So Sunday we spent the day turning around laundry and Monday morning Jeremy was off to Denver while I stayed home with the kids for the week.
Thank goodness for daycare! Phew. Single parenting for the week certainty wasn't easy, but we made it through with only a few minor hiccups.
Thursday night came and we were off to Denver. I previously sent Jeremy with the clothing and diapers, so I "only" had to manage two kids, a stroller, diaper bag, Max's toy bag, and two car seats. Max was a very good traveler and only tried to run away from me once in the airport. (Actually, he was walking to the window and someone stopped him in such a way that he thought it was a game, so helpful stranger but not really.)
We arrived in Denver, got the car and made it to the hotel by about 1:30am. Yea, late night for sure. Max was hyped up to see Daddy and we were all up until 2:30. Yikes! Needless to say, Friday morning was a late start.
Friday - Georgetown Loop Railroad & St. Mary's Glacier
Friday we ventured out to the Georgetown Loop Railroad and took a short ride through the mountains. Max was pretty excited to be on a train, but also still pretty tired from the night before. This turned out great because Jeremy and I were able to eat lunch in quiet for a few moments before Jesse woke up for a feeding. Why is it they can't both sleep at the same time. Just 30 minutes!
choo choo
After the train ride we headed up to Saint Mary's Glacier for a little hiking. It had started to rain at this point but we decided to grab the rain coats and umbrellas and do the hike anyway. As it happened, the rain stopped after about 15 minutes and we had a great hike. Max walked about 1/3 of the way up going across the rocky trail with careful footing. It was great for his balance and he kept saying "slippery" when he would get knocked off balance.
The trail tops out at a lake with a view up of the glacier which is so tiny at this point that it seems that it won't be there at all in a few years. We didn't do the hike up to the base of the glacier, instead opting to stay by the lake for a while and have a snack, throw stones, and take pictures.
at the top of the lake before the glacier
hiking up the path
what a cutie
lake with the glacier in the background
throwing stones
Friday night we ate dinner at Ted's Montana Grill before heading back to our hotel in Bloomfield. (We stayed at the Hyatt House and found it very nice and accommodating. The room was very big which was great for fitting a king bed, pack and play, and a toddler inflatable bed).
Saturday - Rocky Mountain National Park
Saturday morning we got another late start, but we managed to get up to Rocky Mountain National Park by 11:30am. Late by my standards but Jeremy and the boys seemed to enjoy the relaxed morning. We started to head up to the top of the park but quickly realized that we wouldn't be able to do both the drive to the top and the Alberta Falls hike if we had any intention of eating dinner at a reasonable hour. So, we aborted the drive and headed back down to the Glacier Gorge parking area to do the Alberta Fall hike. Along the way we stopped at this overlook and took some great pictures of the kids.
The Glacier Gorge Trailhead parking was super packed at 1pm and after driving around it and the Bear Lake Trail parking area several times, I finally managed to grab a spot by following a woman to her car.
This is by far one of my top 10 (maybe even top 5) hikes that we've done. It's beautiful and just really allowed us to escape into nature for a while and spend time together as a family without any distractions. Sure it took us a while to do the hike, but that's because Max walked the entire 1.7+ miles to the falls and back all by himself! Yep, I am so proud of my little guy! Each time he would stop at a bridge crossing to throw stones we would tell him that we had to keep moving so we could make it to the really big waterfall. Man, the look on that kids face when we rounded the corner to Alberta Falls. "WOW. Big Big Waterfall!" he said with amazement.
If you're in the area, definitely put Alberta Falls on your short list of hikes to do, simply gorgeous and only 200 feet of elevation gain over .8 miles.
photo op!
the "big big waterfall"
tossing rocks with daddy
Following the hike we headed to Tavern 1929 for dinner. I was impressed with the food and it is very family friendly. Jeremy felt the beer was good, though I opted for the house pinot and the house cab, both of which were excellent. Unfortunately, while Jeremy and I were hungry, Jesse had plans of his own. He was not happy and we spent the entire dinner with one of us rocking him while standing up. Because of course you can't sit down. Never sit down.
The evening was capped off with ice cream in Estes Park.
Sunday - Boulder & friends
On Sunday we spent a very relaxing morning in Boulder. We hit up Pearl street around 10am and surprisingly stayed there until about 2:30. There's a lot of fun stuff for the kids to do including a boulder area to climb on (complete with a bridge and a fake river), a splash pad, and animal sculptures to also climb on. There's also a toy store and a microbrewery (West Flanders Brewing Company). The food at the microbrewery was actually quite good and the restaurant has all kinds of toys and legos for kids to play with while the adults ate their meal.
That afternoon we headed down to visit our friends, Lew and Kathleen, just outside of Golden. After convincing Lew that ice cream was not an appropriate dinner for anyone, especially a 2 year old, we headed first to dinner and then ice cream.
It was a nice relaxing day and a great opportunity to catch up with friends. Max liked Lew and Kathleen so much I think next time we will just drop him off and sneak out the back door :)
Make the jump HERE for the rest of the pictures from this awesome weekend getaway.
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