We are finally in the process of throwing around ideas for our family vacation. Because of my son’s extra-curricular activities, the last few years have been centered around his events and where they take us. While planning, we always start to reminisce about previous vacations and ask each other, “Which one did you like best?”. It’s always hard to pick a favorite because each trip has offered its own adventures and brought us delight that only that particular city or state could bring.

While I don’t have a #1 pick, Colorado definitely sits high on my list. It included stops to the Olympic Training Facility, Estes Park, Sports Authority Field at Mile High, a Fourth of July concert in the park and Elitch Gardens Theme and Family Water Park. Each of these stops appealed to all of us for many reasons.

Being a family of athletes, stopping at the Olympic Training Facility was of major importance. Having the opportunity to see professionals including swimmers, wrestlers and track athletes practice was most stupendous. The tour itself was nothing short of amazing and the US Olympic Hall of Fame left us awe-struck.

Our next stop was Estes Park where we were able to relax and enjoy “cabin life” near the lakes. We spent our time hiking in Rocky Mountains National Park and and basking in all of nature’s resources. The funny thing about hiking is everyone on the trail was encouraging others to keep going because “If you make it to the end, the view is worth the walk.”

We then drove into Denver where we had the opportunity to tour Sports Authority Field at Mile High. During this time, I was the biggest Manning fan so I was over the moon. We were late for our tour, as was another family from Texas, so we were able to snag a tour guide doing his last tour for the day and he allowed us to take our time and relish in MY moment of glory. He was very patient as we took 5,000 pictures and ran around like two year old kids in a toy store. We followed up our tour with a Fourth of July concert in the park. We sat around, snacked, listened to live bands and watched the fireworks before turning in for the evening.

Our last stop on our tour of Colorado was to Elitch Gardens Theme and Family Water Park . Anytime we travel, I look to see if there is an amusement park. Although my son is not a fan of roller coasters, he’ll join us at the park for games, food, water rides and he’s always willing to hold our items at the exit while we wait in line to ride all the roller coasters.

Colorado was truly one for the books. The altitude got the best of me at the beginning of the trip but I refused to be defeated. Colorado was a wonderful experience and a lifetime of memories.