July 26: Left at 7 pm
July 27: Arrived around noon after losing an hour. Went to the Coors brewery tour where they have us 3 huge beer samples free! Went to our beautiful Marriott hotel in the DTC. Had dinner at Genghis Grill, a yummy Mongolian place, in Centennial. Explored a gorgeous park in Greenwood village with tons of bunnies and a creek running through it. Slept like logs!
June 28: went to the magnificent Red Rock Amphitheater in Morrison. Hiked around for 2 1/2 hours. Went home and relaxed and swam in our pool and Jacuzzi. Ate dinner at a great Chinese restaurant outside of Lakewood. Drove to a breathtaking hike to Maxwell falls in Shadow Mountain. It was raining when we got there, but we plunged forward and had a great time for several hours!
June 29: Denver Day! Went to Union Station and got donuts and looked around while we waited to be called at Snooze, a hip breakfast joint. Headed to the Capital building after that for a free tour. Arrived just in time for a look at the very top of the building which gave us a 260 degree view of Denver! Went to the Children's Museum next for 3 hours, and the boys had the best time ever! Running from the King aunt, saving their kitties, and being firefighters. The boys fell asleep on the way to ice cream so Joe and I explored the not so nice 16th street mall and got some epic gelato! The boys woke up, and we played at Washington park for a little while before crashing at home.
June 30: we drove through beautiful forests to Pike National Forest. I loved it and wanted to stay but there were bugs so we headed down after a few hours and went to Pirates cove water park in Littleton. It was packed because it was so warm, but we had a great time playing for almost 4 hours. Boys napped, and then we ate at Illegal Petes in DTC and played at Utah park in Aurora, which was awesome and had tons of land and trees and a river. It sprinkled so we ran inside and checked out their gorgeous indoor public swimming pools!
July 1: Denver Day! Went to the Museum of Nature and Science, which we all loved!! We stayed almost 6 hours and saw almost everything until Joe had I couldn't read another informational plaque. We went to Denver City park next and ran with about 150 geese. We drove to LoDo mall while boys napped, and we loved it! Felt just like our malls that we love. We hiked outside by the river when boys woke up and then let them play in the mall's playground which was large and Looney Toones themed. We headed to King Soopers and got some snacks and rode the 1 cent pony ride!!
July 2: headed to Cherry Creek state park in Aurora and enjoyed the outdoors for about 6 hours. Hiked and strolled and did the wave runner. Eli loved every minute of the wave runner and Max preferred to go slow. We got home and boys napped and I got Starbucks and Joe did errands. Later we went to Southlands mall in Aurora. They were having a free concert with a jump house. When it was over, it started raining and Eli was so proud he remembered his umbrella! We dashed into Barnes n noble and enjoyed a magnificent lightening storm on the way home! The boys first.
July 3: we enjoyed our hotel in the morning and said goodbye. We then headed to Genessee park in Golden to look for buffalo. We drove to the top of a gorgeous mountain and the boys were content to play with toys and eat snacks, but I urged us all to take a hike and I am glad we did. We took the American Bison trail, and even though we didn't see any, it was a breathtaking view. We got back and drove down the mountain and finally found the buffalo herd. Driving down we found a huge herd and took pics. We drove to our new Marriott in Westminster and unpacked. Eli entertained us with his excitement over the hotel while max slept. Later we drove to Larkridge shopping center in Thornton and were amazed at how empty that part of Denver was. There wasn't much of a mall so after heading through toys r us we went to a beautiful park in Westminster known as Peter Pan park that ended up being a free water park.
July 4: we headed to Greeley for a fair that Joe had bought tickets for. It was an hour away, and it was mostly farmland North of Denver. It was really hot that day so we hid in the shade and watched a reptile show where Eli got to hold a huge snake and was really excited. Then we went inside and saw some art and exhibits, got some ice cream, and headed to the Rodeo. It was 2 1/2 hours of excitement. Barrel racing, bull riding, cow tipping, and more. Quite an experience! We left there and drove through more country on the way to the Denver airport to see Blucifer the gigantic blue mustang statue. The boys absolutely loved seeing him! We ate dinner and headed to an independence day carnival. It was packed but was a great event and all the activities were free. There was live music. Right before the fireworks it started to pour. Max was really upset. We ran to a huge pine tree and hid from the rain. After awhile, the show started, and it was the longest show I have ever seen.
July 5: We were worn out from going non-stop the day before so we had a relaxing morning at our hotel. We went swimming, played with toys, had the buffet breakfast, and said goodbye to our 2nd hotel. On the way to our hotel near Vail we drove up towards Mount Evans, the highest drivable mountain road, but it was closed so we stopped at Echo Lake. The boys were asleep so I hiked around the lake for 30 min. When I got back, we took the boys out in the stroller since it was still raining. It was the most beautiful trail. Dark green, mossy, and full of critters. We hiked around the lake and made it to a second trail when it started pouring. We ran for shelter and found a little cafe and store, but we didn't have money so a couple drove Joe back to our car to get some. We headed inside and had hot cocoa and delicious veggie soup as we watched the hummingbirds outside the window. The rain had stopped so we hiked some more, exploring off the trail some to get to the really thick areas of the forest. It was so beautiful and the boys were so excited about everything we found! We stayed for at least four hours and decided to head to our hotel near Vail. Everyone was hungry so we ate at the pizza place at our hotel and then called it a night.
July 6: My 30th birthday!! We woke up and enjoyed the hotel's continental breakfast. It was so fun to have free coffee every morning on our trip as well. Then we went to Bed Bath and Beyond for some cozy Mustang blankets for the ride home. We packed up our things and headed to Vail where we drove out to a trail 9 miles from the main rode. It was bumpy, intense, but isolated and beautiful! We finally found it and enjoyed the trail for several hours. It would start to sprinkle, and we would all get out our umbrellas and then it would stop and then it would start up again. Eli hiked the whole thing by himself. We headed into town and went to a playground, but it started pouring so we started West on our long journey home. We stopped once in an adorable mountain town for a delicious dinner and again for ice cream cones in Fruita. We drove through the night and got home early the next morning. Goodbye Colorful Colorado!
