One of my new year’s resolutions was to blog at least once a month. This feels a little like cheating since this is a catch-up post, but hanging out with friends last night we were talking about travel and my friend was asking for links for our Colorado trip last year and I realized I never wrote about that one! So here we go!
Memorial weekend 2021 we took Drake to Colorado for the long weekend to celebrate the end of school. We flew from BHM to Colorado Springs. Due to delays, we got in really late so it was pretty cool to wake up in the morning and see the mountains out of the hotel window.
Day 1: Colorado Springs Attractions
Since we were only there for a couple of days, we rented a car and mapped out a route to pack in as many sites and adventures as possible! Our first stop was Garden of the Gods. It’s really close to town and easy to get to. I will say that if we had more time and Drake was a little older we would have done more hiking here. The views were incredible and you could easily spend days there!
After Garden of the Gods, we drove up to the top of Pike’s Peak. Because of Covid and maybe construction (?), the Cog Railway was closed so we drove ourselves up to allllllmost the top. We got lucky because bad weather started to come in about 30 minutes after we got to the “top” so we were still able to take in the views and have a family-friendly snowball fight (Drake’s favorite part of the trip!). We were also looking forward to getting a donut from Pikes Peak Summit House but it was also closed at the time which was a total bummer. So if you go when they are open, you gotta try them and let me know!
Due to the weather, they closed the mountain so we headed back to town and stopped and toured Manitou Cliff Dwellings which was pretty cool to see.
After a quick bite, we then started the one-hour drive to our riverside yurt. Cañon City is a mecca for adventure and activities along the Royal Gorge and Royal River. The boys were so pumped about the yurt. It was actually pretty cool. It had a cement floor with a queen bed, and a loft with another queen bed. All of the yurts come with a large yeti cooler, a gas grill, and a gas fire pit. Since we were only there for two nights, we didn’t cook there since that would involve getting groceries plus we didn’t have any cookware, but there were lots of people there in RVs or who were staying for the week and had quite elaborate setups. There were several outhouses and the main bathhouse. All of which were very well maintained. Phew, I am tired just typing out everything we did on the first day but that’s how we roll!
Day 2: White Water Rafting and Dinner Train
We got up early and drove about 15 minutes into town to do a half-day rafting trip. This was so much fun! I have rafted all over the world and been through some pretty intense rapids. This was definitely a more family-friendly route but it was the perfect introduction for Drake. Starting this whole parenting thing mid-stream, I am still getting the hang of it but it is so cool to see the world through his eyes and be able to give him these kinds of experiences. Leading up to this adventure he didn’t seem too thrilled about going rafting, saying we are going to die, etc. lol, but by the end, he said he wanted to go again so that made my adventurous heart happy!
After rafting, we went back to the yurt to warm up, nap, and then head out for a dinner train ride through the gorge. While the food was eh, this was really fun and the train went right by our yurt which was pretty cool.
Day 3: Mosca Glamping
Around noon the next day, we left Cañon City and drove two hours south to Mosca to go to the Sand Dunes National Park. This was the genesis of our trip. About 6 months prior to this trip, one of my friends had posted pics from the Dunes and I knew we had to go! Unfortunately, it was pouring down rain when we got to Mosca so we couldn’t go to the dunes and instead went straight to the Rustic Rook Resort. This was definitely a glamping situation. We had a canvas tent with a cot and a wood-burning stove. Now this place is in the middle of nowhere so I am very glad that I ordered the burger dinner from the resort to have when we arrived. It was a pretty good deal and tasty. They give you all the food and serving ware and we cooked on the grills by our tent. Thankfully the weather cleared up that evening and that’s when we could see the gorgeous mountain views surrounding us. We also enjoyed cooking s’mores with campers and Drake got to run around with a bunch of other kiddos.
Day 4: Sand Dunes National Park
On our last day, we woke up to very sunny skies and knew we were going to have to book it to see the Dunes before driving back to the airport three hours away. I gotta say, the Dunes did not disappoint! It was super cool. We had hoped to try out the sandboarding but because of the rain the night before it was too wet. But as you can see, we still had a lot of fun and we left wanting more!
