Colorado Through Granddaughters Eyes

At the end of June we shared our love of Colorado with our granddaughters, Megan and Anna. They joined us for a week and we showed them some of our favorite places, including Golden, Rocky Mountain National Park, Red Rocks Amphitheater, and the town of Evergreen, before heading south to Colorado Springs.

Lookout Mountain and Buffalo Bill Cody Museum: Not surprising, our first stop was Golden and Lookout Mountain. At the top of the mountain is the grave site of Buffalo Bill Cody as well as a museum. It was our first time visiting the museum which we enjoyed along with the panoramic view of Golden and Denver.

Rocky Mountain National Park: Even at the end of June, a portion of Trail Ridge Road was shut down due to snow at the highest elevation. We were able to drive up the road about 12 miles to Rainbow Curve and still saw some spectacular scenery. The girls enjoyed the snow along the roadside and commented several times about their ears popping.

One of our favorite parks, at Rocky Mountain N.P. you can spend a few hours driving through, or days exploring trails. The town of Estes Park was bustling with lots of visitors to multiple souvenir shops and restaurants. Summer crowds were evident throughout the park, but we enjoyed the day.

Georgetown Loop Railroad: Located about 45 minutes west of Denver off I-70 between Georgetown and Silver Plume, this restored railroad narrow gauge steam locomotive train gives riders an experience of the mining days in this mountain region. They offer mine tours in addition to the train ride. We took the 1 ½ hour train ride from the Silver Plume station.

Pikes Peak: Located west of Colorado Springs, this is a fun drive up to the summit of 14,115 ft. Except this year due to a major construction project at the summit (new visitor center and parking), we drove up to within 2 miles and then hopped on a shuttle van to do the rest of the way.

Pikes Peak is run by the City of Colorado Springs and they charge a fee to drive the Pikes Peak Highway; $15 per adult and $5 for children under age 16. Since it is not a National Park or a State of Colorado Park, those annual passes are not honored at Pikes Peak.

Even though it was 90 degrees in Colorado Springs that day, we threw in some warmer clothes to take with us since it is usually cold and windy at the summit. When we visited on June 28^th, we were told it was the first day this year the temperature at the summit was over 32 degrees – a balmy 50 degrees!

Garden of the Gods: This City of Colorado Springs park was extremely busy the day we visited. Since it was at the end of our trip, and perhaps burning out the granddaughters on mountains (is that possible?), we kept this visit short, only stopping if we could find a parking space and walked around some of the interesting red rock formations. There is no admission charge to this park and they have a nice visitors center located across from the park entrance.

Anna and Megan are good travelers and the RV is equipped with two seatbelts built into the sofa located behind the passenger seat. At night it converts to a queen size bed making it somewhat cramped inside, but comfortable. We did some cooking and baking in the RV and enjoyed a campfire (with s’mores, of course).

On July 1^st we headed east to Kansas City to meet Dan and Christie who were traveling there is visit Christie’s grandmothers and extended family. We got to see some of the sites, including the only World War 1 monument in the country, Union Station, and the famous Jack Stack BBQ restaurant. Enjoyed visiting with Christie’s family, including the 4^th of July at her Aunt Teresa and Uncle John’s home.

Back in Michigan, I think we are ready to stay put for a couple of months. We will be at Indian Creek near Tecumseh until the end of September.