YMCA Estes Park, CO

After a Spring of extreme couponing, my freezer is stuffed, pantry and toiletries are stocked for the next year and I am glad. Now I can take the summer off and enjoy and travel without having to fuss much with shopping at all. Hooray!

This is the summer of travel for the Holmes family. Our first trip this summer was to the YMCA Estes Park Retreat Center over memorial day weekend. They have a special for military families - $80 for 2 nights INCLUDING meals and all activities, except crafts and horse back riding. I was so excited to go for not having to cook 3 meals a day for 2 days for my family. That along is a vacation to me. We drove through the uber cool town of Boulder (reminds me of DelRay in Alexandria, my hometown). We arrived Friday and toured the historical Stanley Hotel, famous for being the site for Stephen King's film The Shining. The hotel was much smaller than I imagined and we couldn't take the tour as all 26 tours that day were booked and they wouldn't let small kids on the tour anyway. I wanted to eat lunch there, but it was expensive and nothing really looked good to me anyway. I love to eat well, but the most interesting thing in the restaurant was the fish tank. It was late, kids were hungry, so it was fast food for us. As far as fast food in a pinch, I am on to KFC for that grilled chicken.

We shopped at a cute place called Estes Ark, place looked just like Noah's Ark. Inside were two of every kind of stuffed animal in the animal kingdom. I told Charlotte and Sarah they could have any animal they wanted in exchange for their ratty old teddy bears they take everywhere and cannot sleep without. They would have nothing to do with that. Fun store. Bought unique greeting cards, and raced slot cars on a track they have in the basement. Mouse was loving it.

Downtown Estes Park looked like a beach boardwalk. Fun Stores, but we didn't stop. Straight to the Y for us. The Y did not disappoint. The property was amazing and we didn't leave all weekend. We're going back end of July when we will spend our time at the Rocky Mountain Natinoal Park.

Friday night we checked in to our hotel room, which was spacious and had a view of the mountains from our balcony. We had dinner onsite and were pleased with the food and selection. We were surprised that there were over 1000 others in the dining hall, as the Chinese American Christian Association was meeting there all weekend. Took 20 minutes in line to get our meals. Being so new to Colorado, we were surprised to run into 2 other military families we knew at dinner. One family had reserved a fire pit that night we joined them for a time around the camp fire, smores, mountain air and stars.

Saturday, after breakfast, the girls attended a bug class, where they learned about all kinds of different bugs, went outside to catch, ID and release bugs and then create a bug craft. Too much fun. Then we played a round of miniature golf before lunch. After lunch was parachute class for the girls, then off to roller skate. Charlotte has always been a good rollerskater, and Sarah made friends with some older kids who took her under her wing, and is now a good skater. We met one of the families we knew at the rink and spent a good time socializing with them. After skating, we went horseback riding. Charlotte doesn't like to ride, but Sarah really does and she rode a mini horse named Shortcake around the cutest outdoor trail in the planet. Then back to eat some dinner at the dining hall. After, we went to our room to change and the girls completely fell asleep on us. No evening swim. Next morning, we had breakfast and went to art class to make a sun craft. Then we went to the roller rink to skate some more. Then lunch, then home. Great but short weekend with amazing memories and great views. We've decided to make this place and the Y at Winter Park our "vacation home" without the hassle of owning it. We're going back often.