Sleepless in Colorado

A couple of weeks ago, the hubs and the kiddos and I went on a little Colorado vacation. It was short, but it was good. I say good because even though it wasn’t perfect, it was still good. Perfection is over rated anyway, do you agree??

We took a 3 day trip over to Colorado to do some sight seeing and just spend time together, not really having a specific plan in mind. I love to travel like that. I do like to plan, but over planning makes me crazy.

We flew into Denver, and it was my son’s very first flight. He was over the top excited. My daughter had flown 1 other time, but she was too little to remember, so it was basically her first flight too. They were both crazy excited to go fast in the air. LOL. Our flight was at 5:50 AM, which meant we had to get to the airport EARLY…and I mean early. I don’t sleep late, typically- but I sleep later than that!

The kids were little angels on the flight over. I think they were just too excited for our Colorado vacation, and too tired to act out much, plus I had made them little “plane goody bags” that they weren’t allowed to open until we were on the plane. That gave them something to do to stay occupied. Mom for the win!

After we got to Denver, things were smooth as we got our rental car. It was only a little after 7 AM when we got the car, because we gained an hour- so we headed to eat breakfast. We had the BEST breakfast ever over at the Denver Biscuit Company. I highly recommend it if you are ever in the area. Our food was amazing, and they had the biggest cinnamon rolls ever.

After we ate, we decided to drive on over to Estes Park, where we were staying for the first 2 nights. We wanted to drive and see the sights and stop over at the hotel to rest just a tad because we were exhausted. We did make a little pit stop on the way to Estes Park so we could grab some lunch in Nederland, where we had the worse lunch we have ever eaten. It was simply awful. I won’t name the place because I don’t want to, but we laughed about how bad it was because it was pretty unreal that any place would really have food that tasted that bad. LOL.

With the kids being so exhausted and tired of being in the car/plane, they were pretty whiny, especially my little precious son. He about drove us nuts on this trip, God love his soul. I say this because that is just the truth. We saw some of the most majestic sights ever, and we had a lot of fun- but no- it was not a perfect trip. We had a 4 and 6 year old that acted like kids alot because the driving was not for them. They wanted to be out and doing other things, but this trip was more for just enjoying God’s creation. Sure, we did lots of walking and playing- and even spent a day at the Denver Zoo- but we wanted the kids to understand that life is not always about them- and we wanted them to enjoy just looking out the window at the massive mountaintops and wildlife that God made. If we don’t expose them to that stuff while they are young and teach them to appreciate those things, I am afraid they will never fully appreciate it. I could be wrong- but that is my line of thinking. It is good to be “busy” at times, but being still and just admiring God’s handiwork is so very important. We both wanted the kids to understand that. Sure, we knew this wasn’t the most “kid friendly” trip, but it was good for them and for us.

We traveled all around the Rocky Mountain National Park, which is a sight to behold. If you have never been, please make it a point to go one day. It is simply breath taking.

We stayed in Estes Park, which is a little town up in the mountains, and it is known for having elk literally hanging out in the town all the time. I tell you what- we saw SO many elk. They just come from the mountains and chill out with the town folk, no kidding. We saw them at the school, baseball field, in front of our hotel, at the play ground, crossing the road, etc… They were EVERYWHERE. I am talking, big bulls, y’all! It is nuts how they could care less that there are people and cars everywhere. It really was neat, and the kids thought it was the coolest thing ever.

We ate some good meals (along with one terrible one), saw lots of gorgeous sights, saw some amazing animals, ate some delicious caramel apples and had lots of good family time. We also listened to lots of whining and crying because our little precious nuggets were learning some hard life lessons that life was not 100% about them and their need to be entertained constantly. It was good for all of us. It is always good to get away and be together, through the good bad and ugly.

The atmosphere change caused a lot of sleepless nights (or that is what I am blaming it on) on this trip. For some reason, we all kept waking up every few minutes EVERY night. We just couldn’t sleep. It was pretty crazy, really. We have never been on a vacation (we love to travel) where we have not been able to sleep, so who knows! Everything was back to normal when we came home, praise God. We were some tired KY folks!

So- this was just a little peek into our Colorado vacation and the fun we had, along with the “real life” facts.

Facebook pictures and blog pictures can give people an illusion of a perfect life or a perfect trip. We don’t showcase the bad moments or the moments we want to pull our hair out and scream into the mountaintops- but we all have them…even on vacation in the prettiest of places. We all have them. Life is not perfect, but perfection is overrated anyway.

Last Updated on May 10, 2021