Rocky Mountains

In late April 2016 my husband had a conference in Denver.  I found cheap tickets for the kids and I through Frontier Airlines ($50 a piece both ways cheap).  We stayed with him in his hotel that his work paid for in Denver and the kids and I use public transportation to get around while he was working and enjoyed playing in Denver then drove to Estes for an extended weekend weekend trip in the Rockies National Park.  Our youngest son was only 1 at the time so we left him with my parents.

The city of Denver is an easy city to maneuver around in without a car.  The kids and I took the train from the airport to their Grand Central Station.  Then a few other lines to our hotel.  The kids love riding on public transportation in cities too.  They are really good little travelers. 

Our first day in Denver we went to their. Museum of Natural Science. It had its own bus stop which was important for us.  It's a freebie for us with our ASTC reciprocal membership.  It's a wonderful museum.  They had a great dinosaur display. 

They had a great hands on play area that my kids could have played all day in.

They had a lot of hands on lab activities.

There was a lot of space exploration exhibits too.  It was an all day museum and the kids loved it. 

The next day we went to their botanical gardens.  It was free with our Fredrick Meijer Garden's membership.  It's a small garden but our kids had fun.  They had a nice conservatory and some Chihuly pieces that our son was interested in seeing as he is a big Chihuly fan.

Inside the conservatory

The next day we went to the Denver Art Museum.  Let me tell you i have never been to such a kid friendly art museum!  This place was amazing.  They have a creative make and take lab,  there are backpacks you can check out that have special actives in them, there is a play area related to the art, and many other kid friendly ways for the kids to engage with the art.  Kids get in free to this museum and I would highly recommend it to anyone going to Denver with kids.

Make your own puppet

Free backpack check out with activities

Art museum play area

Make and take studio 

We also did a tour, which is free, and the kids really enjoyed it.

The next day we drove from Denver to our cabin in Estes Park.  We went straight to the visitors center.  We immediately saw mule deer and Elk.  They were everywhere.  We did a quick hike that day then headed to our cabin where we could watch elk out our window.

 Outside the ranger station as you enter the park 

 Getting up close with the wild life

  Quick hike 

 Our little cabin in the mountains.

I just loved this one of the kids playing cards together in our cabin.

We spent the whole next day hiking and exploring. Nature's playground is aboundant in the Rocky Mountain national park.  We spent some time near bighorn sheep lake in hopes of seeing some.  We had no luck by the lake but we saw them on the way home.

The next day we spent the whole day hiking Mt. Lily.  We hiked 8,000 feet up to the top and it was an awesome experience. We had had bad weather for the majority of  the time we were in the park and it finally turned.  We had blues skies that it got nice enough for us to hike without our jackets. Summitting a mountain with your kids is kind of awesome.

Starting out picture on the trail head.

 Hiking Mt. Lily

We don't eat out much on vacation but this little place down by the river was great.  It was a Mexican restaurant and were so hungry after our hike that the food tasted extra good!

After lunch and a quick nap we took the kids back to the ranger station to earn their first jr. ranger badge.  We drove back to the airport the next day and flew home. Colorado is a great place to visit with kids.