SkyPark Adventures!

Tag: colorado

  • Keystone Colorado

    Another video from our time in Colorado:

  • Colorado ski trip

    Our flight to Denver departed from Dulles at 5:45am, so we were up at 4:00am and out of the house shortly thereafter. Parker and Skylar were troopers and traveling was smooth sailing.

    I slept most of the way while everyone else watched movies or played on their tablets. We arrived in Denver at 8:00am, got some breakfast (crepe place at the airport was phenomenal – especially for airport food), and proceeded to Josh and Sharon’s house.

    We spent the day hanging out and walking their dogs in Stapleton (a highlight for Skylar and Parker) – beautiful trails and parks right in their neighborhood. Monday morning we got up right away and hit the road. On the way to Keystone we passed Loveland and decided to make a pitstop for our first day of skiing.

    Loveland has great trails, lots of terrain for kids, but no bars on the lift which freaked me out (the daddy-bar served to keep Parker, 4 years old, and Skylar safely in their seats).

    We skied a 1/2 day and then departed for Keystone where we arrived in time to settle in, fix dinner, and get some sleep. The next couple days we skied Keystone and discovered some fun kid zones to ski through (forts for snowball fights, ski-through houses, and other fun structures).

    Monday after skiing we relaxed for a couple hours in the outdoor pool and hot tub while it snowed. Tuesday we found the terrain parks and we watched skiers and snowboarders perform massive stunts on huge ramps and half-pipes. Skylar caught some air going over a jump 😉

    Thursday we departed Keystone and skied Loveland again for a full 4 hours before returning to Denver. Parker and Skylar learned how to tuck to go super-speed. We almost decided to go back to Dorado for Friday, but it would have been a bit stressful to get up early, drive an hour to ski and then get back in time for our 6:30 flight. We found some cool shops downtown (the highlight of Susan’s trip) and picked up some new gear for next ski season.

    See you next year Sharon, Josh, Hank, Cody, Collin, Bryce, and Colorado!

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  • Childrens Museum

    On our last day in Denver we met Sharon, Josh, and their son Collin at the Children’s museum. It was a cool place, but honestly our kids would have had just as much fun playing at REI 🙂

    The firetruck was a highlight – as it was a 100% real firetruck.

    Parker found the tool section and refused to leave. By the end we had to extricate him kicking and screaming as his hammer and saw were left behind.

  • REI

    REI has their headquarters in Denver. We checked out the flagship store. It was a massive place in a converted warehouse with exposed steel beams and original brick walls, etc.

    The kids had a blast playing on the indoor playset and the rocks outside.

  • Keystone Colorado

    After landing we picked up our car and headed out to Keystone. The drive was a little under 2 hours and it was absolutely beautiful the entire way.

    I had planned on doing some skiing the following morning, but after 4 hours of sleep, and the kids waking up throughout the first night, we were all to exhausted to do anything but walk around and pick up some rocks 🙂

  • Denver Parks & Rec

    This past week we were in Denver visiting friends and attending a conference. We visited an awesome park that was only a few blocks from Sharon and Josh’s new house. Skylar and I climbed to the top of a rock wall and checked out the amazing view of the Rocky’s.

  • Denver Colorado trip

    Shot from the clog wheel train going up Pike's Peak.
    Shot from the clog wheel train going up Pike's Peak.

    This past weekend we visited Denver Colorado for an ABA conference that Susan was attending.  For the first time I stayed in a Ritz Carllton hotel.  The room was large, but not overly impressive and the decorum was nice but again nothing that shocked and awed me.  However, the gym was 3 stories of the hotel, included a rock climbing wall, full court basketball court, whirlpool, and state of the art everything.

    We visited Josh and Sharon, lawyer friends from D.C. who recently moved to Denver.  Thursday night we met them for dinner along with some of their other friends who happened to be in town visiting.  It drizzled Thursday, snowed and rained Friday, and was partially overcast on Saturday.  So much for the second sunniest city in America.

    Susan sharing an empty coffee on Pike's Peak
    Susan sharing an empty coffee on Pike's Peak

    Friday I worked while Susan attended meetings and then we went out for Sushi that night.  Saturday we met up with Sharon (Josh was at his law firms weekend retreat in Sante Fe).  We took a clog wheel train up Pike’s Peak.  Unfortunately we couldn’t make it to the peak because snow had drifted onto the track, but we did make to about 12,000 feet above sea level.

    The most interesting part of the trip was Saturday night when we visited Colorado’s oldest restaurant, the Buckhorn Exchange.  Live animals, 1,700 of them to be exact, peer at you from the walls.  Susan and Sharon were a little spooked out.  Susan feared the hairs from the antelope above our table might fall into her food 🙂

    Cowboys playing music and yodeling at Buckhorn Exchange
    Cowboys playing music and yodeling at Buckhorn Exchange

    While waiting to be seated we listened to cowboys sing songs about cats, the West, and heard some yodeling.  At dinner we ate alligator tail, elk, buffalo, and home made ranch dressing.  Yumm, yumm delicious.  Definitely a man’s man’s restaurant and a must visit for any meat lover.

     

     

     

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