I am a planner professionally but …or maybe because of that…I don’t always plan too far ahead when my family travels. We like adventure and sometimes I plan things spur of the moment. I might make the main plans ahead of time, such as plane or lodging reservations, but then schedule other activities in more last minute.
On a recent, mostly work related, trip to Colorado I brought my two youngest along with me. I registered them for the local County day camp during for the week so they’d be occupied while I worked.
We arrived the weekend before for a class I needed to take. I hired a friend’s daughter who is a college student home on break to entertain them during the day and they had an awesome time exploring the local museums and ice cream shop.
Then we headed up to the mountains. We were supposed to stay with friends but those plans fell through last minute so I quickly found a “mud season”‘reasonable alternative. We headed up, popped into the local Whole Foods for provisions and then to our accommodations. We were in Breckenridge, a wonderful historic town only about an hour and a half from Denver (even on a Friday evening…but of course it was off season, mid June). They were a bit outdated but serviceable and convenient to local attractions.
The girls had made some noise about horseback riding and also seemed excited about rafting when they saw some people doing just that on the river on the way up.
One of my daughters who had accompanied me to Colorado for skiing earlier in the year was adamant about skiing but I had to convince her while there would still be Some snow there would not be enough for skiing.
In the morning (I get up early ….if you have five kids and run your own business and ever want time to yourself you will too) I looked up a horseback riding option – Breck Stables stood out – and I went with it. Reserved our 1 1/2 hour trail ride. It was a bit expensive but totally worth it! We each got our own horses and had a great ride. Some parts were a bit hairy – perched on our horses’ backs up on a ridge with a significant drop off to either side.
After our lovely ride we had to stop to play in the snow (explanation: we used to live in Colorado but now reside in Florida). Then we stopped in town to play in the creek and then had lunch and beer (for me) at Ollie’s which is in the middle in the river.
Then home for a nice nap. As soon as I wake my daughter says “finally you are awake can we hike?!” So we headed back to the mountain and hiked along one of the ski slope paths. We saw a lot of dogs which made my girls super happy.
We headed home to clean up and then we jumped on the local free bus which, instead of taking us into town as we’d hoped, gave us a tour of where the locals live. We finally got off and walked up Main St., then hopped on another bus for home.
The next morning I was up super early again and decided why not YOLO we are going rafting! So I made a reservation with Rocky Mountain Whitewater Rafting in Idaho Springs. Less expensive than horseback riding, and equally as thrilling. Also well worth the money!
So if you are looking for family adventure check out theses two providers.
Notes From Real Life 