When I was in my twenties, I visited Rocky Mountain National Park a couple of times and was captivated by the Western mountains. An East-Coaster my whole life, I hadn’t ever seen big, rocky mountains like those, and those couple of road trips out West stick out as inspirational and vastly different than anything I was used to. We weren’t exactly looking to do a big trip for the kids’ spring break this year, but in January I started messing around on my favorite tool, the Southwest Low Fare Calendar, and found decently affordable (in points, of course) flights to Denver. We ended up using 114,750 Southwest Rapid Rewards, plus $56 in taxes, to fly the five of us to the wild West. The stage was set to show my kids the big mountains!
Our first day started off bright and early at Pittsburgh International Airport, in the Priority Pass lounge. This became a hit of the trip, as the kids were thrilled to be able to order lattes, eggs and fruit for free. I wish I could insert a laughing emoji here – I was delighted by how much everyone loved this. We enjoyed staying in a quieter, less crowded space while waiting for our flight to take off, and the kids were greatly disappointed that the Chicago Midway airport did not have a lounge. We gained access to this when Tom upgraded his Chase Sapphire Preferred to the Sapphire Reserve. This card carries a hefty annual fee (Typically $550, but Tom called Chase and they knocked $100 off to upgrade – never hurts to ask!), but we felt some of the perks like a $300 travel credit, free Instacart+ with $15 back per month, better trip delay insurance, reimbursement for Global Entry or TSA pre-check, plus some things I’m sure I’m forgetting, made this worthwhile to us. On the way back, we enjoyed this benefit again at the Priority Pass restaurant in the St. Louis airport. It was entirely adequate, and I got a bloody mary, because, why not?
When we arrived in Denver we journeyed through Denver International Airport, searching for the illuminati baggage claim area, then hopped our shuttle over to Thrifty Car Rental. Tom was able to book a car using his US Bank Altitude Reserve card and use the real-time reward feature to erase the purchase at 1.5x in points. So, the $495 rental for the week cost us 33,000 points. We put our hiking boots on in the parking lot, hopped into our Nissan Armada, and were on our way to Red Rocks Amphitheater. I had been stalking the weather like a meteorologist leading up to this trip, and I knew that our day of arrival was going to be our warmest day, so we took advantage of it and hiked around this beautiful point of geological interest. I can’t wait to come back for a concert – who’s coming?
We only planned one night in Denver as our jumping off point to Rocky Mountain National Park. We stayed at the Element Denver East by Westin and used 10,000 Marriott Bonvoy points plus $63 cash. I had to do a little Bonvoy math, which is often the case, and this configuration of points and money worked out to be the best value compared to either 27,000 Bonvoy points or $210 cash. Sometimes with Marriott, you have to Bonvoy the math to make it make sense (wait what does that mean? What is Bonvoy anyway?). In all serious, while we love free, it always makes sense to look at cash rates and see if the better deal is actually… gasp… paying in cash. I look at sites like Upgraded Points to figure out roughly how to value different programs’ points and miles. The hotel itself was new, had a decent free breakfast, and had all extended stay rooms with enough sleeping space for 5-6, plus a full kitchen. We’re always thrilled to find a hotel room with enough beds for 5!
We were just blocks away from The Clyfford Still Museum and the Denver Art Museum, so when we woke up in 28 degree snowy April Denver, we made a trip to both. Both museums allowed free entry for kids, which made it a pretty affordable and enjoyable morning for us. We don’t generally consider ourselves art enthusiasts, but the Denver Art Museum is definitely worth checking out. We particularly enjoyed the Indigenous Art of North America Galleries. From there, we journeyed on to Idaho Springs and spent the afternoon in a hot spring pool at Indian Hot Springs Resort. I’m sure there are better hot springs in Colorado, but these were conveniently located and ended up being a lovely way to spend a snowy afternoon on spring break. We all spent more time than I expected we would just floating in the 99 degree hot-spring fed pool.
It was then on to our harrowing drive into the mountains during “flurries” which turned out to be more like 6-8 inches of snow. Nothing says “spring break” like driving up a mountain in a snow storm. We made it safely, though unsure if we would ever get the car back up the driveway (spoiler alert, we did). We booked 3 nights in Estes Park, the gateway town to the Eastern entrances to Rocky Mountain National Park. We rented a small cabin via VRBO, which coded as a travel purchase. The Capital One Venture Card allows you to erase travel expenses for 1 cent per point, so we used about 50,000 points for the $500 rental. This rental had two bedrooms, a little living room, and a fully equipped kitchen; plus it was super affordable even if we had just paid cash. I would definitely stay here again with our family.
We had 2.5 cozy days of cabin life and DeiCas forced family marches. We were all just mesmerized by the views that surrounded us wherever we went. Our second full day there, especially, was 45 degrees with brilliant blue skies and sun. When I did some research about what to expect on this trip, the site I kept consulting seemed pretty confident that while the snow would still be deep in higher elevations, in the lower elevations it would likely be receding and hike-able. Turns out, even in the lower parts of the park, they had a 77 inch snow-pack this year. I’m glad my kids are pretty hardy because we rented snow shoes and just had at it. In the future, I will consult the National Parks Service and not some lady’s blog when planning a trip – but I say this with no regrets. We had a blast!
Hey, lets go hiking!
Pictures don’t even do it justice
The hardy adventurers
On our last day, we made our way back to Denver with a stop for some views at Golden Gate Canyon State Park. We didn’t spend much time here, but believe the state of Colorado when they call something “panoramic point.” Back in Denver we had a late lunch and then walked around the Highlands neighborhood some before heading towards the airport to stay at our first ever Hyatt! Can you believe it? I was weirdly excited to be staying at this airport hotel, but I’m embracing my weird. We have a lot more Hyatt stays coming up, and I’m excited about the amazing value their program can give us as we up our travel game. All in all, this was a really great trip with fun memories, beautiful views, airport lounges, and activities we don’t always get to do. I loved snowy Colorado, and now we are even more inspired to come back to Colorado in the summer months.