Ultimate frisbee has been a huge part of our lives since our oldest son introduced it to us fifteen years ago.
If you haven’t heard of it, imagine a football game combined with a lacrosse game but with a frisbee. Bad explanation but go with it.
We’ve been cheering our kids on since then. From high school games to league games to college games and now to club games, we’ve been providing water, snacks, cheers, videos, meals and more for our kids and all the wonderful kids that have been their teammates.
Sons #3 and #4 are playing on a club team (since they have graduated college) presently so we travel to watch if it’s not too far away.
At the beginning of last season, one of the tournaments was in Aurora, Colorado. When the boys were talking about it I had a brainstorm. What if we plan to go to the tournament in CO next year and we can stay and do some touristy things while we’re out there.
So I started planning our next family vacation. I found an Airbnb in Denver and started researching airline ticket prices and things to do in and around Denver.
One night about three months ago, Son #4 stated that the team decided not to participate in the tournament in Colorado this year.
OH BUMMER!!
So I asked him where he wanted to go instead for a family vacation. He said, “Why don’t we go to Colorado anyways?”
Plan’s on!!!
We left on a Saturday and flew American Airlines from Raleigh to Denver with one stop in Charlotte.
After we landed, we ubered to our Airbnb house which was great. It accommodated five people very comfortably. The kitchen was well stocked and the whole house was clean and fresh.
We had a nice night’s sleep before heading out to see the city the next day.
On Sunday, which was Father’s Day and Daughter #2s birthday, we did an escape room (the LOML’s request for Father’s Day). We drove through a nice neighborhood of older houses until we reached our destination.
The house will built in 1893 and it was beautiful and very large. We went into one of the many rooms upstairs to start our “Conspiracy Theory” escape. It was so fun to work together to figure out all the clues so we could get out of the room. We made it with 2 minutes to spare!!!
After we escaped, we headed to Trader Joe’s to get some staples for our stay. We unpacked our groceries at the house and headed downtown.
We had some time to waste before our reservation for dinner so we walked around REI which is Son #4s favorite place for all things camping. He definitely didn’t get his love of the outdoors from his parents!!
Dinner was pizza at Marco’s Coal-Fired Pizza. I had a 12″ Margherita Bufala Mozzarella personal pizza. It was delicious!!
Is your mouth watering looking at all that melted cheese? Mine definitely is!!
Monday was the day I really questioned if my kids were trying to kill me!! The boys wanted to go hiking on a trail that was rated “moderate.” I don’t know who rates these things but “deadly” would have been closer to how I felt afterwards!!
Before heading out to our hike in Breckenridge, we stopped at SoupZ On for a soup and sandwich lunch. I had broccoli and cheese soup and half a ham and cheese sandwich and it was yummy!
The drive to Breckenridge was beautiful. I can’t imagine waking up to stunning snow covered mountains every day. It was breathtaking!
The boys picked Hoosier Pass to kill us expose us to the beautiful Colorado scenery. It was a circle, half uphill and the other half downhill. The uphill was where we struggled the most. Downhill was a piece of cake. The loop was 2.8 miles and my Apple Watch said we walked 22 flights of stairs. TWENTY TWO FLIGHTS OF STAIRS!!!!!! The walk was beautiful and the scenery was stunning and it was such a beautiful day for a hike.
Each of us placed a rock to symbolize that we made it to the top, took a selfie and walked down the mountain. WE DID IT!!!
We hopped into the car and took the Boreas Pass scenic drive from the city of Como back to Breckenridge.
Trip Savvy describes it as “Boreas Pass is a scenic road near Breckenridge, Colorado. It used to be a railroad pass between Denver and the mining mountain town of Leadville (during the famous Colorado Gold Rush), but today it’s popular among travelers, people looking for beautiful views, mountain bikers and hikers.”
When we arrived back in Breckenridge, we walked through the quaint downtown shops, art museum and restaurants. We ate macaroni and cheese at Reddz Above the Blue
Before heading home, we stopped for some yummy ice cream.
The next day, the boys wanted to do a “real” hike so they planned to meet up with a friend, Miss K, who lives in Ft. Collins, CO and hike in the Rocky Mountain National Park. We met Miss K for breakfast in Estes Park at Mountain Home Cafe where we ate great food and Son #3 even had a mimosa.
While the boys and Miss K headed to their hike, the LOML, Daughter #2 and I went shopping! Have I mentioned that every muscle in my body (and some I didn’t even know existed) hurts so bad from the hike yesterday?
We headed to downtown Estes Park which is a beautifully designed and decorated few streets with store fronts, restaurants, ice cream parlors, and stunning scenery all around. We went in and out of every shop, bought souvenirs and gifts for the family and stopped for ice cream. While we sat enjoying our little treat, a violinist was performing on the street. He was so talented!
As we waited to hear from the boys after their hike, we headed to Bear Lake, a lake nearby. We watched joggers, fisherman, kayakers enjoy the beautiful sunny day.
We opened the windows and enjoyed the cool breeze as the sun was beginning to set.
We met the boys and Miss K (whose birthday was the day before!) at Rock Inn Mountain Tavern where we ate outside next to a lit fire pit and heaters hanging above the tables. Lots of laughter and storytelling while we ate and drank. We even enjoyed chocolate cake to celebrate Miss K’s birthday.
We said goodbye to Miss K and headed home for a good night’s rest.
Wednesday, Hump Day, was spent hiking the Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre.
There was a music museum of all the past performers. John Denver, one of my childhood favorites, had a statue. Other performers were Dan Fogelberg, Chicago, Jethro Tull, Charlie Daniels, Amy Grant, Judy Collins, Philip Bailey, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Otis Taylor, Rolling Stones, The Grateful Dead, Dave Matthews Band, The Eagles just to name a few.
We took a short hike to see some of the colorful scenery.
We headed to lunch at HuHot Mongolian Grill for Daughter #2s favorite food. You pick what you want in your stir fry, put it in a bowl, give it to the chef and it stir fries it for you. it was delicious!! Then we dropped Son #3 off at the airport because he had to return early for work. We chilled for the rest of the night watching Netflix.
Thursday, our last full day in Denver, we visited the Denver Zoo.
We had a good time at the Denver Zoo. We saw a lot of animals in a small amount of time because it was way less spread out than the zoo near us. A nice memory. As we were visiting the last of the animals, a dark storm was coming in. It got windy and cool and dark quickly. By the time we were pulling out of the parking garage, it started raining. It was really pouring when we got the our dinner restaurant.
We had dinner at BurgerFi, a hamburger diner with good hot dogs and fries and milkshakes.
We took our full tummies and headed home for the night.
For our last day in Denver, we went to Denny’s for breakfast then went to a nearby park and threw a frisbee around.
We still had a few hours to fill up before heading to the airport so we walked around the biggest OutDoor World I’ve ever seen. It was two stories. I had taxidermied animals all over the place and a humongous aquarium full of very large fish. Just walking around the place was amazing. Then we went to Target next door to get snacks for the trip home.
The last thing we did was went to a movie theater to watch “The Flash.” We’re big superhero fans so we enjoyed watching and eating popcorn.
Leaving Colorado was a bittersweet experience. I love our family vacations. Spending time with the LOML and our kids is irreplaceable. I hope the kids have these memories forever. But it’s also great to get back home, sleep in my own bed, shower in my own bathroom, and have everything back to normal.
What is one of your favorite vacation spots?
Love y’all,
Linda
