Cherry Creek State Park

I have a state park pass and this state park is closest to me, so I tried to go as many times as I could to get our money's worth. We hadn't gone to the swim beach nearly as often as I would have liked and had planned. We seemed to be just so busy doing other things this past summer, but we did go this time and it was a lot of fun! I wish I had planned more of a picnic as well. The water and weather was nice, a little bit chilly, but still worth it.

Chatfield State Park

I have a Colorado State Park pass so wanted to explore other state parks, besides just Cherry Creek Reservoir, so we went to Chatfield State Park. There's a swim beach, lots of trails, and it must have been the time of year, but there were so many wasps! We had the most fun though when we found this little area near the water where there were tons of friendly, unafraid lizards. They came right up to our shoes and let the kids help them dig out their holes. There were also a gazillion grasshoppers or crickets, whichever! I don't know the difference, and they hopped around crazily whenever we walked near the grass. It was fun. We went to another trail which was really beautiful, but there was so much standing water, small ponds I guess, that the mosquitoes were terrible. There were frogs along the path too but I didn't get a chance to see them because of the mosquitoes!! A fun adventure.

Mount Galbraith Park

Since it's Fall and the leaves are so beautiful, I wanted to go exploring and get wonderful pictures of the fall leaves. We didn't have much of a plan for where to go and ended up near Golden. We went on the trail at Mount Galbraith Park which was really beautiful. We could have walked further up the trail along side the mountain but since it was a little wet I was nervous about it. I'm not quite sure how far the trails wrap around, but it didn't appear to go too far and didn't seem to end in anything, so I gave this park a 3/5.

Matthews Winters Park

We only went here for a little bit and didn't travel along the trails as much as I would have liked, plus, it's a Jefferson County Park and not a Denver Park, but hey! it's a park. It's usually really crowded with cars so difficult to find parking. You have to park along the side of the road. It's on your way to Red Rocks, and you can get to this park from the Red Rocks Trail anyway, so either way, it's accessible.

Printer Boy Campground, Leadville

The kids and I went to the Printer Boy Campground in Leadville with our church this past fourth of July weekend. We only stayed a night because I was exhausted and not feeling well, and also not looking forward to the traffic on Sunday as everyone else headed back home too. I've never been to Leadville. You go the same way as you go when you go to Dillon Reservoir, West on I-70, but to get to Leadville you also take the 91. The 91 isn't very beautiful. I was getting a little disappointed by how it looked, wondering if the camping area was going to be as much of a disappointment too. It seems, with some brief reading, that Leadville was a mining town and only stopped mining in the 1980's. We didn't explore the small town of Leadville, which you can see the entirety in about five minutes as you drive through it. We just didn't stay long enough to do much exploring.

Cainen loves camping. He didn't want to leave early at all. Madison wasn't feeling well either, but she definitely loves to camp too. I've realized how much work goes into camping trips, which I really had no idea about before. I'm also still learning what to bring and what's unnecessary. Cainen went off by himself with a group of kids and adults from church. He wanted some independence, as he told me, so me and Madison did a few things by ourselves. We went to the Turquoise Lake, which was beautiful. Mad and I also went on the Timberline Trail to the Timberline Lake up on top, which made the whole trip worth it. There were a ton of mosquitos but we surprisingly didn't get bit- thank you bug off! We also slept a lot better now that we have mats to sleep on.

 

 

 

Civic Center Park: Denver Pride

This park again, yes. This weekend was Pride Fest. We spent several hours checking out booths, eating giant rice krispie treats, listening to music, and watching a surprise wedding proposal- so sweet!! As I've said before, check out any of the events and fairs at Civic Center Park. There's a lot of stuff going on. And check out Pride next year!

Red Rocks: Skrillex

My brother came out to Denver to visit and see the Skrillex concert June 21 at Red Rocks. It was awesome! And I am too tired today from that show to write too much about it, but if you get a chance to see a concert at Red Rocks- dooooo iiiitttt! Skrillex said that Red Rocks looks like a combination of Lion King and Mars, and I think that's a good description.

Dillon Reservoir

Dillon Reservoir is not a part of Denver Parks and Rec. It's about two hours west of Golden, off the I-70. I want to include any sort of outdoorsy, Colorado type stuff we do on this blog too. We went camping here with our church. My car struggled to get up here, so I was nervous going up. But it was easy to come back down.

This is a really beautiful town. We pass through Idaho Springs, which I learned has rapids. Dillon Reservoir is also right next to Silverthorne, Co. There was still snow on the mountains but everything is also turning green and growing. I learned a lot about camping this trip! Silly things that maybe I should have known. We were right near the water, so that was relaxing. It was warm during the day and cold at night. It even snowed for a half an hour and stopped just as suddenly- crazy Colorado weather. The elevation is about 9,000, so I felt like an old wheezing granny.

Cainen spent a good 45 minutes when we first got there throwing rocks. He spent a lot of time wandering around by himself. Madison and I hiked around a bit. We had a camp fire at night, which the kids said was one of their favorite parts. They even had fun during the day starting and putting out the fire, again and again. We all definitely will be going camping again.