Denver Vacation

We took our family summer vacation to Denver at the beginning of August. Ammon's summer internship was at a golf course in Columbine, on the outskirts of Denver, so it was the perfect time to take the family to a destination that I've wanted to take them to for years. 

This was our first big trip in our new-to-us car (we'd only had the car just over a month, but we'd only driven it a couple of weeks because it was taken apart for half that month due to the headlight problem that we were unaware of when we bought it). As we were driving it to Idaho Falls, the dashboard battery meter kept dropping slightly, so Josh thought there was an alternator problem. We didn't want the alternator to go out as we were driving across barren Wyoming, so we stopped at a parts store, and got it tested. They said it was indeed bad, so we purchased a new one, then we drove to Walmart, and Josh went in and purchased a few supplies and for the next two hours, he changed the alternator in the parking lot. It was no small feat, especially in the heat of the day, but he is an incredible problem-solver and he miraculously was able to get it done (with lots of cursing and a little bit of blood). However, as we started driving across Wyoming, the battery meter did the same thing again. Josh later read in the owner's vehicle manual that it's a typical occurrence, but we had no idea at the time, since we'd not had a chance to drive it much and become familiar with its quirks. So that was frustrating--finding out we didn't have to even worry about the alternator. We felt duked by the car parts store that tested it. But thankfully after that, we had no more problems with the car during the rest of our vacation. 

We drove the whole way to Denver that first day, arriving much later than anticipated (we arrived before midnight), because of our stop to replace the alternator. We stayed at an airbnb home on the northwest side of Denver. It was a super cute place, with 3 bedrooms, which was perfect for us and the boys during our stay!

On our first full day in Denver, we drove to Rocky Mountain National Park and drove all the way through it from the east side to the west side. We stopped multiple times and hiked to some waterfalls, through an old homestead where we saw the largest moose any of us had ever seen, and on trails at lots of overlooks. We made a giant loop to/from Denver & Rocky Mtn Natl' Park, and saw a lot of beautiful country.

When we got back to Denver, we met up with Ammon for dinner. He was going to meet us at Casa Bonita, one of my favorite restaurants from when I lived in Denver as a child. However, due to the pandemic, the restaurant was currently closed, which was a huge disappointment. We ate at a mom-and-pop restaurant a block down the street instead. 

Ammon came back to our airbnb place with us for the night, and we watched Olympics and chatted all evening. It was so much fun hanging out with everyone all together!

On our next day, we decided to drive back to Rocky Mountain National Park because Ammon hadn't been there yet but wanted to see it. We stopped at Boulder to do a bit of shopping, and I got the boys their first Crumbl cookies!

We stopped again at a super cute Catholic church that we spotted atop a rocky top along the drive and were surprised to find that the Pope had visited there many years earlier. We also stopped at Estes Park and shopped for souvenirs before entering the Park. 

This time, we stayed on the eastern end of the park, and did 2 different hikes to numerous waterfalls and a lake. It was even more beautiful than what we'd seen the previous day!

We had tickets to the Rockies baseball game that evening, and Ammon convinced us to catch the train to it rather than drive and park downtown, which was smart. We drove back to our airbnb, and drove to the train station just down the road from our rental home, but we got there JUST as the train was taking off, so we unfortunately had to wait another 30 minutes before the next train came through! 2 minutes can sometimes make all the difference in the world!

We had decent seats, and even though we were a little late, we didn't miss much. In fact, we got there just as the Rockies scored! And they just kept on scoring against the Chicago Cubs. The Rockies won, which was so exciting!! We had so much fun together! Ammon and I went to the Mariners game 5 years ago together, but Josh and the other boys hadn't been to a live baseball game before. Even though I don't love watching baseball on TV, I do like watching it in person!

As soon as the game ended, we immediately headed out and walked fast, then ran, then jogged all the way back to the train station several city blocks away. We did NOT want to miss it by 2 minutes again and have to wait 30 more minutes like last time! And thankfully, we made it with ONE minute to spare!!!! I couldn't believe it! I was panting so heavy, and thought I'd get left behind, but the boys all waited to get onto the train until I got there, which was so nice, but I'm glad I didn't make them miss it!

The next morning, Josh and I woke up at 6am and drove across town to visit Ammon at his job. The Columbine Country Club was a nice course! He looked like he was in his element at the golf course pro shop!

After we said goodbye to Ammon, we went back to our airbnb home, got all packed up, and drove all the way home that day. It was a quick vacation, but a great one! It was nice to have everyone all together making memories!