At the end of last year, we took a trip to Colorado and it was my favorite vacation to date.
It enclosed so many first for our family and definitely memories for a lifetime, and with Spring Break around the corner I wanted to share about our trip and how you and your family can do it as well and of course, on a budget.
Day 1
We actually arrived in Albuquerque at 12am and had rented a hotel that was near the airport to be able to rest the entire night!
Why Albuquerque instead of Durango, Colorado? This is going to be part of our “How to Plan a Family Vacation- Within a Budget” in a couple of weeks but here is a snippet. When you are traveling and the tickets are extremely out of your budget always search for nearby airports! We have done this the past two years, in different states and it has worked wonders, saved us over $300 per ticket, and for a family of four it adds up!
This time around we did a little digging and Albuquerque was 3 hours from Durango CO and was close to $400 cheaper per ticket. Also, the car rental in Albuquerque was also a whole lot cheaper than in Colorado.
Day 2
Traveling through Northern New Mexico was a beautiful experience. We had never seen mountains as pretty and of course all the canyons.
Stopped for some coffee and food along the way and we got to Durango the same day by 3:00pm and with happy babies since they took a long nap. It gave us enough time to explore the city, have dinner, and check in just by 7:00pm.
We stayed at the Homewood Suites in Durango Co and it was the best choice. The suite was big enough for all four of us and it had a kitchenette and a dining room.
I will be sharing more tips on picking the right hotel for your family in our series so be sure to come back and check it out.
Day 3
We woke up with the waters we had left in the car frozen, like solid, and well this Cuban was shocked.
Day 3 was all about the local parks. We went to the local parks and let the girls play and enjoy all the snow as we familiarized ourselves with the area. We followed it with lunch at a local diner, which was amazing, and took our first ride to the purgatory. The purgatory was the most magical place I have ever seen. So much snow and surrounded but beautiful scenery. It really made us be thankful and think about God’s creation. Mountains were full of snow and Christmas trees all around.
Day 3
We booked a few activities before leaving home and this one was one of them. We booked a snowcat explorer trip at the Purgatory. The snowcat tour at the Purgatory. The snowcat took us to one of the highest peaks of the mountains and we were able to enjoy the beautiful untouched snow. Inches and inches of it!
The excursion was close to 4 hours and when we were done we picked up some food and hot cocoa and went to the hotel.
One tip for us parents during vacation is always to give our kids some time to unwind at “home”. Watch a movie, eat some popcorn and just jump on the beds, aside from going to bed early or taking a nap.
That is all for today, be sure to come back tomorrow for the next 3 days!
Believe you won’t want to miss our next excursion.
I hope this post is giving you all the feelings about traveling with your family and making your own lifetime memories.
