For the past few years, mom has blessed us with some incredible family vacations. Together we’ve been to Lone Mountain Ranch, Disney World, Acadia National Park in Bar Harbor Maine, and Sea Island. For this year’s trip the goals were clear: escape the heat and humidity of the south and find something the entire family would enjoy. The answer: Colorado.

The answer was Telluride to be more specific, but with an elevation of 8,754′ above sea level, there was some interfamily chat about taking a day or two to slowly take on the elevation with hopes of avoiding any problems with altitude. To accomplish that, we all headed out a few days early, a decision no one was sad about.

We took a direct flight from Charlotte to Denver, picked up our Turo trucks, and headed the hour north to Boulder. We checked into The Residence Inn Boulder then headed down to The Pearl Street Mall area, about a 5-10 minute drive from the hotel.

The temperature registered at close to 100 degrees, but I must admit what they say is true: it’s not the heat, it’s the humidity. Without the stifling moisture in the air, it was warm, but bearable to wander in and out of the stores, eventually stopping for dinner at Mountain Sun before finding our new favorite bookstore. We spent a large chunk of time in there perusing all the sections and books. Highly recommend!

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The next morning we were up and out. We grabbed a coffee and drove the hour to Estes Park, an adorable little town at the edge of one of the entrances to Rocky Mountain National Park. We procured breakfast at River Walk Cafe then browsed some shops until our timed park entry at 11:00 AM.

The highlight of the morning was seeing elk (a calf, too) just chilling right in town next to the stores. They seemed completely unbothered by the human hustle surrounding them and we all were tickled at the sight!

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Finally it was time to head into the park, and not a minute before our allotted timed entry of 11:00 (we tried at 10:45 and were told to turn around and come back in 15 minutes). We had considered the Bear Lake Road experience, but realized the morning of that it takes another special entry pass that we didn’t have, so we pivoted. Luckily RMNP has plenty of beauty to offer beyond it’s most popular trail.

We stopped at the visitor center for junior ranger books and chatted with the nicest ranger who gave us a good breakdown of where to go and what to see in our short time window. He was incredibly helpful! One bathroom break later, we were off!

Our first stop was Alluvial Falls for a short hike (walk, really) up to a beautiful waterfall! From there, Upper Beaver Meadows for a short but steep hike while we kept an eye on some storm clouds trying to roll in. As we continued our drive through the park, we stopped at several incredible overlooks, one at over 11,500′ in elevation!

We ate lunch at The Alpine Visitor Center and spent some time taking in the views and having a science discussion on why the bag of chips was so inflated (short answer: lower air pressure) before making our way out of the other side of the park and continuing on to Vail.

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We arrived in Vail early evening and headed right to check in at our accommodations in Lionshead Village, Antlers at Vail. The woman checking us in generously upgraded one of our condos to a three bedroom, giving us ample space to spread out and sleep well. We unloaded our things, walked to an unremarkable Mexican spot for dinner, then wandered the village a little before heading to bed to get a good night’s rest.

We woke up fresh and ready to explore! We had our priorities straight and first walked straight to grab coffee at Yeti’s Grind before taking our time wandering through the famous covered bridge and through the charming village. The weather was insanely nice, cool and crisp. Once hunger struck, we walked the approximate mile back to Lionshead Village for breakfast at The Little Diner, which was excellent.

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Having only one solid day to explore Vail, we wanted to make the most of it, so after breakfast we walked right back into Vail. We weaved our way through the streets, taking time to play at the incredible pirate ship playground and gawk at the incredible homes lining the village adjacent streets.

From there we decided to ride the gondola up and hike over to the kid activity area. It was a short 1 mile hike, and then we ended up with some gorgeous views and tickets for the alpine coaster. I wish I could have taken my camera on the ride because it was fabulous! The whole family enjoyed it, even Hailey after battling a bloody nose that hit like a ton of bricks as we were waiting in line. She’s a trooper!

We made it through the coaster barely in time for ice cream happy hour (from 1:00-2:00 on the mountain top) and the even had an option for a scoop of vanilla and a shot of espresso. For the kids, unlimited toppings. Everyone was quite pleased!

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At that point we decided to head back down the mountain. We didn’t have dinner reservations but were hoping to take advantage of the first come first serve patio option at Sweet Basil, a restaurant in town with special Stathas family memories. So we cleaned up, made the walk into town, and were waiting at the doors when they opened up at 5:00.

To our delight, they could accommodate all 9 of us and we sat down to savor a couple hours of delicious food, fun drinks for all, and a few walks down memory lane. It was a great dinner!

It did not, however, exhaust the kids so even after another mile walk back to our condo after dinner, they still had energy. The guys took them to the pool to stretch the most fun out of the day possible before every crashed hard after the sun finally set.

I’ve been living in these Quince dresses this summer.

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The next morning we packed our things and ventured 15 minutes down the road to the quaint little town of Minturn. I would say it was like visiting a true tiny mountain town off the beaten path, but houses being built next to the main drag were selling at $3,000,000 so… I probably am not the first one to discover it.

We grabbed a delicious breakfast at Sunrise Minturn then spent an hour or so walking through the market set up adjacent to Main Street. They had free rock climbing that the kids took full advantage of to get some wiggles out before we loaded back up in our trucks.

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Next stop… Telluride!