As my signature says...Colorado and Utah along with a trip to Louisiana for the Jennie Finch World Series were in our plans. I wound up not going to Louisiana. As some of you know, my mom had a freak incident while at Disney's Vero Beach resort and wound up in the hospital. So, I made an unexpected trip to Florida! I had a nice time with my parents and my mom is doing better, but it's also not anything I need to put into a TR.
The Colorado and Utah trip, on the other hand, was 15 days of vacation travel and I plan to share as much of it as possible. I still haven't done anything with the pics and videos on the kids' phones and tablets, but between my phone, my camera and the kids' camera...we took over 5,000 pictures and 3x the number of videoes I normally take. Yea, I finally remembered I can take vids...although, still probably not enough. Still, in light of all of this, it's going to take me a while to get all of this posted.
OK, so...the details.
Who: ME (Sandy), hubby (David), and the kids (Kendall and Samantha). I don't like handing off my big camera to anyone other than Disney photopass photogs and I didn't bring my tripod for family photos, so you're going to have to settle for separate pics to see us all. LOL
When: July 16th-30th (turned into the 31st)...let's say that 30th didn't quite go as planned.
Where: Colorado and Utah (in general, but we also popped into Wyoming and Nebraska)
What: If you've read either of my trip reports over the last year, you may remember that this was the year of the national parks for us. As this TR title would imply...this is my grand finale.
This pic below was my rough goal plan.
I wanted to start in Denver and spend a couple of days to acclimate, before heading up to higher elevations. After that, the plan was to hit Estes Park, CO and see Rocky Mountain National Park, then go to Rangely, CO so we could see Dinosaur National Monument (the part we wanted to see was actually in Jensen, UT), then Moab, UT for Arches NP and Canyonlands NP, then to Alamosa, CO for Mesa Verde NP, a pit stop to see Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP before heading on to Cortez, CO for Great Sand Dunes NP, then on to Buena Vista, CO for Browns Canyon NM and whitewater rafting, and the Pikes Peak/Colorado Springs route back into Denver before seeing the wildlife arsenal...and then flying home. Abitious- sure. Nomadic- definitely. Worth it- OMG, YES!
DAY 1
So, we started the morning the 16th with a drive to Hobby Airport in Houston. Once again, air on Southwest was significantly cheaper than anything that would have put us out of Bush Intercontinental. I really need to rethink this because Bush is SOOOOOOOOOO much closer. We had an 8:25am flight, so we got there early, but it wasn't nearly as bad as that 5am flight last year into Montana. I also took my traditional parking spot photo...and I almost needed it this time!
We got one pic in the terminal...
This was a good way to break up the convo with the woman across from me. She meant well, but she kept insisting that I go to an oxygen bar for running in CO...which was debunked by most of my running groups.
We made sure to take pics once on board...
I ended up on the boring side of the plane. My view was mainly wing and everything good was on the left side.
See...hubby landed to seeing mountains when all I got was plains!
Rough life, I know!
We had some drama after this...from the child more likely to bring the drama! We made our way to the rail system at DIA that connects the terminals and baggage. Kendall was closer to David and Sam was closer to me, so I figured K would just follow David onto the train, since it looked like we picked different cars. I boarded my car with Sam and could see David in the next car, but Kendall was still outside as we were pulling away from the station!
Yes, Kendall is my older one...almost 13...but I had her phone and she tends to panic, so I knew this was bad. David assumed she'd just hop the next train and go to baggage, but she's a kid and for all I knew, she might think terminal B means baggage. So, I mouthed to her to get on the next train. We hopped off at terminal B (flew into C) and waited for the next train. Of course, the system broke down for a bit in this too (which was a hint of last day issues to come at the end of the trip), but I was able to spot her on the next train and Sam and I joined her in the train car. When I asked her where she was going, she thought she was supposed to go to B for baggage. Yeah...good thing I didn't trust her to keep going.
So, we finally got to baggage, but we couldn't find David. Never fails...find one and lose another. So, we just decided to go to the carousel and wait for our bags. He showed up right before the belt started moving. Three of our four checked bags were in the first 20 or so bags to come out...before the belt stopped. And the belt stayed stopped for a good 5 minutes. Once it started back up, it spit out another five or six bags before it jammed up again. Thankfully, my bag...bag number 4...was in that group. So, we grabbed it and started to make our way to the rental car shuttle. Well, not without speaking with the airport gargoyle!
I'd heard DIA had some neat features and this was one of them.
So, we head out and eventually get onto the shuttle for Hertz. Funny traveling jerk moment... back in Houston, while we were waiting in the security line, a man behind me was getting really annoyed being stuck behind us and a family with really young children. It got to the point that he started trying to cut his way in front of me by sliding his bins in with our stuff and elbowing his way into our group (just to be elbowed out). Well, he was on our flight to Denver...and in the line with us for the Hertz shuttle. Sure, he was a Hertz gold (or something like that) member and got to his car pick up spot before us common folk, but it looks like us slower people with kids can get places just as fast as his entitled inflated ego. END RANT!
When I got to the Hertz site for people like me, it only took me about 5 minutes to be helped. I was bothered to learn that the class of vehicle I rented wasn't what I thought it was. If you read our Sinfully Grand trip report, we had rented a Hyundai Santa Fe. It fit all of our luggage and did a good job. It was one of the vehicles listed in the possible options when I made my rental reservation, but I guess Hyundai changed the Santa Fe and the one Hertz was renting was a smaller vehicle than what we previously rented. It was either that or a Chevy Equinox. It seemed very unlikely either would hold all of our stuff...and I was in no mood for driving around with overflowing luggage like we did for our DLR/Ski 2015-2016 trip. So, I bit the bullet and paid for a bigger vehicle at the counter.
The woman saw our bags and pushed for us to rent a Tahoe or Armada, but there's no reason for that. Plus, the Armada has an 8 cylinder engine and is known to be one of the least fuel efficient vehicles out there in production. I may actually buy one at some point if certain other things coming out don't suit me, but what I drive at home doesn't need to be what I have on vacation. I wound up in a Pathfinder. That's not such a bad thing, but I confirmed a fear early on. If you remember my 2013 TR where we were in the accident, I have a 2012 Pathfinder. I was also in a 2012 Pathy when we were hit and it's why I bought another...it's a TANK! BUT- starting in 2013, they totally changed the vehicle. Not that it's bad, but it's not me. In all of our rental vehicle drama after the accident, I spent a couple of weeks in the redesigned Pathy and for whatever reason, I smacked my knee into the dash area at least once a day. Well, I guess that is still the same design, becasue the rental attacked my knee every time I was driving. OK...back on track...
We were hungry and looking for a place to eat. Kendall offered to research and found a place with a decent rating. So, we started the navigation...only to find out that this place was inside one of the DIA terminals and it was sending us back to the airport. So, we just started driving towards downtown Denver and set it to look for restaurants along the highway. In the end, we wound up at a TGI Fridays right near the hotel where we'd be spending the last night of our trip. Nothing exciting to see here...it's a Fridays. Well, unless you count Miss Sassy and Miss Fearless sitting across from me...
It was hazy out, but I had to take a pic of the mountains off in the distance when we came out, because I live a flat place and anything not flat is cool! Also cool...snow...snow in July. Not that it was snowing, but seeing snow still on the peaks in July was cool. Totally normal for them, but still cool.
We were too early to check in, so we drove around Denver for a bit after we found our hotel.
This was actually taken in the parking lot of a grocery store. We wound up in a nicer area that had no convenience stores or obvious gas stations, so we stopped at a King Soopers for David to get a soda. He took over driving after this.
We decided to go try and check in. We were staying at The Curtis. It's in the Central Business District of Denver, but right on the edge of LODO. Ultimately, I picked it because it looked fun. Every floor is themed and while I didn't spring for one, some rooms are over the top themed. The kids played cornhole in the lobby while I went through the check in process.
The Colorado and Utah trip, on the other hand, was 15 days of vacation travel and I plan to share as much of it as possible. I still haven't done anything with the pics and videos on the kids' phones and tablets, but between my phone, my camera and the kids' camera...we took over 5,000 pictures and 3x the number of videoes I normally take. Yea, I finally remembered I can take vids...although, still probably not enough. Still, in light of all of this, it's going to take me a while to get all of this posted.
OK, so...the details.
Who: ME (Sandy), hubby (David), and the kids (Kendall and Samantha). I don't like handing off my big camera to anyone other than Disney photopass photogs and I didn't bring my tripod for family photos, so you're going to have to settle for separate pics to see us all. LOL
When: July 16th-30th (turned into the 31st)...let's say that 30th didn't quite go as planned.
Where: Colorado and Utah (in general, but we also popped into Wyoming and Nebraska)
What: If you've read either of my trip reports over the last year, you may remember that this was the year of the national parks for us. As this TR title would imply...this is my grand finale.
This pic below was my rough goal plan.
I wanted to start in Denver and spend a couple of days to acclimate, before heading up to higher elevations. After that, the plan was to hit Estes Park, CO and see Rocky Mountain National Park, then go to Rangely, CO so we could see Dinosaur National Monument (the part we wanted to see was actually in Jensen, UT), then Moab, UT for Arches NP and Canyonlands NP, then to Alamosa, CO for Mesa Verde NP, a pit stop to see Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP before heading on to Cortez, CO for Great Sand Dunes NP, then on to Buena Vista, CO for Browns Canyon NM and whitewater rafting, and the Pikes Peak/Colorado Springs route back into Denver before seeing the wildlife arsenal...and then flying home. Abitious- sure. Nomadic- definitely. Worth it- OMG, YES!
DAY 1
So, we started the morning the 16th with a drive to Hobby Airport in Houston. Once again, air on Southwest was significantly cheaper than anything that would have put us out of Bush Intercontinental. I really need to rethink this because Bush is SOOOOOOOOOO much closer. We had an 8:25am flight, so we got there early, but it wasn't nearly as bad as that 5am flight last year into Montana. I also took my traditional parking spot photo...and I almost needed it this time!
We got one pic in the terminal...
This was a good way to break up the convo with the woman across from me. She meant well, but she kept insisting that I go to an oxygen bar for running in CO...which was debunked by most of my running groups.
We made sure to take pics once on board...
I ended up on the boring side of the plane. My view was mainly wing and everything good was on the left side.
See...hubby landed to seeing mountains when all I got was plains!
Rough life, I know!
We had some drama after this...from the child more likely to bring the drama! We made our way to the rail system at DIA that connects the terminals and baggage. Kendall was closer to David and Sam was closer to me, so I figured K would just follow David onto the train, since it looked like we picked different cars. I boarded my car with Sam and could see David in the next car, but Kendall was still outside as we were pulling away from the station!
Yes, Kendall is my older one...almost 13...but I had her phone and she tends to panic, so I knew this was bad. David assumed she'd just hop the next train and go to baggage, but she's a kid and for all I knew, she might think terminal B means baggage. So, I mouthed to her to get on the next train. We hopped off at terminal B (flew into C) and waited for the next train. Of course, the system broke down for a bit in this too (which was a hint of last day issues to come at the end of the trip), but I was able to spot her on the next train and Sam and I joined her in the train car. When I asked her where she was going, she thought she was supposed to go to B for baggage. Yeah...good thing I didn't trust her to keep going.
So, we finally got to baggage, but we couldn't find David. Never fails...find one and lose another. So, we just decided to go to the carousel and wait for our bags. He showed up right before the belt started moving. Three of our four checked bags were in the first 20 or so bags to come out...before the belt stopped. And the belt stayed stopped for a good 5 minutes. Once it started back up, it spit out another five or six bags before it jammed up again. Thankfully, my bag...bag number 4...was in that group. So, we grabbed it and started to make our way to the rental car shuttle. Well, not without speaking with the airport gargoyle!
I'd heard DIA had some neat features and this was one of them.
So, we head out and eventually get onto the shuttle for Hertz. Funny traveling jerk moment... back in Houston, while we were waiting in the security line, a man behind me was getting really annoyed being stuck behind us and a family with really young children. It got to the point that he started trying to cut his way in front of me by sliding his bins in with our stuff and elbowing his way into our group (just to be elbowed out). Well, he was on our flight to Denver...and in the line with us for the Hertz shuttle. Sure, he was a Hertz gold (or something like that) member and got to his car pick up spot before us common folk, but it looks like us slower people with kids can get places just as fast as his entitled inflated ego. END RANT!
When I got to the Hertz site for people like me, it only took me about 5 minutes to be helped. I was bothered to learn that the class of vehicle I rented wasn't what I thought it was. If you read our Sinfully Grand trip report, we had rented a Hyundai Santa Fe. It fit all of our luggage and did a good job. It was one of the vehicles listed in the possible options when I made my rental reservation, but I guess Hyundai changed the Santa Fe and the one Hertz was renting was a smaller vehicle than what we previously rented. It was either that or a Chevy Equinox. It seemed very unlikely either would hold all of our stuff...and I was in no mood for driving around with overflowing luggage like we did for our DLR/Ski 2015-2016 trip. So, I bit the bullet and paid for a bigger vehicle at the counter.
The woman saw our bags and pushed for us to rent a Tahoe or Armada, but there's no reason for that. Plus, the Armada has an 8 cylinder engine and is known to be one of the least fuel efficient vehicles out there in production. I may actually buy one at some point if certain other things coming out don't suit me, but what I drive at home doesn't need to be what I have on vacation. I wound up in a Pathfinder. That's not such a bad thing, but I confirmed a fear early on. If you remember my 2013 TR where we were in the accident, I have a 2012 Pathfinder. I was also in a 2012 Pathy when we were hit and it's why I bought another...it's a TANK! BUT- starting in 2013, they totally changed the vehicle. Not that it's bad, but it's not me. In all of our rental vehicle drama after the accident, I spent a couple of weeks in the redesigned Pathy and for whatever reason, I smacked my knee into the dash area at least once a day. Well, I guess that is still the same design, becasue the rental attacked my knee every time I was driving. OK...back on track...
We were hungry and looking for a place to eat. Kendall offered to research and found a place with a decent rating. So, we started the navigation...only to find out that this place was inside one of the DIA terminals and it was sending us back to the airport. So, we just started driving towards downtown Denver and set it to look for restaurants along the highway. In the end, we wound up at a TGI Fridays right near the hotel where we'd be spending the last night of our trip. Nothing exciting to see here...it's a Fridays. Well, unless you count Miss Sassy and Miss Fearless sitting across from me...
It was hazy out, but I had to take a pic of the mountains off in the distance when we came out, because I live a flat place and anything not flat is cool! Also cool...snow...snow in July. Not that it was snowing, but seeing snow still on the peaks in July was cool. Totally normal for them, but still cool.
We were too early to check in, so we drove around Denver for a bit after we found our hotel.
This was actually taken in the parking lot of a grocery store. We wound up in a nicer area that had no convenience stores or obvious gas stations, so we stopped at a King Soopers for David to get a soda. He took over driving after this.
We decided to go try and check in. We were staying at The Curtis. It's in the Central Business District of Denver, but right on the edge of LODO. Ultimately, I picked it because it looked fun. Every floor is themed and while I didn't spring for one, some rooms are over the top themed. The kids played cornhole in the lobby while I went through the check in process.
I looked at your route and I'm familiar with some of the places (my hubs is from Colorado, and I traveled out there with him some years ago, to do some sight-seeing). 
