About This Trip
We decided to take the kids skiing for their first time, but we also wanted to have a variety of activities in case they didn't like skiing. We have close friends in Leadville, CO who invited us to stay with them. We planned one day in Denver so that we could do a few "city things" too. Leadville was having it's annual Ski Joring Competition (which had been canceled in the COVID times) so the town was more crowded than it usually is. The weather for our trip was extremely cold (a few days were 5 or 6 degrees below zero) but we all had a good time anyway. Make sure you have good winter gear; bring hand and feet warmers and make sure they are not expired.
Packing Tips
If you don't already own ski gear, we like the selection from Land's End for the kids. It will last a few seasons because it's made to be let out after a year or two (and kept these guys comfortable in very low temperatures). We got Holden's ski pants on Amazon. Ski goggles are essential; they come in handy on sand sledding trips too.
Getting There and Getting Around
We booked flights on Southwest Airlines from DAL-DEN. Our flight into Denver was perfect and we got in around 10:00 a.m. and drove straight to Red Rocks. Our flight home was canceled for weather. Luckily, we found out about the cancelation before we got to the airport which allowed us to pivot and just stay another night in Denver.
Leadville is about a 2 hour drive from Denver (can be shorter or longer depending on the weather). All wheel drive on you rental car in the winter is a must.
Day 1 - Travel and Denver Day
Red Rocks Amphitheatre
The next best thing to seeing a concert at Red Rocks is visiting the area and climbing all the way down the steps, taking a look around, and then climbing back up. Bring water and/or gatorade. The altitude can get you a bit before you realize it, and up is worse than down. Super fun though and the views are amazing. We had lunch after that and then on to our next stop.
You will need Meow Wolf tickets in advance. Meow Wolf is an interactive (enormous) art installation that is worth a visit for any age. It was crowded when we went, but not crazy. We spent about three hours here and could have done more. The kids loved the Yawlp and are dying to go back some day to see if we can find him.
The Inventing Room Dessert Shop (6:00 p.m. reservation)
You have to make advance reservations for this. They will make twizzler space foam, spun sugar, candy corn powder, freeze dried cheetos and other fun food experiments that play with the Willy Wonka candy factory idea. There is an excellent small group tour and a lot of science, sweets, and chemistry happening. Highly recommend this, but will also say my little one was tired by this point so maybe space out this activity if you want another day in Denver.
Day 2 - Drive to Leadville, Skijoring, Shopping
We got into town and wanted to go see the main event for the weekend - the skijoring. For those not familiar (I wasn't), skijoring is a sport when someone on skis is pulled by a horse, a dog, another animal, or a motor vehicle. Here, it was horses and honestly it was kind of nuts. We also did a little shopping on this day, and even though it was crowded (for Leadville) we were able to secure decent seats from a heated balcony to watch the competion and get lunch in town.
Day 3 - Ski Cooper
We took the boys to Ski Cooper which I thought was a perfect low stakes way of taking kids skiing for a first time if you aren't sure they will like skiing. The lift tickets were cheaper than other ski places we have been, the walk to the "magic carpet" wasn't too bad, and if you did get too cold or were just over it, the gift shop and ski lodge were extremely accessible.
My kids liked this okay, but it really was tough in the weather we had. My youngest gave up after one run down the mountain. My oldest fought through it for at least 3 or 4 before his little fingers froze. Our friends we super patient amazing ski helpers. We closed the day at Highside Brewing which has video games on the second floor for the kids and was a lot of fun.
Day 4 - Frisco Adventure Park
This was my favorite of the winter activities - Frisco Adventure Park is a blast. Advance tubing reservations are required. This was easy to navigate and a lot of fun. You can ski, snowboard, or go tubing here; we chose tubing. They also had a large indoor space with coloring pages for kids when they got cold or tired.
DAY 5 - Sledding and Relaxing
Our last day, we planned to ski again if everyone wanted to, but no one did. We went sledding around town; build an ice fort in our friends' back yard; played games; and did some hot tub time.
Day 6 - Travel Home
We woke up early to drive to the airport for our flight home. We found out pretty early that our flight was canceled due to weather. We stopped at the Great Divide brewery to regroup and found a suite for the night.
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