Moving and living out of state from your family means the time you have together is always a little sweeter. Yes, I love my family but I also really love not living in Texas where the heat and bugs are bigger. Since moving back to Colorado in 2017, we’ve made a mindful attempt for me to see my sister and mom once a year. This year’s girls trip was to Estes Park, Colorado.
For the most part is was a girls trip, Asher was the only boy allowed to go. Our time together included the touristy acts of shopping downtown Estes, a scenic drive through Rocky Mountian National Park, and a night tour of the Stanley hotel. Because did you really visit Estes Park without visiting the Stanley hotel? (also I saw a door close on it’s own I’m unusually creeped out by things of the spiritualized nature and this was no exception)
There was also a lot of laughs, some fantastic food, and naps on the couch. When Sailers girls vacation, we vacation hard.
One thing I insisted on this year was a ‘fancy’ girls dinner. It wasn’t like super fancy but we did get dressed up which is what I was going for. I wanted an excuse to take pictures together and to leave the condo pretty. We didn’t plan what to wear at all and still managed to coordinate.
One of my dreams since living in Colorado in 2012 was to visit Rocky Mountain National Park. I’ve lived relatively close for a while but never been, we decided this would be a good trip to fix that. As an Enneagram 4, I longingly gaze out windows often but the scenci drive to Rainbow curve was beyond my imagination. It was everything I thought RMNP was and so much more. Haley got to see her snow…about 6′ of snow pact on the side of the road, more than I’ve ever seen at one time. Asher was pretty stoked about the snow situation at the top of the drive as well. Now to go back and hike a few of those trails…
Friday was our tourist day, we walked downtown Estes Park and did some shopping. My lovely ‘little’ sister is lactose intolerant. So while we saw a ton of ice cream shops there weren’t alot of options for her beyond sorbet. So we picked up some ice cream options from the local Safeway instead. But you know what makes ice cream taste 10 bajillion times yummier? Waffle cones.
After dinner Haley asked me to look up ice cream shops still open, then her and mom went to buy waffle cones. They returned with huge yummy dipped waffle cones, with which we all enjoyed our ice cream in.
I haven’t mentioned the elk yet. But there is a backstory.
In December 2013, Travis and I were in Estes Park at The Stanley Hotel for a friends wedding. We were in town for 3 days and never once saw an elk.
When we went to leave on Wednesday evening for our Night Tour at The Stanley, we saw 3 elk in front of the condo we were staying at. And we saw elk every evening after that. We even saw them in RMNP and on Saturday morning before we left. I have more pictures of elk on my phone than I care to admit. Which is why I only shared one with you.
Stylishly Shelby 