Summer Adventure

We decided to take a family trip to Denver, CO, and up to Rocky Mountain National Park as our summer adventure. We chose this location for a few reasons. The first being that the flight is about 4 hours. We have mastered the 3.5 hr flight and wanted to stretch our 2 year old a little further to see how he would do. And good news is he did wonderful and we are confident he will survive a longer flight whenever we decide to take one! The second reason was that we wanted to start visiting our national parks. The kids love being outside and hiking and what better way to see our own country then by doing just that! And the last reason that really got us booking things was that a direct flight to denver opened up from our favorite, close, small airport. It was the biggest win for us and just felt meant to be!

Colorado was so much more than we ever expected! It was so flat and the mountains were so big and it was more than I could have ever imagined. Driving in and around Denver, and all of the way up to Rocky Mountain National Park was easy! For a major city it was so simple to explore in and around it. More simple than any other city we have visited thus far. We were able to visit Dinosaur Ridge Trail and Red Rocks Park easily! We even went into the city to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science which was so big and had so much for the kids to do! We then ventured up towards the park. The 1.5 hr drive up to Estes Park feels so short because you spend the entire trip in awe of the views. The kids didn't ask for their tablets they just took pictures of everything they were seeing out their windows and kept an eye out for animals! Estes park is the cutest mountain town with tons of free parking, shops and restaurants, and even a free trolley to drop you off and pick you up as you explore the town. We mostly opted for the river walk that had musical instruments along it for the kids to play.

Our experience in Rocky Mountain National Park was amazing. We hiked around Bear Lake, saw Elk walk right through the parking lot, and the kids became Junior Rangers all on our first day. On day 2 we drove Trail Ridge Road and stopped as often as we could! We experienced the Alpine tundra and it was like nothing I have ever seen or experienced before. The drive was amazing and we can't wait to go back and explore again.

Overall it was a wonderful trip! The kids cried when we were leaving and wanted to be sure we would go back to visit again!

My hope is to give a better breakdown of our trip planning, where we stayed, our itinerary and what we loved most! But for now here is just a quick summary of our adventure!