ordered one of those.


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I don’t know about everyone else, but I think we all could have eaten more. I was expecting a Chicago-style pie, big and thick and overflowing with ingredients, but instead it was more like a normal pizza inside the rolled crust. It was good pizza. We just should have ordered a little more.

We also drizzled honey on the dough just like they told us to. And...it was ok. Not the greatest food ever, but certainly not a bad way to eat pizza crust. My kids would have just left it on the plate by itself.

Thankfully, Jill came through for us and ordered a plate of six giant choclate-chip cookies covered in ice cream. That hit the spot. Our family had no pretenses of decorum and basically devoured the cookies in about 30 seconds flat.


We had a great time that evening with Jill. It was great to see a friendly face! Thanks for dinner!


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EDIT: I forgot to tell the story of the end of our evening. We had successfully climbed a 14,000-ft. mountain and lived to tell the tale. We'd successfully replaced Scotty's shoes. And we'd had a nice meal with Jill and were content to head back to the hotel.

We did not successfully fight off altitude sickness. Most everyone was fine, but on the way back, Scotty started complaining that he was tired and didn't feel good. We tried to give him some water and get him back to the room to go to sleep, hoping that would help him recover by morning. But unfortunately, not more than 5 minutes after being put down to bed, he was up again, and in the bathroom, hunched over the sink.

I'm pretty sure all that pizza tasted better on the way down. Poor Julie spent the evening cleaning up the mess. Poor Scotty...and poor Julie.

They got better.


Coming Up Next: We venture into the Frozen Tundra…along with Batman.
 
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And the beautiful shiny married couple. We kept our sunglasses on so you wouldn’t see the bags under our eyes.


IMG_9265.jpg

There's a guy photobombing you from about 150 yards away.

And now, here’s an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the making of those perfect family photos.


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It's because you're trying to hold the baby. Babies always want to be with their moms.

Christmas card?


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If you don't use it, I will.

After what felt like an inordinately long bathroom break, we finally left and were back in Colorado Springs. The next stop was Garden of the Gods, a Colorado state park featuring several large red rock formations on the northwest side of town. Because it a) seemed very crowded, and b) the baby fell asleep in the van, we ended up just doing a quick drive-through.

We visited there pre-kids and we did the same thing!

We had a great time that evening with Jill. It was great to see a friendly face! Thanks for dinner!

Glad you got to meet up with Jill!
 
Magdalene and Alison, thanks so much for sending these!

You're welcome!

Nice pictures in front of the Reservoir! And glad you got the shoes sorted out for less than $20!

So we had that going for us, which was nice.

I see you are continuing the Bill Murray fest! :thumbsup2

Thankfully, Jill came through for us and ordered a plate of six giant choclate-chip cookies covered in ice cream.

Way to go Jill!
 
Sorry, I got a couple updates behind, but thank goodness I had the foggy memories of your podcast to keep me up to speed. o_O

Glad that you enjoyed the drive up (and down) Pike's Peak and it was not the tire that popped. :scared: When God opens a bag of Cheetos, you have to obey. :rotfl:

I am having flashbacks to old trips and I am pretty sure we drove up Pike's Peak MANY years ago (childhood) and I think I may have gone to the Garden of the Gods sometime in my young adulthood - looks familiar and I know I was in Colorado Springs at some point on some trip. Anyway, great to see all the beautiful sights, not to mention your "perfect all the time" family photos. :laughing:

Sorry your pizza wasn't better, but at least you had some good company!
 
I am so glad that I found this year's TR. I love your wit and your insight, hey who doesn't love to hear how other families struggle with the reality of family travel. You do it real but super fun- thanks for sharing again this year.

My brother was stationed at NORAD in the early 80s and often remarked how long the snow stuck around. Apparently, bikini skiing in June was a yearly occurence :). I don't think that stunk for a young airman. It was cool, as his sister, to tell friends my brother worked at the place that the War Games movie is about.

I never got to visit Colorado Springs while he was stationed there but we have talked of taking both of our families to see it.
 
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A couple of updates behind. And of course I forgot to quote anything from the Pikes Peak update.
I would probably drive but be white knuckling it the whole way.

I am glad the cheetos was the only loud noise coming from the back.

A wise choice and it looks like everyone had a good time.
Great pictures.



A dam on Crystal Creek forms the reservoir, which in turn provides a popular recreational fishing spot with Pikes Peak serving as a dramatic backdrop to the area. There’s a small visitor center and gift shop as well as some hiking trails nearby. All in all, it’s the prettiest dam site on the Pikes Peak Highway.

Dam nice.

Christmas card?

Absolutely. You have lunch in the prettiest places.

So we needed to occupy ourselves. Thankfully, Baby Drew found this bike rack outside. He walked through the “tunnel” about 20 or 30 or 80 times.

Just because he can and no else can.

We had a great time that evening with Jill. It was great to see a friendly face! Thanks for dinner!

Nice to have a friendly face with dinner :thumbsup2

We did not successfully fight off altitude sickness. Most everyone was fine, but on the way back, Scotty started complaining that he was tired and didn't feel good. We tried to give him some water and get him back to the room to go to sleep, hoping that would help him recover by morning. But unfortunately, not more than 5 minutes after being put down to bed, he was up again, and in the bathroom, hunched over the sink.


:sick: Poor Scotty.

After that brief visit, we hit the road and drove back to Denver. We had a little time to kill before dinner, so we thought this would be a good time to address Scotty’s shoe problem. We went back across the street from our hotel to the Target. At first, it wasn’t looking good. The selection wasn’t very large, and the shoes they did have were in the $50 range. We found one pair of shoes in Scotty’s size on the clearance shelf, but he didn’t like them. Finally, we found a box in his size on a different shelf that had a clearance sticker on them. They were a brownish color, but I sold them as looking like good “hiking shoes”. That seemed to do the trick. $14.95 later, we solved the shoe problem.

:thumbsup2:thumbsup2 Best shoes EVER!!!!! :rotfl2:
 


You got some great family pictures! You can't really do better in the scenery department. :) I was just at Garden of the Gods a couple of weeks ago. Sadly we had an 8 year old throwing a tantrum. Oh fun!

I felt so bad for running late! I thought I was being smart and taking the back way to stay off I-25...turns out a lot of other people had the same idea and it took way longer than I expected.

Dinner with you guys was great! So glad you took time out of your vacation to meet up! I liked the pizza but it wasn't nearly as filling as I'd heard. Glad I tried it though! I actually lived 2 blocks away from that place for 3 years and that was the first time I ate there. Those chocolate chip cookies didn't last long at all! They were tasty.

Love the swag that Alison and Magdalena sent you! Very sweet of both of them.

Jill in CO
 
There's a guy photobombing you from about 150 yards away.

Yeah, we waited a long time and he just wouldn't move. I was hoping to hear him yell, "Here, fishy, fishy fishy!"

It's because you're trying to hold the baby. Babies always want to be with their moms.

True story. Dad is low man on the totem pole right from the start.

If you don't use it, I will.

I'd love to see the look on your friends' faces!:rotfl2:

We visited there pre-kids and we did the same thing!

No hiking for you!

Glad you got to meet up with Jill!

We were too! She was great to hang out with.

You're welcome!

Nice pictures in front of the Reservoir! And glad you got the shoes sorted out for less than $20!

Thanks! We were so worried we'd have to shell out $50 for a temporary pair of shoes. Dodged a bullet there.

I see you are continuing the Bill Murray fest! :thumbsup2

+1:thumbsup2
You could do a lot worse!

Way to go Jill!

::yes::
 
Sorry, I got a couple updates behind, but thank goodness I had the foggy memories of your podcast to keep me up to speed. o_O

What would you do without my nasally voice droning on in your memory?:rotfl2:

Glad that you enjoyed the drive up (and down) Pike's Peak and it was not the tire that popped. :scared: When God opens a bag of Cheetos, you have to obey. :rotfl:

That seems to be the rule of the road around these parts.

I am having flashbacks to old trips and I am pretty sure we drove up Pike's Peak MANY years ago (childhood) and I think I may have gone to the Garden of the Gods sometime in my young adulthood - looks familiar and I know I was in Colorado Springs at some point on some trip. Anyway, great to see all the beautiful sights, not to mention your "perfect all the time" family photos. :laughing:

Those seem to be the popular stops in the area, so I imagine they would be the places you visited!

Sorry your pizza wasn't better, but at least you had some good company!

The pizza was pretty good, there just wasn't enough of it. We all thought it would be more filling.

I am so glad that I found this year's TR. I love your wit and your insight, hey who doesn't love to hear how other families struggle with the reality of family travel. You do it real but super fun- thanks for sharing again this year.

:welcome: Pam! Glad you found me here. Thanks for the kind words. I'm glad you enjoy reading about our struggles. :rotfl2::rotfl:

My brother was stationed at NORAD in the early 80s and often remarked how long the snow stuck around. Apparently, bikini skiing in June was a yearly occurence :). I don't think that stunk for a young airman. It was cool, as his sister, to tell friends my brother worked at the place that the War Games movie is about.

Bikini skiing?? Why wasn't I told about this??:lmao:

I can see where that would be cool. You could say he was playing Global Thermonuclear War all day long.

I never got to visit Colorado Springs while he was stationed there but we have talked of taking both of our families to see it.

Sounds like a plan! Get on it!
 
All in all, it’s the prettiest dam site on the Pikes Peak Highway
Would you like to borrow Tim's whip?
Pretty sure that horse might still have a kick or two left in it.


We kept our sunglasses on so you wouldn’t see the bags under our eyes.
Never mind the bloodshot condition of the whites.
Oh, and nice choice of shirts given the day's transportation assignment.
(bonus points for that one).


here’s an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the making of those perfect family photos.
This has been a public service announcement.


We can go about our business. Move along.
These aren't the dam waters you're looking for.


no photos of us pretending to hold it up on our own.
Another public service...


I sold them as looking like good “hiking shoes”.
Nice bit of obfuscation there.


We had to go 5 miles, so we gave ourselves a half hour to get there. It took 22 minutes.
Figured out the finer points of the system, I see.


our aforementioned Denver-area resident and travel guide, was actually willing to be seen in public with us.
No reputation to protect?


So we had that going for us, which was nice.
We have a pool and a lake...
The lake would be good for you.


Thankfully, Baby Drew found this bike rack outside. He walked through the “tunnel” about 20 or 30 or 80 times.
Rule#3 of parenting...
"I don't care if it looks like a severe case of OCD, don't interrupt him, he entertained!"


Jill came through for us and ordered a plate of six giant choclate-chip cookies covered in ice cream
Never mind the pizza, there's a proper supper.


hunched over the sink.
Wrong fixture! Aim for the big low one! The other one, the other one!


Poor Julie spent the evening cleaning up the mess.
A real knight in shining armor, you are...



They got better.
Good thing it wasn't that pesky newt spell.
 
Mark, sorry I am a bit tardy again. Between my other site and packing up boxes to move in two months, life is hectic right now.

Aren't Disney friends awesome? We've got something going on for my brother and so many have been so thoughtful. And I love when you get a surprise in the mail...very special.

Gorgeous pictures as you enjoyed your picnic lunch of PBJ sandwiches (which, by the way, I'd have a real problem with...I don't like them; so remind me not to let you adopt me :rotfl:).

I love the group photos...kids, then adults, then all of you trying to get settled in for a family picture. No...not Christmas card material...you guys are a bit too far away.

:cheer2::cheer2::cheer2::cheer2: for a DIS meet with Jill. Mark and I are having dinner with her our last night in Disney in October and I can't wait to meet her. The pizza looks good, but certainly doesn't look large enough for your family. How nice of Jill to order cookies with ice cream...sweet.

Poor Scotty not feeling well. And even more so, poor Julie. You guys just can't catch a break with those kids and getting sleep.
 
Moving stinks. I still have boxes to unpack. :) Purging is your friend! Amazing how much stuff you accumulate over the years!

Can't wait to meet you and Mark in October!

Jill in CO
 
A couple of updates behind. And of course I forgot to quote anything from the Pikes Peak update.
I would probably drive but be white knuckling it the whole way.

It really wasn't that bad. The Hana Highway was in much worse shape.

I am glad the cheetos was the only loud noise coming from the back.

From the front, however...

A wise choice and it looks like everyone had a good time.
Great pictures.

Thanks!:goodvibes

Dam nice.

It never gets old! :rotfl:

Absolutely. You have lunch in the prettiest places.

We have crappy lunches in the prettiest places.:rotfl2:

Just because he can and no else can.

He was having a great time!

Nice to have a friendly face with dinner :thumbsup2

Yes, it was! I didn't even mention the classic Mustang she drove in.

:sick: Poor Scotty.

Maybe not his best night. Stay hydrated, people!

Best shoes EVER!!!!! :rotfl2:

Whatever works. You know how it is when you're a parent.

You got some great family pictures! You can't really do better in the scenery department. :) I was just at Garden of the Gods a couple of weeks ago. Sadly we had an 8 year old throwing a tantrum. Oh fun!

Like I said, we fell in love with Colorado very quickly!

Did you leave the kid there?:rotfl2:

I felt so bad for running late! I thought I was being smart and taking the back way to stay off I-25...turns out a lot of other people had the same idea and it took way longer than I expected.

You were fine. We could see how bad traffic was, so it was totally understandable. We weren't in any hurry!

Dinner with you guys was great! So glad you took time out of your vacation to meet up! I liked the pizza but it wasn't nearly as filling as I'd heard. Glad I tried it though! I actually lived 2 blocks away from that place for 3 years and that was the first time I ate there. Those chocolate chip cookies didn't last long at all! They were tasty.

Yeah, I was expecting a heavier meal, too. It tasted good, we just needed more of it. Now we know!

Love the swag that Alison and Magdalena sent you! Very sweet of both of them.

They are awesome! I'm such an Imagineering geek, that made me happy to no end.
 
Would you like to borrow Tim's whip?
Pretty sure that horse might still have a kick or two left in it.

But that joke never gets old!

Never mind the bloodshot condition of the whites.
Oh, and nice choice of shirts given the day's transportation assignment.
(bonus points for that one).

Hey, thanks. I'm glad you noticed. Dave likes it when he and I sport the same shirt. Seemed appropriate for that drive.

This has been a public service announcement.

Isn't that why you're all here?

These aren't the dam waters you're looking for.

+1:thumbsup2 See? Doesn't get old.

Another public service...

Too cliche?

Nice bit of obfuscation there.

Whatever works. Gotta put the positive spin on it.

Figured out the finer points of the system, I see.

If nothing else, we learn from our mistakes.

No reputation to protect?

You'd have to ask her. We were as surprised as anyone.

We have a pool and a lake...
The lake would be good for you.

This your place, Carl? It's really....awful.

Rule#3 of parenting...
"I don't care if it looks like a severe case of OCD, don't interrupt him, he entertained!"

::yes:: Words to live by.

Never mind the pizza, there's a proper supper.

It certainly hit the spot.

Wrong fixture! Aim for the big low one! The other one, the other one!

Yeah, that didn't quite work out the way it should have.

A real knight in shining armor, you are...

I was told to run interference with the kids. I do what I'm told.

Good thing it wasn't that pesky newt spell.

+1:thumbsup2 Got better from that, too.

Mark, sorry I am a bit tardy again. Between my other site and packing up boxes to move in two months, life is hectic right now.

Well, that's certainly understandable. It's hard to believe the long-planned move to Florida is actually happening!

Sorry about the other site. I honestly keep forgetting about it. It's been one of those out of sight, out of mind things.

Aren't Disney friends awesome? We've got something going on for my brother and so many have been so thoughtful. And I love when you get a surprise in the mail...very special.

Disney friends are amazing! They went above and beyond.

Gorgeous pictures as you enjoyed your picnic lunch of PBJ sandwiches (which, by the way, I'd have a real problem with...I don't like them; so remind me not to let you adopt me :rotfl:).

You can still come along if you bring your own lunch.

I love the group photos...kids, then adults, then all of you trying to get settled in for a family picture. No...not Christmas card material...you guys are a bit too far away.

We might not have as many good ones to choose from this year. We struggled getting some that were framed right, or where you could see all of our faces, etc.

:cheer2::cheer2::cheer2::cheer2: for a DIS meet with Jill. Mark and I are having dinner with her our last night in Disney in October and I can't wait to meet her. The pizza looks good, but certainly doesn't look large enough for your family. How nice of Jill to order cookies with ice cream...sweet.

Awesome! You will love meeting Jill. How cool that you can meet at Disney!

Poor Scotty not feeling well. And even more so, poor Julie. You guys just can't catch a break with those kids and getting sleep.

It does seem to be our lot in life. We'll sleep someday. Maybe.
 
Beautiful pics.

The National Park Service celebrated their 99th birthday on the 25th. Thank you US Grant for dedicating the first NP (Yellowstone), Teddy Rosevelt for creating the NP system and greatly expanding the number of NPs, and Woodrow Wilson for establishing the National Park Service. Without their initiatives, who knows what those beautiful spaces would look like now. So endith the history lesson.

Oh, and glad the shoes were replaced.
 
Beautiful pics.

The National Park Service celebrated their 99th birthday on the 25th. Thank you US Grant for dedicating the first NP (Yellowstone), Teddy Rosevelt for creating the NP system and greatly expanding the number of NPs, and Woodrow Wilson for establishing the National Park Service. Without their initiatives, who knows what those beautiful spaces would look like now. So endith the history lesson.

I remember when Ken Burns did his documentary on the National Parks, they called it "America's Best Idea". And I found myself having a hard time arguing with that.

Oh, and glad the shoes were replaced.

We were, too.
 
I suck so bad at DISsing. I forgot to subscribe, wondered why I wasn't getting notifications and it took Marv to help me figure out that I've been screwing up in the Hit-Up-Mark's-TR Dept. I have tomorrow off and will try to catch up. So sorry!!!
 
I suck so bad at DISsing. I forgot to subscribe, wondered why I wasn't getting notifications and it took Marv to help me figure out that I've been screwing up in the Hit-Up-Mark's-TR Dept. I have tomorrow off and will try to catch up. So sorry!!!

Don't worry! That's actually much better than reading, "So I was kinda bored by your TR and just gave up altogether.":rotfl2: I'm glad you're back!
 
More gorgeous pictures. ::yes:: PB&J seems to taste a lot better when the ambiance is so nice! :goodvibes That pizza looks pretty good in the pictures.......... sorry it didn't quite do the trick for you. So cool that you got to do a DISmeet though, and top off the meal with the chocolate chip cookies a la mode! Hard to beat THAT! :thumbsup2

I never knew getting a good deal on stylish hiking shoes could have a negative impact on one's digestive system. :confused3 Making a mental note for future reference......just in case! :rolleyes1
 

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