Things to do / Travel Guide
Wondering whether a family trip to the Colorado Rockies region will pan out? Upon arriving to the region you (and your kids) will immediately realize: you've struck gold! Children's ski schools, classes, and winter snow activities abound, bike rentals for children are available as are fishing rods, for the “guppies” who you want to include in big adventures. From family vacation ideas like actually panning for gold to dino-mite dinosaur dig excursions, and ghost town adventures to indoor explorations, your kids will heap praises on your plans to pack up and head for this alpine paradise.
Fruit Fun in the Colorado Rockies
At Cross Orchards Historic Site near Grand Junction in Northwest Colorado, you and your family can learn the history of apple orchards and harvesting techniques at what was once one of the largest apple orchards in the country. You'll tour the orchard, learn the basics of planting and harvesting, wander amidst historic tools and wagons, and take a tart taste of the season's red-cheeked harvest.
Digging and Dipping for Treasures in the Colorado Rockies
Are your kids captivated by the size and stories of creation's largest beasts? From June-August Grand Junction's Dinosaur Journey Museum (with Colorado's best robotic dinosaurs) and Museum of Western Colorado in Northwest Colorado sponsor quarry and dig expeditions during which you and your children can take part in a bona fide (or should we say bone-a-fide) dinosaur dig. Accompany professional paleontologists to learn about the history of dinosaur digs and to find a few fossils of your own. In the Southwest Colorado town of Delta, a trip to the Dry Mesa Quarry to watch a working dig in process is always fascinating for Brontosaurus and T-rex fans.
And if your children prefer to happen upon some metallic treasure, a trip to a gold mine might put a glint in their eyes. Tours to Bachelor-Syracuse Mine in the Southwest Colorado town of Ouray, and Country Boy Mine and Washington Gold Mine near Breckenridge in Northwest Colorado are good options. Most gold mine tours offer families the chance to learn how to dip, sift, and search for gold. And the best part: finder's keepers!
Ghost Towns in the Colorado Rockies
Looking for a unique family vacation idea in the Colorado Rockies? Brush up on the colorful and crazy history of the region's Gold Rush to tell the dramatic stories of the wild and wacky West and you can likely interest your children in a visit to Colorado Rockies' ghost towns. Give the places a mysterious and slightly spooky prelude and describe the dramatic shootouts and showdowns, and your kids will find that the abandoned rickety wooden sidewalks and skeleton-structure buildings will spring to life. Peer into the windows together and imagine, aloud, what went on inside. St. Elmo, west of Buena Vista in South-Central Colorado, is one of the region's best-preserved sites, with 25 buildings, and Ashcroft, near Aspen in Northwest Colorado, is also a good choice. For some expert guidance along the way, know that children are welcome on many of the four-wheel-drive (4WD) Jeep tours available in many Colorado Rockies towns, which stop at ghost towns and zip along some of the Colorado Rockies' snaking mountain back roads.
Indoor Explorations in the Colorado Rockies
If the dinosaur dig won't do, your children may enjoy the more-than-160 hands-on exhibits at Grand Junction's dynamic Western Colorado Math and Science Center Exploratorium, where math and science become touchy-feely fun and friendly. The Doo Zoo Children's Museum, also in Grand Junction, offers an equally-wide range of interactive and energy-expending play stations for children aged three to eight. Further south, in Durango, the Children's Museum of Durango, offers 1,100 square feet of safe-but-high-intensity fun.
Snow Fun in the Colorado Rockies
Wondering what the kids can do while you hit the slopes? Plenty of Colorado Rockies' ski resorts have predicted your predicament. For more than a few consecutive years, Ski Magazine has voted the Steamboat Ski Area as the number one “family resort” in the west. Their Kids Ski Free program as well as tiny (yet important) details like tissues at lift lines, the Steamboat Mountain Watch (locate your family members on the mountain anywhere, anytime) and kid-friendly eateries make this Northwest Colorado resort a big hit with skiers of all sizes.
Also in Northwest Colorado, Snowmass Mountain is one of Aspen's more family-friendly resorts. An on-mountain childcare center and a children's race facility (near Scopper run) are just the beginning. Snowmass' on-mountain Family Zone offers snow tubing, sleigh rides for kids, paintball fun, nature tours for children, as well as slopes at which families are encouraged to ski and snowboard together. Breckenridge Nordic Ski Center, in Northwest Colorado, offers a wide range of rental equipment for kids, and skiing families are welcome to ski together on the slopes. Northwest Colorado's Vail offers ski and snowboarding school for kids, as well as fun activities like tubing, snowshoeing, and snowmobiling excursions (with special kid-size vehicles and a kids-only track). Telluride, in Southwest Colorado, boasts a children's ski school, a glass-topped children's nursery (where you can check on your kids without them knowing), and tubing on Thrill Hill.
Water Fun in the Colorado Rockies
While rafting in the Colorado Rockies often means writhing with the wrath of ebullient white water, gentle family rafting experiences abound throughout the region. The usual age minimum is eight or 10 years old but occasionally, the minimum age starts at just four years old. Trips are available on the Upper Bighorn Sheep Canyon, through the Gunnison Gorge in Southwest Colorado, and along the Roaring Fork River near Aspen in Northwest Colorado, among other places, but be sure to ask about minimum age and height requirements.
For budding fishing aficionados, Telluride Town Park in Southwest Colorado's Telluride has a small lake, regularly stocked by the hatchery, perfect for a confidence-building introduction to trout fishing. For a jet-setting summer jaunt, heading to the Mill Street Fountain in front of Aspen's Wheeler Opera House is a great vacation idea. Computer-driven water jets randomly spray out of this flat platform-ed fountain, encouraging children to run around (supposedly) trying not to get wet.
Family Vacation Ideas in Vail, Aspen, Telluride, Steamboat Springs and the Colorado Rockies
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