Travel: Colorado

 

After a long journey we made it to the museum!

In early January we took the opportunity to head out to Colorado for a few days of skiing and outdoor activities in the mountains. Little dude and I left early and high tailed it to Denver to visit the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.  The museum has wonderful exhibits on space, dinosaurs, and the natural environment. Our two and a half hour visit was definitely not enough time.

 

 

Moose. They also had a great exhibition on the work that goes into creating the nature dioramas.

 

 

Dinos! 

We learned that a T Rex would replace all their teeth every four years, and constantly replaced their teeth throughout their lives. Little dude also got to hold a T Rex tooth- it was huge! The educational components of the exhibitions were truly fantastic, and there were lots of volunteers and interactive stations to provide more information.

 

 

The view of Denver and the Rockies from the museum.

 

 

Super moon in the dawn's light.

After meeting up with Joe in Denver, we headed up to the mountains, where we stayed with Joe's Aunt and Uncle. They are always so hospitable, great to ski with, and have a lovely log home. Enjoying their company is definitely a plus of visiting the Rockies. We spent the next two days skiing at Copper Mountain, with little dude in ski school and us on the slopes.

 

 

Ski selfie.

 

 

Top of Super Bee.

 

Little dude- pro skiier in training.

 

Ready for the mountain.

 

The village at Copper- I love the festive feel.

 

 

Ski scenery.

  

Blue run.

  

Back up at the top.

  

Alpine.

The last day of our visit we went up to Rocky Mountain National Park to snowshoe. The park turns 100 years old this year, and is always a treat for us, no matter the season. We visited the west side of the park, which has far fewer visitors than the east side- in a given year park attendance is 3.5 million, but only 300,000 people make it to the west side. In winter it is very quiet- we only saw a handful of other people during our visit, but we did see a moose up close!   

  

RMNP!

 

Snowshoeing.

 

More snowshoeing.

This was little dude's first snowshoe on his own (he was carried on past trips), and he loved it. For us it was a short trip (just over a mile), but for him I imagine it felt quite long.

 

Park scenery.

 

More park scenery.

Before we left for the day, the munchkin completed the Park's Junior Ranger program- he was so thrilled to get a badge and try on the ranger hat! 

 

RMNP's newest junior ranger.

Rocky Mountain National Park Snowshoe

We spent Sunday March 20 visiting with family and snowshoeing in Rocky Mountain National Park. If you haven't snowshoed, it is quite a workout and a lovely way to view the forest in winter. Luckily we weren't breaking trail, which we've done frequently in Minnesota, and which is really challenging, but an extra 25 pounds of toddler-in-a-backpack (as seen here on Joe) will take a snowshoe workout to the next level. We traded off carrying the kiddo, Joe on the way out, me on the way back. The vistas in the park were beautiful, and the contrast of the pine trees, snow, and blue sky was gorgeous. It was also fun to see the trail signage, usually at eye level, at foot level, indicating that we were floating on about five feet of snow-packed trail.

Winter Up North

The week before Christmas, we headed up to the north shore of Lake Superior, to ski and snowshoe near Lutsen, MN.
















It's a tradition for us to have breakfast at Blue Water Cafe in Grand Marais before snowshoeing. The hashbrowns, blueberry pancakes, and coffee always get us ready for a day outdoors.

















We stopped along the shore at Cascade to enjoy the lake.

















We snowshoed the 2.5 mile loop at Oberg Mountain on Thursday. The next two pictures are of us getting ready to set out.





































At the trailhead!









































An action shot along the trail.





















Taking a break on the way up.

















The view of the lake from the top of the hill.
















We saw a grouse along the trail, and had some nice views of the inland lakes, but because of the cold, our camera battery died half way through our hike.

After arriving back at Eagle Ridge (our hotel), we saw a fantastic sunset over Moose Mountain from our porch.


















Joe making a fire back in our room.
















Friday, our first day of skiing, Joe going down the hill.

















Taking the gondola over to Moose Mountain, Eagle Mountain is visible in the background.


















Our skiis riding on the outside of the gondola.

















Riding one of the chairlifts.

















Looking out at Lake Superior from Moose Mountain.
















Skiing on Ulur Mountain at the end of Friday.





















On our balcony getting ready to go out for day two of skiing, on Saturday. The outdoor pool is visible at the lower left. Friday evening we tried swimming in the pool, but even though the pool was heated it was pretty cold, so we ran back to our room barefoot in the snow.

















More chairlift.


































Saturday on Moose Mountain.




















The gondolas.


















At the end of the day on Saturday, taking off the skiis.





















Hanging out on the porch after a long day of skiing.





















On Saturday night we walked over to the Lutsen bar Papa Charlie's to see Keller Williams perform. The evening started with some spiked hot chocolate....

















Keller!
































It was fantastic to see such an amazing performer with a crowd of a few hundred, rather than a few thousand.

















Walking back to our room through the snow.

















Our room at Eagle Ridge was ski-in/ski-out. Joe is standing at the area where we hit the hill, and our hotel is the building in the background.






































We intended to leave Lutsen on Sunday, but a snowstorm was approaching, so we decided to stay for another day of skiing. Joe at the top of Eagle Mountain with the lake in the background.

















Joe coming out of a tree run.

















In the lodge on Moose Mountain taking a lunch break.





















Skiing the ridgeline back to the Moose Lodge.

















Poplar Creek at the base of Eagle Mountain.
















Taking off our boots after day three of skiing.

















On Sunday evening we drove down the shore through a snowstorm to Duluth, where we decided to stop for the night. We stayed in the Canal Park area of town, and walked to Bellisio's for a fantastic dinner.






































As we walked back to our hotel, we passed a local news center, where I was amused to see that they have a snowmobile parked out front.