After our time in Mesa Verde, our family drove even deeper into the Rocky Mountains. We spent a couple overnights at the YMCA of the Rockies at Snow Mountain Ranch and took full advantage of their many activities. We swam in their indoor pool, enjoyed breathtaking views while mini-golfing,
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and tried out this summer tubing hill.
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Our reservation at the tubing hill was from 9-10am. We assumed that the hill was like a water slide and were a little nervous when we woke up to temperatures in the high 60s that morning! We arrived in our swimsuits, ready for a very chilly adventure. Thankfully, the tubing hill hardly got us wet at all. There was only a light misting spray as we slid down in our tubes. The weather was actually wonderfully comfortable, and it ended up being a great experience. Adley went down once and wasn't a big fan, but the rest of us enjoyed it.
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What you can't tell in the pictures is that the workers always asked if we wanted to spin on our way down. On their second tubing ride, both boys agreed to a "tornado." Yikes! They loved it! As you can see in the videos, my ride was much tamer. ;)
Following our morning adventures at the YMCA, we journeyed to Winter Park for the day. We were most excited about experiencing their alpine slides. At 3,000 feet long, these slides have the claim-to-fame of being the longest alpine slides in Colorado. They did not disappoint! All members of our family enjoyed the thrill of the slides. Jaden and Cody flew down the hill each time and were proud to announce when they "didn't use the brakes at all!" Even Adley asked to go faster and faster on each of her runs. This was definitely a highlight of our trip!
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Adley took turns going down with Mommy and Daddy. Her excitement was real! ;)
Adley also tried out two different ropes courses at Winter Park-- this first one for older kids even included a small zip line. Adley was very brave for her first-ever time on a ropes course!
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This beginner "Chickadee Course" was designed for ages 2-6 and was much lower to the ground. Adley was glad this course had no wait line! She enjoyed them both.
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Meanwhile, Jason and the boys were involved in a competitive game of corn hole.
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Can you guess who won??
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Our last adventure at Winter Park was taking a scenic gondola ride up the mountain--going all the way up to 10,700 feet!
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Winter Park was an impressive resort that felt almost like a small village. We loved our day here!
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Our Chinese food tasted excellent for dinner that night!
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For the rest of that evening and the next half day, we explored more activities at the YMCA. It felt so nice having all this beautiful outdoor playtime, especially since Houston was getting record high temps in our absence (10 days in a row of temps over 100 degrees!). The mountainous views surrounding us were sure incredible too!
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The YMCA also had an indoor rec center which typically housed all kinds of sporting activities (basketball, ping pong, foosball, volleyball, and billiards). Unfortunately, most of these activities were shut down due to a special conference being held in the building. The roller skating rink was the only available indoor activity, so Adley gave this a whirl.
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The boys had no trouble finding other activities to do outside.
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Adley didn't last long at the roller skating rink. She liked trying her hand at horseshoes, and she discovered another playground too!
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All of the above pictured activities were free with our stay, but we did choose to pay for a zip lining experience for the boys and me. We only had time to zip line once each since there was a fairly large group of other patrons that day, but it was well worth it!
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The scariest part was climbing up either this huge shaky ladder (which the boys did) or using the climbing pegs to go up the pole (which I did).
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Once at the top, the boys bravely leaped off the ledge on what was definitely their longest & highest ever zip lining experience!
God blessed us with some amazing weather days during our visit and showed us his remarkable handiwork with the scenery. We sure loved our time in the mountains!
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