Sweet Sweet Estes

As if a trip through Yellowstone wasn't enough scenic bliss for the summer, we decided to trek up to Estes Park to the YMCA camp for 5 days with my parents.  They flew Dude home from Camp Nana and Papa and continued in their fun, Colorado style.  It's about an hour and a half to Estes, which is a breeze in comparison to the 1500 miles Tim and I recently completed.  We had decided on this get-away back in March since their 500+ cabins book up by 1:00am on April 1.  We successfully booked at 12:35am that same morning.

We've had a plethora of lovely trips over the course of our 14 years together, but this one ranks high on my list.  The land and experience the YMCA camp offers their guests is a rare jewel.  The cabins are nestled in pure beauty, surrounded by nature and wildlife, the free activities for guests of all ages are endless and unique, the all day kids camp was fantastic, nightly concerts offered excuses to walk down the hill, magic shows and drum circles entertained the kids....and then there's Rocky Mountain National Park just 5 minutes down the road.  We visited the park 4 different days for hiking, picnics and drives.  It was a gift of a week and we plan to make it an annual tradition.

 Deer spotting.  Enzo was also quite intrigued.  

 The front porch was our resting place.  Much of our time was spent playing games and reading out here.  

 Squirt's highlight was her pony ride on Strawberry Shortcake.  Darling.  

On our last day we dumped, I mean dropped off, the kids at all day camp.  It was awesome for all of us.  They had a blast (Dude got to do a half hour mountain trail ride on Babe the horse) and the adults drove Trail Ridge for the day.  

 

We'll be back soon heavenly camp.  Very soon if I have my way.