We went on a little mini-vacation last Friday. We wanted to get away, and hadn't taken a trip all summer with ball. Before we knew it, summer was almost over, so we went, with a little less planning, sorta spontaneous. We planned to go to Colorado Springs (about an hour away). Stay the night in a hotel with a pool. Maybe ride the cog railway train up Pike's Peak. Maybe see the cliff dwellings. The zoo. Just enjoy a couple days away and then be back Saturday night.
So Thursday was spent doing back to school shopping, cause I didn't want to leave it for the day before school. I didn't want all the supplies to be gone and have to go to multiple stores. So Friday morning was spent packing and getting ready for the mini-trip. Off to a late start, we head out around noon. Our first stop was to McDonald's. All good. Happy meals. Happy kids. Back in the car.
The drive down was nice. It started to rain during the drive, so we wondered if doing Pike's Peak would be good. As we drive into the city the raining turns into flash flooding. TONS of water all over the edges of the streets, little rivers flowing from the hilly areas. All a nice reddish color from the red rocks in the area. We had some time before the Pike's Peak thing, so we decided to find a hotel. Sterling is jumping in and out at various hotels in the heavy rains to no vacancy or rooms that wouldn't work - smoking, across the hotel from each other, etc. Most places were booked. These hotels were located nearer to Pike's Peak, so we decided maybe downtown would be better. So we drive closer to downtown, the rain is lighter, but traffic is bad. And the traffic lights seem to be on red forever. We don't want to miss our time for Pike's Peak, so we turn back around and head to the railway with a sad, hungry baby.
Once we get there, it's about 3:30. I feed Miss Cami and then we sit and wonder if we should indeed go up the mountain. The rain is light, but it is really overcast and cloudy up the peak. If we go up to the top, it would be nice to look around and SEE stuff. And it's a pricey ride, so we should probably go up in nicer weather. We call family who check out things on radar, it doesn't look like it will clear soon. We finally decide to come back and try it tomorrow with nicer weather. Off we go to find a hotel and maybe take a swim.
So we get ourselves back to downtown Colorado Springs and search around for the hotels. No vacancy. No vacancy. Smoky rooms.
Scanky area/hotel. No vacancy. Poor
kiddoes. By this time is is 5 o'clock. So basically 5 hours in the car. They are asking if we have a hotel yet. Do they have room for us here? Sad. So at one hotel, he called around and found that the
Marriot had 2 rooms (not joining) with king beds in each. More pricey than planning. Sterling and I would have to be in separate rooms, the kids would be in separate rooms. We decide no.
So as we are driving around we ask the kids to rate the vacation, with 1 being the absolute worst and 10 being the best. Morgan piped up right away with 1, then changed to a 2. Gavin was a 2. Reagan was a 4. Sterling said how they were being such great kids and it was about to get a lot better...
Sterling saw a fun place (mini golf, games, batting cages, etc.) so we turn to head over there, so the kids can get out of the car and do something FUN. Just let's get out of the car! We drive over to the parking area and it is OUT. OF. BUSINESS. Ugh. Chained up, graffiti on the sign. Nice. However, right next door is a BBQ place. Let's get dinner and then figure out what we will do.
BBQ place, kinda scuzzy. You walk in to the bar area and then they led us back to a tiny room off the side with 4 round tables - two pushed together for us. The food was alright, the atmosphere, not so much. Sticky tables, had a spill of lemonade and the lady came in with a smelly rag to wipe it up. But we were filled. We figure we will start driving towards home and maybe stop at a hotel along the way if we see something.
We start the drive home. Can you imagine? Don't you just want to cry? We make a call to a couple places in route - no rooms. And finally figure we will just drive home, stay at home and start fresh tomorrow. Home? After all the packing? Home? After all the driving around? Home? By this time Cami is screaming, fun is definitely over.
We get home and as we pull up Sterling says, "We're at our hotel, guys!" We had a really fun night pretending our home was a special "family suite". Austin fell asleep in the car, so he went right to bed in his private room. The kids decided to sleep all together in the TV room - with leather couches, nice! And toys! And a private swimming pool in the backyard - sweet! The kids had room service (popcorn, soda, and candy) and a movie party. Things seemed to be picking up.
The next morning was waffles. Lucky Daddy had breakfast in bed. Room service rocked! I think at breakfast we got a 7 on the rating scale. The day passed. Sleeping in, nap for the baby, kids swimming, and it quickly was lunch time. We ate lunch there - by this time mom was ready to leave the hotel. Were we really going to drive back down to Colorado Springs? The idea of getting into the car did not sound fun, so I thought playing mini golf in town would be fun.
And it was. We had a good time hitting balls, Austin lasted a few holes before he was more interested in the fountains and other water features. Reagan almost did the full 18 holes. It was good. A few hole-in-ones from the girls.
We headed to dinner at the Trail Dust Steakhouse. A live country band. A big slide for the kids to enjoy. And steak and potatoes. So that was nice.
As we pulled up to the driveway, the kids asked if we were staying at the hotel or going home. How cute is that? We're going home, kids. Vacation is over. Sterling asked Reagan what her favorite part of the vacation was. She said "Golf. Cause that's all we really did." Very true. Mini-golf, eating, and driving. But a memory to last a lifetime.
