An Inside Look at a COLORADO roadtrip during Covid.
It was March 2020 and I had nervously met with our school administrator to inform her that we would not be re-enrolling for the upcoming school year.
We had talked about it for months and had finally decided to go for it! One year of homeschooling would give us the freedom to do some traveling with the kids, take a break from the crazy schedule, and spend time creating stronger family bonds.
“Of course, the children will finish out the year,” I asserted reassuringly. They still had three months left of the current school year and so much to experience: overnight field trips, a 6th grade Hobbit feast, the school play, the Spring Concert, and, of course, last day parties. Our four children had been attending the same Christian school from kindergarten up and loved every part of school! Taking a year to do something different was going to be hard, but we were excited!
A week later, rumors of a virus called Covid-19 hit the news. The school sent books home with the kids for the weekend, in the event that they canceled school for sickness for a few days. You know the story, we never went back. Unbeknownst to us, the children had already had their last day of in-person school, with no chance for goodbyes.
We hunkered down at home, like you, and tried to remain positive. Distance learning, zooming, and cherishing the extra time together. The kids were actually enjoying the change of pace at first, then when it became apparent that they weren’t going to be able to finish out the year with their teachers and friends, there was a lot of disappointment. Before we knew it, school had ended, summer had come and gone, and we had started a new and exciting homeschool year, complete with desks and all the pencils and notebooks a child could ever need.
With all of the stay-at-home orders, we wondered how we would find a way to travel as a family? The questions lingered: Was it safe to travel? Where could we go?
All I knew was, after six months of quarantine, this momma needed a break!
We had given up all hope of traveling out of the country, nevertheless, I was determined to find the perfect destination. After hours of research, we landed on Colorado! It was open to visitors, boasted beautiful fall weather, had lots of outdoor opportunities, and was a state that we’d not been to yet.
I found tickets for our entire family to fly to Denver for a whopping $367 on Frontier airlines. That’s when we began to get excited!! This was really going to happen! After lots of planning and packing, and in the middle of Covid-19, we finally loaded a plane and set off to explore the mountains, rivers, dunes, valleys, and lost cities of Colorado.
A 10-day road trip full of experiences we won’t soon forget.
In the midst of a world pandemic, we stepped away from the craziness of Covid to breath the fresh Colorado mountain air. It was everything I hoped it would be and solidified the reason we were homeschooling: more time together. We enjoyed long talks by the campfire, sand boarding down the tallest sand dunes in North America, hiking strenuous trails, and so much more: moments that we’ll remember for a lifetime.
Today, we hope to inspire you in some small way to explore with your own family in joyful and meaningful ways. The memories that you make will never be forgotten.
Oh, and if that means camping high in the mountains of Colorado… we’ve got you covered!!
preparation
Are you COLO-READY?
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Ready, Set, Go
Being prepared for your road trip means planning ahead.
Know What to Pack
We traveled Sept. 14-24th, and experienced beautiful sunny days that reached into the 90’s, as well as cold evenings/mornings that dipped into 30-40 degrees. Because of the weather, we had to pack for both extremes. The key: layering, layering, layering. We packed t-shirts, a few shorts, a few pants, a sweatshirt, coat, hat, and gloves for each person. One pair of pj’s and lots of warm socks. Oh, and we managed to do that for 6 people with just 2 suitcases and a backpack each. For this 10-day trip, we packed 6 outfits and washed clothes halfway through the trip.
ESSENTIALS TO INCLUDE: Day pack – Water bottle – Hiking pants – Fleece – T-shirts – Layering Jacket or sweatshirt – Hiking boots – Sunglasses – Lip balm – Swimsuit – Camera – GoPro
ADD FOR WINTER: Beanie – Winter Coat – Sunscreen – Thermal layers – Waterproof boots – Snow pants – Gloves
Read the full post by clicking on the link above.
more planning
LET’S TALK BUDGET
If you’re thinking of road-tripping through Colorado, you’ll need to know about how much it’s going to cost you. Here’s what our budget looked like. I will say, you can do it much cheaper than we did OR you could spend ALOT more. I’ll give you some insight into what we spent money on and how to plan a similar itinerary on less.
FLIGHTS: The only way to snag flights cheaper than ours is to use points to get them for free. We were so pleased to be able to grab flights for our family of six for only $367. Here’s how we did it:
* Frontier Airlines: they don’t offer all of the bells and whistles, but they can get you to your location for cheap. Two of our children flew for free by using the KIDS FLY FREE program, coupled with already cheap prices flying direct from Cincinnati to Denver. We were flexible on our departure and arrival days, as well.
* Pack Light: we only took two suitcases. Everyone had a backpack, which were free to take on the plane. Check dimensions for personal items. We only paid for the luggage fees on our two checked bags.
* Don’t pay for assigned seats: this is an unnecessary fee, as most airlines will not split a family with children.
ACCOMMODATIONS: We spent more money on accommodations than we normally do, but I had my heart set on glamping and staying at the Springs Resort, with their geothermal hot springs. If you’re looking to save some money, you could choose different accommodations and shave off at least $1,000. Here’s a list of places that we stayed. You can find the price for each night in our budget.
Rustic Rook Resort (glamping)
Campsites in Telluride: Woods Lake and Alta Lakes
Vacation Home through HomeExchange.com
CAMPING: This entire trip could have been a camping trip. Colorado has great campgrounds. Keep in the mind evening temperatures when planning your dates of travel. If we had been camping the entire time, we would’ve moved our dates a few weeks closer towards the summer months. Of course, we have flexibility to take our trips during the school season, but this trip could easily be taken on a Spring break or end of summer break. Fall break would put you into some colder weather. If looking to save money, this would be your ticket… simply check your tent as baggage and put your camping necessities into one or two suitcase to check, as well. The money saved on accommodations would make up for the money spend on checked bags. Our camping necessities were: tent, cold weather sleeping bags, sleeping pads, a few cooking utensils.
We found this budget template and many more at www.Vertex42.com.
Check it out to make your own trip budgets.
FOOD: We love to experience the culture in the places that we visit, so good local food has to be budgeted in. However, with a family of six, we don’t eat out much. We only went “out to eat” three times during our entire 10-day road trip. We saved these experiences for when we had time to sit down and enjoy the food and surroundings. Here are the restaurants we ate at:
* Colorado Springs: Crave Real Burgers. The milkshakes were amazing! The “Luther” sandwich has bacon, cheddar, egg, onion, and 2 glazed donuts as the bun! Wha?? Yes, crazy and yummy!
* Durango: Grassburger. The best food of the entire trip. Their Grassburger Bowl & Southwest Vegan Bowl were absolutely delish!
* Breckenridge: Blue Stag Saloon. Smoked Bison Meatloaf and their Reuban Panini were really good. Kids meal pizzas are huge and looked so good, we all had to have a bite.
Saving money on Food: We grabbed most of our breakfast items and food for lunches at local grocery stores. We ate packed lunches on all of our hikes and while traveling from town to town. We also bought grocery food for cooking over the fire while camping.
Protein: peanut butter sandwiches, tuna and crackers, steaks and hotdogs for grilling
Fresh: salads from the deli, fruit trays, veggie packets, bananas, oranges, apples, lunch deli boxes (meat, cheese cubes, grapes, etc.)
mapping out the trip
Now For the Trip!!
We traveled south, making a large loop through the state.
Starting and Ending Point: Denver, CO
DAY 1 – DENVER
Fly into Denver.
Drive 1 hr 19 minutes to Colorado Springs
Visit Cheyenne Mountain Zoo or Manitou Cliff Dwellings
Check in at Cheyenne Mountain Resort
DAY 2 – COLORADO SPRINGS
Check out
Hike Garden of the gods – Free
Drive 2 hr 44 minutes to Mosca, CO
Pick up food before reaching glamping site
Check in at Rustic Rook Resort
Enjoy the evening glamping
DAY 3 – GREAT SAND DUNES NATIONAL PARK
Enjoy free breakfast. Check out.
Rent sand board equipment from Rustic Rook Resort ($20 each board. We rented two boards and two sleds.)
Drive 20 minutes to Great Sand Dunes NP. Spend 2-4 hours
Take boards back (on the way to your next destination)
Drive 2 hr 4 minutes to Pagosa Springs (the Pass is gorgeous)
Check in at The Springs Resort
Enjoy the geothermal hot springs at The Springs Resort
*Find the rest of the itinerary by clicking on the button above.
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