Update/ Trip Report:
My mother in law (who is our neighbor) was diagnosed with lung cancer a week before our trip. She already had diabetes and heart disease. The cancer was found unexpectedly when husband took her to urgent care for shortness of breath, fearing another heart attack. Indeed her heart is weaker and she was in heart failure but we also learned of the lung tumor while at the ER. A few tests and dr appointments later and she had an official diagnosis as a Christmas present. Obviously, this changed our plans a bit.
Simultaneously my sister (who lives near Boulder CO) was due to give birth to my niece. And indeed, baby came a bit early and thus was there waiting to meet us. I really did not want to cancel.
So husband stayed home and I took my son and my mom to Estes Park.
First, we had too much luggage to get to the airport in one car. I guess we had too many baby gifts etc. so two car rides to airport.
Then our flight was delayed. When it finally arrived hours later the first passenger off was on a stretcher so delay was likely due to medical emergency.
When we arrived in Denver we had to get a bigger car than we had planned for due to all the luggage. Car rental costs ended up being nearly a grand! Ugh
Oh and extra fees for a luggage cart to get from baggage claim to shuttle. It’s not far but we just had too much stuff.
But made the best of it and went to meet baby! Sooooo cute!
Because we arrived later than planned we weren’t able to drive up during daylight. I didn’t want to drive unfamiliar mountain roads in the dark, especially this time of year when there might be snow or ice.
Kiddo was getting over something and now grandma was getting sick. So we couldn’t stay with my sister and her new baby, too risky.
So I booked a hotel for the night. You see where this is headed... more unexpected costs adding up.
But we got a good rest plus great breakfast buffet. Met with baby again (no touching) and headed up the mountain.
The cabins at Rams Horn Resort are very cute and well stocked. The decor is not my taste but suits the cabins.
For various reasons we had to make four yes FOUR grocery shopping trips. I swear that was the most expensive and time consuming grocery shopping I’ve ever had to do for just one week.
Because of the sicknesses we didn’t do a whole lot of adventuring. But We drove into Rocky Mountain National Park a number of times, visited the visitor center and went to the sledding area (ski and snowboarding is allowed in that same area - Hidden Valley- they just have no lift). Did a bit of sledding. That was fun. The resort has sleds you can borrow for free.
Nearly every day we went to the YMCA frozen pond for ice skating. My kiddo loved it! I definitely recommend it.
Other than that we just watched TV and movies or hung out in our cabin. The WiFi at Rams Horn is great!
Along the way my laptop was stolen. I suspect it was during one of the grocery trips when I hadn’t properly locked the car. Either that or I left it at the hotel, but they couldn’t find it.
Our trip home was fine, no troubles. But it turns out my husband was sick the whole time and was basically no use to his mother.
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