When it came to spring break, Courtney and I talked about a few different options, but one that stuck in my head was spending a couple nights in Estes Park. We had gone there a couple different times now, but I wanted to actually stay there and truly enjoy the mountains.
So, on my birthday, Courtney told me that we were going to be doing just that. We were going to stay at the McGregor Mountain Lodge right outside of the Rocky Mountain National Park! I was so excited and so eager for spring break to get here.
For the next couple of weeks, that's all the kids talked about. They were so excited to go hiking in the mountains and stay in a cabin with a fireplace so we could enjoy s'mores at night.
Finally, it was time to get on the road and travel the hour and a half to Estes Park! We decided to bring Luna with us, so she could enjoy the hiking and get some of her energy out, while Pebbles and Meeko stayed home in a nice quite house without Luna chasing them all over the house.
The drive through the mountains to get to Estes is my favorite. You see animals on the side of the road (we saw a few big horned sheep) and they are currently building parks along the mountain side for people to enjoy, but just being surrounded by the mountains is surreal. I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would enjoy being in the snow covered mountains, the way I do now.
We made it to Estes park!!! You can't beat this view!! It's truly breathtaking!! And you can't beat seeing all the huge elk just roaming through the town.
Courtney and I told the kids that when we were in Estes, there was going to be no iPads and we weren't going to be on our phones, unless needed to. We wanted to just be together as a family and enjoy these memories we were making together.
So, we packed board games and cards to play and rented out books from the library to enjoy. We literally hadn't unpacked the whole car yet and the kids were begging to play games and Logan made himself comfy in the recliner.
The kids were also super excited that right outside of our cabin there was a playground. It didn't matter how cold it was or if there was snow on the ground, these kids wanted to play!!
After getting unpacked and settled into our cabin, we wanted to do some exploring of the grounds that we were staying at. They had some walking trails behind the property, so off we went.
This was Luna first experience of a little bit of hiking and she did great. She was such a good dog while climbing all the rocks and going uphill along with downhill. She also didn't bark at all the elk and deer that we happened to come across.
It was a short hike compared to what we knew we would be doing the next couple days, but it was a great start to our spring break vacation. I mean the views, the wildlife, it is all just amazing and I knew we had made the right choice in being here.
It didn't take long after the hike and Courtney had already made a fire, which then meant, we were asked countless times when it was time for s'mores. It didn't take long for us to give in and the kids were enjoying s'mores. Well, McKaila and McKenna were, Logan just wanted marshmellows.
It was a great kick off to spring break and looking forward to the rest of our days in Estes and the Rocky Mountains.
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