Is time flying by or is it just me? All of a sudden, I’m freelance writing for a prolific travel influencer, fielding 2-3 interviews per week for my recent novel (Keeper 829), preparing for two Cultural Excursions (San Antonio & Mexico), writing my 2nd fiction book, planning a cross-country US road trip for a client, revamping a website for another client, and beta reading for a fellow author. Did I mention, I’m also in Graduate School? Any chance of to discuss our family-friendly adventures is a nice reprieve from the chaos.
We took at quick weekend trip to Colorado this past December. Much like our trip to Oregon we winged it when it came to planning, relying heavily on local advice. If you want to learn more about how that went in Oregon, click here. While we had a couple hard plans, most of the trip just came together.
Read on to learn about how we turned these family-friendly adventures into an enriching travel schooling experience.
Why did we pick Colorado?
We didn’t have any plans to go to Colorado in 2021. However, COVID-19 changed everything. While we were planning our fall travels, we realized that we still had flight credit left. We looked for the cheapest flights…
Colorado Springs, here we come!
Happy Birthday, Sarah!
Sarah’s birthday is in early December, so we did try to find something cool to do around that timeframe. It worked out perfectly that the cheapest flights (within our credit) happened to be her birthday weekend. Amanda busily looked for some special trip inclusions to make our little girl’s trip memorable. Of course, I looked for educational opportunities.
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From a horse-drawn carriage up the slopes to one of the biggest paleontological sites in the United States, we both successfully accomplished our pursuits. It is important to note that we had hoped to ski (well, snowboard), but two days is cutting it really close since many of the ski resorts are over an hour drive from Denver and further from Colorado Springs.
Planning our family-friendly adventures
Planning for family-friendly adventures can be stressful. This is especially true when you’re going somewhere that typically has a different climate than your home base. That was the case for us with Colorado, granted we came to find that it was unseasonably warm when we arrived.
We opted to keep with our typical packing method—one backpack per person. With Adrian (16 months at the time), we were authorized a diaper bag, as well. We wore our heavy clothes as usual and our light jackets, while we strapped our winter coats to the outside of our backpacks. We did check our stroller and car seats for the babies.
Side Note: We thought our BabyTrend Jogging Stroller was too large to go through security. Later, we found out that TSA allowed us to take it through, along with Sarah’s booster seat. We gate-checked the baby stuff when boarding, which made walking through the airport and picking up our stuff upon landing much easier.
Traveling with kids
When traveling with kids, it is important to consider your kids’ ages. This can impact your budget (many places offer free admission to kids 3 and under), what size of rental car you need, and the type of attractions you can attend. For example, Broadway shows are typically not open to children under the age of 4.
Ensure you plan for inclement weather when traveling with children, as well. We took an evening horse-drawn sleigh ride up the ski slopes in Breckinridge on Day 2. Luckily for us, the operator provided heavy blankets since it was even colder than we expected, and our little ones were quite cold even with their large winter coats.
Educational family-friendly adventures
Our favorite way to travel is traveling to learn. Leveraging educational opportunities gives us a new perspective of the destination we are traveling in. It opens our minds and gives us a broader perspective where we are readily accepting of new information. This makes for some enriching and fulfilling family-friendly adventures. Here are some of the highlights!
Where is the best place to see dinosaurs?
As the nation’s #1 dinosaur tracksite, Dinosaur Ridge was the perfect stop for a budding paleontologist. This site, just outside of Denver, is the home of the world’s first Stegosaurus discovery and more than 300 dinosaur tracks from the Cretaceous Period. Visitors will find tons of trace fossils, Jurassic dinosaur bones, and plenty of guided options to enhance your experience.
Pro Tip: Parking is free, and you can find most of the information online without purchasing the guide. The trail has no facilities, so use the restroom by the Gift Shop and bring your own water and snacks. Wear comfortable walking shoes.
We purchased the a family guide which had site-specific information for Sarah to read. The free map guided us up the Dinosaur Ridge Trail which heads up a spur in the hills and works around the back into a valley. Along the way, we stopped at a number of informative labels and sites where we learned about paleontology, geology, and the implications of the found fossils.
Where can you pan for gold?
A great way to learn about U.S. history while in Colorado is to explore the unique culture surrounding the mining industry. As you take IH-70 west out of Denver, you will come across a number of small towns and municipalities. Many of these were established during the various Gold and Silver Rushes. In Idaho Springs, you take a 45-minute tour into an active gold mine at Argo Gold Mill and Tunnel.
We highly recommend this site on your list of family-friendly adventures. The workers were so kind and accommodating. While we didn’t have time to tour the mine, we did pan for gold. This 20-minute demonstration included instruction on how to pan, anecdotes telling how the mining industry impacted communities, and guaranteed real gold flakes with each pan.
The kind ladies gave Sarah extra gold in her pan and a goodie bag full of pyrite after finding out it was her birthday!
Pro Tip: Take a photo with one of the workers, then go enjoy house-made Root Beer and delicious food at Tommyknocker Brewery & Pub. Show the picture and get 10% off your meal.
Petrified by those trees
After a stay near Breckenridge, we took the locally-recommended “back loop” to Colorado Springs. This gave us some breathtaking views of the prairies on the other end of the foothills. A short detour off of SH-24, the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument is a great place to learn about the past while gazing at living history.
This destination consists of multiple walking loops where you can walk amidst petrified stumps, interactive exhibits in the visitors center, and a recreated settlement site. The petrified redwood stumps let us take a step into the past, as we view remains of prehistoric Colorado. These stumps are as large as 14-feet wide.
Florissant Fossil Beds is part of the National Parks Service and requires an admission fee to enter. There are multiple annual pass options available for free or at discounted rates to military, seniors, and 4th-graders.
Gardening with the Gods
West of Colorado Springs, the Garden of the Gods Park is a strong reminder of why the country is known as “America the Beautiful.” This registered National Natural Landmark offers dramatic views of towering sandstone rock formations, some extending 300-feet-tall. These amazing formations are fantastic examples of erosion and geological processes, illuminating the true majesty of natural effects on the shape of our world.
The Visitor & Nature Center and museum hosts interactive exhibits and a glass-enclosed café where you can enjoy a bite while overlooking Pikes Peak and Garden of the Gods. We highly recommend Garden of the Gods for one of your family-friendly adventures, especially for those on a budget. You can explore the entire park by foot, bicycle, or car for free!
Garden of the Gods Park offers a number of educational opportunities for a fee. These can be found on their daily schedule. Don’t forget to let your kids participate in the Junior Ranger program. This will give them an interactive way to learn about the site in an enjoyable way.
Don’t forget to travel mindfully
Our trip to Colorado was one of our most memorable family-friendly adventures. From scaling the Keystones to the Continental Divide to reveling at indigenous cave dwellings carved directly into the sandstone cliffs, Sarah’s birthday trip turned into quite the educational field trip. We highly recommend checking out Colorado the next time you get the chance. While the cities are full of great things to see, we urge you to grab a rental and explore the small towns to the west.
You will be surprised at the experiences hidden in plain sight. Subscribe to our mailing list so you can stay in the loop with all of our travels. You can look forward to another post about our Colorado family-friendly adventures, where I will discuss our experience riding on the Georgetown Loop Railroad!
Think big. Act small. Travel with purpose!
~ Change the world one nameless stranger at a time. ~
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