It’s been a few years since my mom ventured out to Colorado for a visit. She claims her past visits were a bit ‘stressful’ due to my apparent need to show off all of the things while she was checking out my chunk of the world. I plead the fifth…I can’t help it, I like the flaunt the Rocky Mountains. With lots of coaxing + promising she finally agreed to come visit again, on one condition…we took it easy. So that is exactly what we did.
We spent five days roaming around the Colorado Rockies, soaking up low-key adventures, mountain scenery + many, many afternoon naps. Just in case your mom is headed to Colorado any time soon, here’s a few ideas for mom-worthy mountain adventures!
Breckenridge Main Street Wandering
My mom arrived on Tuesday night, via a very delayed flight, which made for an uneventful evening filled with food + an early bedtime. No one complained, especially when the Wednesday morning sunshine rolled around. We headed to Breckenridge for breakfast, coffee + aimless wandering along Main Street. I’m not much of an aimless wanderer when it comes to touristy downtown areas, but I do know how to sip a tasty latte + work away on my computer tucked away in a coffee shop while my mom soaks up all the cutesy stuff along Main Street. Compromise, acquired!
Sapphire Point + Lake Dillon Reservoir
After a morning of leisure in Breckenridge we headed to Keystone via Swan Mountain Road. This route has a few perks — it’s a short cut, it has great views + takes you right to the Sapphire Point trailhead. I irresponsibly forgot our microspikes so we skittered + slipped out to the Sapphire Point Overlook to take in the views. The loop around Sapphire Point is just over a half mile long on really easy trail. It has views for days, getting you a glimpse of Buffalo Mountain, Red Mountain, Lake Dillon + the 10 Mile Range. Hello there Rocky Mountains!
The Cabins at Historic Columbine
Our big plan of the week was a trip to the Columbine Cabins in Northern Colorado. Robb + I have visited a handful of times in the past year + we’re always raving about our getaway just north of cell service. We headed up on Thursday night + spent the next 48 hours eyeballs deep in books, playing word games + snowshoeing. Not to mention our morning naps + afternoon naps. As per cabin tradition we also indulged in cinnamon rolls for breakfast + crockpot deliciousness for dinner. Seriously, you can’t go wrong with a trip up to Columbine Cabins.
Snowshoeing in a Winter Wonderland
In the past mom has always visited in the summer when I feel inclined to take her on all the hikes in the glorious sunshine. This usually led to more-adventurous-than-necessary outtings. Maybe she was right about my overly ambitious quests getting a bit out of control. This time around the winter snow kept our hikes shorter + the snowshoes kept us a bit slower. Perfect for mom time, right?! She seemed to enjoy herself, so I’m going to go with a ‘yup, perfect’!
Mountain Top Dining - Alpenglow Stube
After our quiet escape to Columbine Cabins we headed back to the chaos of Summit County. We had a lunch reservations at Alpenglow Stube, a restaurant at the top of the mountain. Our motivation was to get mom to the top of a mountain via gondola + the lunch reservation did just that. With the restaurant reservation we got a free foot pass up the River Run + Outpost Gondola. This gave us all views from the tippy top of the Keystone Resort + access to a delicious a la carte lunch at a mountain top restaurant. If you’re at Keystone, hit up the Alpenglow Stube restaurant for lunch + get that burger. Sounds simple, but get it!
Keystone’s Adventure Park Snow Tubing
Once we had filled ourselves with burgers, pasta + cheese cake we headed back to the top of Dercum Mountain for a bout of snow tubing. The Keystone Adventure Center offers snow tubing at the top of mountain where $34 will get you an hour of tubing. We spent our time spinning our brains out on the tubing hill, which really helped the food settle. Ha. No it didn’t…maybe you should tube before eating!
We finished up our tubing just after 5:30, which meant we were just in time for the sunset. This actually worked out perfect as my mom is not someone who would be coaxed to the top of a mountain any other way.
All of this lead to a pretty solid week of low-key exploring in the Colorado Rockies. My mom even went so far as to say she enjoyed herself…more than once. I think it’s safe to say this is a pretty perfect way to show off the greatness of Colorado without hiking anyone’s legs off or over filling a schedule.
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