July 2, 2014
Day 5 of the great family road trip from Dallas/Fort Worth through Amarillo, Albuquerque, and Santa Fe and into Colorado, begins in Breckenridge.
In the morning we headed straight to downtown Breckenridge to have breakfast at an old favorite, the Columbine Cafe. Tim loves their smoked trout and eggs and I'm a big fan of their homemade corned beef hash. This place is always busy, with winter skiers and summer tourists, and this day was no less busy.
We shopped around town quite a bit buying souvenirs, including a music cd entitled Bear Tunes for Kids, which turned out to be perfect for driving through the mountains over the next couple days. This is a must music cd for kids! Here's a link to Amazon's mp3 downloads, so that you can purchase immediately or least listen and preview:
Gracie's favorite song is "I can't wait, to hibernate", and Grady and Tim are still, months later, still singing "The Backpack Tree."
There are other CD's in the collection that I fully intend to purchase:
and 
While shopping in Breckenridge we had a great surprise... the Budweiser Clydesdales were in town!
It was tough to break the kids away from the horses, but we had more planned for the day.
Next stop, Rocky Mountain National Park via the Trail Ridge Road.
Within minutes, of the park, Tim saw a herd of elk on a field to the left of us, so we pulled over with a dozen other cars and walked across the street. It was then that we realized why everyone was whispering and moving slowly. A lone moose was standing a few feet in front of us drinking from a stream. We watched the moose for a while until she (he?) layed down to nap under a tree.Gracie was screeching in excitement. Once we were back in the car she had her journal open was immediately writing an "essay" about her vacation to start discussing all the things she'd seen on vacation. We had to keep reminding her that although it was admirable to be writing the essay and journaling, the excitement was still ongoing and we were still in the midst of the journey. We didn't want her to miss out on more excitement.
A little ways up the road we stopped, and got out to hike:
and then got out of the car to play in the snow:
Further up the road we saw spectacular views over the mountains, and even saw quite a few bucks and a few marmots. Perhaps next time we do this drive I'll take more pictures to share. I will say that I'm terrified of heights, and a few points on the road I had to look away and not out the window, but Tim really enjoyed the view.
One of the roadtrip games that we created for Gracie was modeled after the board game of Fact or Crap, which I mentioned in yesterday's post about the Great Sand Dunes National Park. If you're headed to the Rocky Mountain National Park, check out this free printable "Fact or False" sheet. Your kids will have fun stumping the parents, or their siblings, and learn a few facts about the park as well.
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| FREE PRINTABLE! |
At the end of Trail Ridge road we arrived in Estes Park, one of my favorite places every, and the sun was beginning to set. We had 2 options: continue to the campground and set everything up, OR, meander around the main street shops, get dinner, and find a cheap hotel for the night with hot showers. Guess which plan won out...? The hotel option. Sorry Tim. I know he was looking forward to camping, and we had packed the car with all our camping gear and rations, but after driving and sight-seeing all day, we (the kids and I) were ready for a hot meal and hot shower.
Have you driven Trail Ridge road? Did you see any wildlife?
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