I promised you a tutorial on resin projects but that will have to wait. All of my craft supplies were stored away to prepare for a spring break visit back in March. I know what you’re thinking: “Spring break? But it’s August!” I know it’s August, but my blogging tends to ebb and flow. This year has been Ebb City.
Spring break was awesome, though. It was a such a great segue into the warmer months!
My sister, Kristy, her 9 year old son, Cooper, and our cousin, Brittney, visited us from Missouri. It was Brittney’s first trip to Colorado and she wanted to hike and try skiing. Eager to show off as much of Colorado as possible, I filled up the calendar with all sorts of activities for the week.
The schools where Kristy and Brittney work, as well as Cooper’s school, were all on spring break that week. Unfortunately, my kids were already back in school. They spent their days working while my sister and I introduced Brittney to Colorado. Since the boys have no classes on Fridays, we planned a day in the mountains that all of us could enjoy.
Garden of the Gods and Manitou Springs
Any time someone visits us from sea level, we spend the first day at Garden of the Gods. It’s the biggest tourist destination and the best intro to Colorado Springs. Not only is it free, but it’s easy to explore whether you walk or drive. At 6400 feet above sea level, it’s a great way to acclimate to the elevation. I didn’t expect Brittney, who is 30 and fit, to have any issues but you don’t want to take chances when it comes to altitude sickness.
We walked through the park on the busy, paved sidewalks marveling at the amazing red rock formations while getting the best views of Pikes Peak, which in the spring, is still covered in snow. It was surprisingly crowded, so we didn’t stay long.
Next, we walked through the adorable mountain town of Manitou Springs. It’s full of restaurants and quirky shops, and a few fountains where fresh spring water flows. We encouraged Brittney to taste the water and she echoed the rest of us who have tried it, “It tastes like seltzer.”
Helen Hunt Falls & Cheyenne Canyon
After Manitou, we drove to nearby Helen Hunt Falls in Cheyenne Canyon. You might be thinking, “Someone named a waterfall after Helen Hunt of Mad About You and (my personal favorite) Girls Just Wanna Have Fun?” Okay, I’m really showing my age with that last one. But the answer is, no; it’s named after a different Helen Hunt. Helen Maria Hunt Jackson was a writer and activist during the late 1800s who focused on the improved treatment of Native Americans.
I like taking visitors to Helen Hunt Falls because you drive to it, get out and look at it, and can get right back in the car. If you’re feeling more adventurous, there’s a short hike up a little further for even better views of both the mountains as well as a lot of Colorado Springs. We were feeling a bit adventurous, but don’t be fooled by this being a short hike. It’s steep. And, even though there are some steps, they are covered in snow, which at this time of year has melted and frozen back into ice.
Cooper wanted to run ahead and, luckily, Brittney is young and fit enough to keep up with him. Kristy and I felt like we were moving (and breathing) through molasses. Kristy kept consulting her Apple Watch to make sure she wasn’t going into cardiac arrest. She wasn’t, but she frequently announced her increasing BPM.
We got back in the car and drove the intimidating Gold Camp Road through rocky tunnels for more gorgeous views of the mountains. Cooper’s disdain at the bumpy gravel road made us realize we needed lunch, so we headed back down to Manitou Springs for a delicious lunch at the Border Burger Bar returning home
Wintry Mix & The Paint Mines
We woke up to a cold, wintry mix so we hung out at the house for a bit. Once it cleared up enough, we visited The Paint Mines: A small canyon of rock formations with the most colorful combination of rock, sandstone and clay. We walked around but had a difficult time keeping Cooper off the fragile sandstone formations, so we returned home to warm up and prepare for the next day’s adventures.
Castlewood Canyon
The temperature warmed up to hoodie weather, and we set off to spend a couple of hours at Castlewood Canyon State Park. We hiked down to get a closeup of the still partially frozen Cherry Creek. It was frozen enough that we were able to walk across, but still saw thawed spots of fast moving water running through.
You know the saying, “what goes up must come down”? When hiking, our family likes to say, “What goes down must come up.” Meaning, if your hike starts out downhill, be prepared to hike back up at the end. The toughest part of hiking down to the creek at Castlewood Canyon is hiking back up, at any time of the year. However, when there’s still snow on the ground, hiking back up (without traction, which none of us had) is a dumpster fire. Just like at Helen Hunt Falls, the snow-covered steps have thawed and re-frozen and not ideal for women in their 40s who have been sedentary since the onset of Covid.
Red Rock Canyon & Microbeers
Red Rock Canyon Open Space is the more advanced, less touristy version of Garden of the Gods. It’s like a natural playground of tall red rocks that (unlike the Paint Mines) you can actually climb. It’s set in an quarry and the mountain views are some of the best in town.
We hiked and climbed until our empty stomachs begged us to stop. Then, we ate an outdoor lunch at Colorado Mountain Brewery, complete with flights of their craft micro-beers.
After dropping off Cooper at the house where he had been spending his evenings gaming with his cousins, Kristy, Brittney and I headed out to the local microbrewery for more beer flights, trips down memory lane, and an abundance of laughs.
Copper Mountain
The next morning, all seven of us piled into our car. Our SUV seats seven so it sounds like it should be a perfect fit but our family is a tall breed and it was crowded car. We drove straight to Copper Mountain for some snow tubing and skiing.
Snow tubing is a blast, especially at Copper Mountain! At Copper, you can go down alone or as a group. If you want to spin, they’ll spin you as fast as you want. If you want to go down as a group, there is no limit to how many of you can go down at once. They will let you go down in a circle or as a snake, so naturally, we did both. (The circle was more fun.)
When our tubing time was up, Kristy, Brittney and I headed over to our ski lesson, while Dennis took the boys to lunch. At our lesson, they split us up since Brittney had never been on skis and Kristy and I had taken one lesson two years prior. I’ve also taken a snowboarding lesson but I prefer never to speak of it. Far from advanced, we went with an older, extremely patient instructor named John.
We all started on the instruction hill but Brittney’s instructor took her to the lifts before us! By the time John took us to the lifts, Brittney was nowhere to be found. But we were so excited about our first time on the lifts! That is until we realized it was a drag lift. We’d never seen anything like it. It’s basically a pole with a “seat” that you’re not supposed to sit on. You just put the pole between your legs with the seat on your bottom, and it drags you up the hill while your skis stay on the ground.
Kristy went ahead of me so there I was, behind her, focusing on not sitting yet not falling, when suddenly I saw her sort of twirling around on her drag lift, then on the ground. And I was coming straight for her! She was like a turtle on her back, unable to stand or get out of the way. Hindered by her skis, poles and inexperience, she was just kind of stuck there while I was heading straight for her. I started semi-yelling, “I don’t know what to do here!” When out of nowhere, cool-headed John appears and unclips her skis. She rolled away just as I was coming through: Her skis to my left, her rolling body to my right. Normally seeing my sister in a situation like this would cause me to laugh until I couldn’t breathe. But I was afraid to suffer a similar fate, so I found a stoicism that I didn’t know existed in me allowing me to make it to the top.
Instructor John took her back to the start of the lift where she successfully made it up the hill. Our first run down was a smooth one and, fortunately for all, John sent us up the chair lift the next time. We had suddenly transformed into the pros who were able to navigate our way around the pileup at the top of the lift. The combination of a newfound confidence, the views from the lift and a few more successful runs (even if they were less than controlled) was all it took for us to be hooked. We are now skiers who love to ski!
We found Brittney (who, as it turns out, does not love to ski), returned our rentals and took the shuttle back to where Dennis and the boys were finishing up another round of tubing. Kristy, Brittney and I were starving by that point, but we decided to eat some snacks and maybe stop for food on the way home.
The Eventful Drive Home
Dennis decided to take us on the scenic drive home; through Breckenridge and Hoosier Pass (photo op!). But that just meant that there wouldn’t be any fast food drive-thrus until we were almost home. We decided to take it nice and easy soaking in the views. As we drove over the hill approaching the town of Lake George, there wasn’t enough time to adjust to the sudden drop of the speed limit without practically slamming on the brakes. On the other side of the hill, right next to the new speed limit sign, sat a police car.
He pulled us over. It was a classic speed trap, and even though he’d started slowing down on the decline of the hill, Dennis was still going about 4 miles over the new limit. He was livid. But he kept his cool, the officer sent us on our way with a warning and we pulled into the next town with a McDonalds: Woodland Park. It had to be McDonalds because Cooper is an extremely picky eater and wanted nothing but Chicken McNuggets.
McDon't-Even-Go-There
At the drive-thru speaker, Dennis was overwhelmed at having to give the order for all seven of us. After each item he was met with, “Is that all?” which was adding to his stress and irritation, and our inability to control our giggles. But when Dennis reached the most important meal, the McNuggets, we heard, “Sorry, we are all out of McNuggets.” Excuse me? We panicked, not knowing what to do. I mentioned something about getting some chicken sandwiches because, at least it was chicken.
Dennis finally replied with, “I’m sorry, we have to get out of this line and go somewhere else. We have a kid who needs his McNuggets.” We heard, “Just one moment, please.” And after what seemed like 10 minutes, but was probably more like 30 seconds, a different voice came on. He said, “We have nuggets now, you can finish your order.” Apparently the manager drove to another McDonalds for more nuggets. Hallelujah!
We paid and parked in one of the drive-thru spots and waited for our food. After entirely too much time, someone finally came to our window with our nuggets. And nothing else. He asked, “Is there anything else you need?” Oh boy. We all thought Dennis’s head might explode. Instead he replied, “Yeah! The rest of our order!” and it sounded like what might come out of someone’s mouth who’s about to go postal.
This was the tipping point, y’all. The Woodland Park McDonalds broke us. But because we were deliriously slaphappy from exhaustion and hunger and the insanity of our drive home from Copper, we just couldn’t stop laughing. Dennis, too! As pissed off as he was, even he couldn’t help but find ridiculousness in the situation.
We finally got our food (including the two chicken sandwiches I didn’t think anyone heard) and were on our way back home. Everyone had varying patches of sunburned skin. The kids had lines from wearing their masks, the skiers had red noses and hands. But our hearts and souls were full from an entire week of family and fun, and a roller coaster of a final day.
Loved the video!! And the Copper Mountain story was hilarious!! Good times! Cooper said, “Me, too!” as a reply to can’t wait until next year.
That week was so much fun to revisit!