Hangin' in Aspen

While we were in Glenwood Springs, we headed over to Aspen, which is about 40 miles away. Why go to Aspen when the ski resorts are closed? The street life. The heart of Aspen has a great pedestrian mall full of sidewalk cafes, shops, street musicians and benches to sit on and people watch. Our boys and our friend's daughter loved this sculpture of bear made out of hundreds of nails.

There's even some kid-friendly features like this mountain-themed playground.


And fountains to run through and cool off.

Although, James liked the stream/ditch that ran through the pedestrian mall better.
Plus, there's still some die-hards managing to find what little snow is left on Aspen Mountain to snowboard on. Check out these guys:

While this may not be the most glamorous side of Aspen, to me it's still fun.

Georgetown

When we make the long drive to Glenwood Springs, we stop in Georgetown to have a picnic lunch and let our boys get some energy out at the playground. I've been coming here since I was a little, and it hasn't changed much. A few years back, the town spruced up the playground equipment in the park, but everything else is the same, like this cute fountain in the park's center.

This little park always puts me in a vacation frame of mind.


Our friend's daughter gets ready to slide with James.

Taking a Breather

The days before Father's Day were pretty hectic. We had guests arriving to stay in our home, so it was nonstop cleaning and shopping before they arrived. We wanted to show our out-of-town guests the Colorado mountains, so we planned a weekend in Glenwood Springs. Sounds great, but in reality, getting three kids under 6 years old ready for a three-hour drive from Denver to Glenwood Springs almost made me feel like the trip wasn't worth it.

Glenwood Springs has the world's largest hot springs swimming pool. With its warm, salty mineral water, the pool is almost like a beach vacation in the mountains. We stayed in the Hot Springs Lodge, which has unlimited swimming at the pool--a must for my boys.

With the help of Color Wonder coloring books and our portable DVD player, we made it to the town in one piece. After I got the boys settled in our hotel room, I went on our balcony and this is what I saw:



This view of the pool and the surrounding mountains definitely made the shopping/packing/driving worth it.