A few weeks ago, our baby girl’s graduation trip (a gift from my mom) started out a little rocky, pun intended.
“Arthur,” the first tropical storm of 2026, began threatening our plans to fly to Denver Thursday morning on Wednesday. I was walking out the door to go to Bible Quiz practice when Hubby called me from his office at 5:15 pm. He said, in essence, “Could you and your mom be ready to fly tonight instead of tomorrow morning?”
He grabbed four seats on a Southwest Airlines flight, which was due to board an hour and a half from that moment, and we all raced to the airport.
Though our pulses were racing at the gate, our impromptu rescheduling worked out just fine. It meant that we had a bonus 12 hours for our trip!
I’d planned the trip in April, giving us a day in Denver to acclimate to the elevation. I also planned our highest altitude events for the end of our stay. To leave plenty of time for shopping and resting, I scheduled only 1-2 things to do each day.
Here’s an overview of the 9-day trip:
Day 1. Explore Denver
Day 2. Denver Aquarium, then afternoon tea at Cherokee Ranch near Castle Rock
Day 3. Manitou Cliff Dwellings, then explore Colorado Springs/visit Pioneer Museum
Day 4. Royal Gorge Route Railroad
Day 5. Focus on the Family
Day 6. Garden of the Gods, then afternoon tea at Glen Eyrie Castle
Day 7. Pikes Peak Cog Railway
Day 8. Cheyenne Mountain Zoo
Clicking on the days will take you to the pages with pictures and details of the trip. Enjoy!
