Colorado and Rocky Mountain National Park

So the point of driving to Colorado (instead of flying out of Utah) was twofold. We wanted to see Rocky Mountain National Park (bust due to snow) and see Chris' sister and her family (not a bust!). They bought a house a few years ago and we had never seen it and the kids had gotten to spend more time with Tessa (cousin) last year than in previous years so they were really excited to spend time with her. 

The drive to Colorado was our longest one yet...6 hours. We decided to stop in Vail halfway to walk around, grab ice cream and see a new place. It was a very cool town. 

It looked like a little Bavarian town and people just skied right off the mountain and walked into restaurants to eat and take a break. I'm not sure I could hang here, but it would be a cool place to visit for longer (and without kids).

We continued driving to Estes Park (right outside RMNP) and went to Rockcut Brewery for dinner. The kids played board games while eating pizza and Chris tried some beers.

Ben passed out in the car on the way there. The only time any of the kids slept in the car...

That night we stayed at the Estes Park YMCA based off Erika's recommendation and the kids loved it! It is definitely a place I could see coming to for a longer period of time in better weather. The kids immediately hit up the playground while we unloaded.

 

Then we went to the roller rink.

After 7:30 the lights went out, which the kids thought was fun. Jane's skate wheels even lit up.

After that we played basketball for a bit.

The kids thought it was hilarious that they each got their own water fountain.

Chris drilled a 3 on his first shot.

Then we headed to bed and woke up to snow! Rocky Mountain NP got 8 inches overnight. They were plowing roads but the roads were not super safe. The hikes obviously were super deep in fresh powder and we had leggings and tennis shoes with us. We went in to the park to try it anyway.

We got to the first switchback on Bear Lake Road before turning around and deciding to do something else. No one would have had fun, visibility was poor, and the kids were tired after so much hiking already. We did get to see elk (which we thought were donkeys until we were told otherwise).

We drove to Denver. We wanted to tour the mint but tickets were sold out for that day so we toured the Capitol instead.

The kids didn't care too much for the tour but we did get to see both of Colorado's legislative bodies in action, which I thought was cool, and got to go up into the dome.

From there we hit up Tessa's local library (while Chris ran out to a nearby brewery).

And then we got to see Tessa, Uncle Jonathan, and Auntie Erika! The kids were so, so excited.

Uncle Johnny and Auntie Erika were such gracious hosts (thank you!) even though our crew was huge.

Rosie and Ben loved playing with Obie, but poor Obie was exhausted after they wore him out with a laser pointer (Rosie calls it the "kitty light"). We didn't get to see Boo until the kids were all in bed.

They watched a movie together.

Delicious pancakes for breakfast courtesy of Uncle Johnny.

Then we headed to Wash Park before we took off for the airport. I had been here once before when I visited Erika when Tessa was born.

Then it was back to the land of escalators and elevators and moving walkways.

The flight home was much shorter. Gaby picked us up at the airport (thank you!) and then we drove straight home after dropping her off. Everyone was so tired and slept in the next day. I feel like it took us a week to recover. 

It really was a great trip - lots of fun memories made together. We will probably do a few less ambitious things though before doing something similar again!