Time for a Weekend Getaway? Maybe not...

At three AM this morning I started to think maybe I could use a little change from the normal weekend. My son, who would not sleep, was happy watching Yo Gabba Gabba, but for some reason my mind was wondering. I began to think of fun places we could go, things we could do as a family... but then I started to get flashbacks from about 8 months ago. Our trip to Colorado Springs. This seemed like a very simple trip when I planned it and I didn't see why anything would not go smoothly. Well ,I had never traveled with an eight month old before.
As you can see above we did have fun, but in between our fun times were some very stressful one, let's take a look back and see. We would leave Friday morning and stay Friday night and maybe Saturday night if things went well (ha) I book a nice hotel on a travel website and plan different places to go. We pack up and head out, actually on time. We start our drive with a fussy little guy in the back seat and a hungry husband, are husbands always hungry while in the car, or is that just my husband? Anyway, we decide to stop for some food to cheer everyone up. The rest of the drive goes pretty smoothly, I end up in the backseat to entertain the little guy and before we know it we are in Manitou Springs. This is a great little town near Colorado Springs, and if we were to go again I would have us stay here.  You would pay a little more for a hotel room, but you could walk right out the door to shops, restaurants, and a park we never ended up going to :( It looked very nice though. The streets in this small town weren't exactly meant for my hubby's truck so we had to look long and hard for a place to park. Sadly by the time we get out to enjoy the nice shops and get mommy the fudge she saw a sign for as we circled for parking, my little guy was VERY fussy. Who knows why, he just was, so we had to cut the trip very short and decided to head to the cliff dwellings {And no, I didn't get my fudge}. I was very excited for these cliff dwellings and have to admit I was a little sad when I saw how small they were, it is crazy how much bigger they looked in the picture they took for their website. Still, despite the small size it was very interesting and it seemed to cheer up my fussy man so I was happy.{I decided to show you a picture to prove we did have some fun!} It was nap time by this point so we decided to drive up to Pikes Peak so he could nap in the car. Now, if anyone ever tells you that the drive up to Pikes Peak is really cool.... well either they didn't go all the way to the top, or they are NOT afraid of heights. The drive starts out beautiful, tree's, lakes, and wildlife. Then you go past the checkpoint, this is when you are going above treeline, you are so high trees don't even grow up here.  When you take away all of those big trees suddenly you can see all of the cliffs a lot better, and of course the road is now un-paved and much smaller and closer to the edge. I want to just close my eyes but this makes it worse. I love that my little guy was gooing and gawing in the backseat not knowing how nervous this drive made his mommy. So was it worth it for the view, I'd have to say no. I enjoyed the view just fine when I was where trees could grow, this was too intense for me.  I do think the drive was scarier since we were in a VERY big truck that felt like it was always hanging over the edge. And if you think I am exaggerating the incline in any way think about this, half way down the mountain they have you stop and they take the temperature of your breaks before letting you continue, this was a first for me. Next time I think I would rather pay more money to take the nice little train that takes you to the top without as many scary cliffs. The train happens to leave from Manitou Springs, so my next trip out is coming together nicely {yet it is looking like my next trip will need a bigger budget} :) Half way back to town a huge thunderstorm starts so we decide it is time to go to the hotel. It is now pouring down rain and the thunder is ridiculously loud, and of course this big truck I've been talking about does not fit in the parking garage for our hotel. Great. So we get to park two blocks away in a little gravel lot, which costs 15 dollars overnight. Perfect situation for a thunderstorm. Luckily my hubby was nice enough to drop us off and brave the elements on his own. Finally time to check out our room. Wait....where's the tub....no really hunny, there is no tub. Are you kidding me? A hotel room with no bathtub?? This is not good. My son has a nightly routine of a bath before bed and this could be a disaster. I call down to the front desk, offering any amount of money for a room with a tub{I'm desperate}...they say the hotel is booked. Great. We make it through a quick dinner from the hotel "pub" and I enjoy a beer, I usually don't like beer, but it tasted good after this day. Now its time to see if my son will sleep without his nap...Nope. So where do I end up at midnight? Sitting on the little bench in our handicap bathroom with the shower hitting my son's back. This calms him down, but he does not want to leave the water, the water that is not really getting to mommy, so I am freezing.  Around 2 am he falls asleep in the bed with me and we get a little sleep. After a well deserved breakfast in bed we decide to head to the cave of the winds (where they so kindly tell us we will be removed from the tour if our son is a disturbance, they obviously don't encourage babies on the tour.) We take our chances and about 30 minutes in we are really hoping the end is near. I think a baby can only take so much of walking through dark caves{or maybe mommies can only handle so much of walking through a cave with a baby strapped to their chest}. As we start to see daylight we are happy to be free from the little cave and excited that at least we weren't kicked out. We then make the decision that maybe we should just head home. On the way out of town we decide that we could walk around the Garden of the Gods for a bit before lunch, since we are here.This is our last attempt to make our trip a little longer, and do at least one more thing on my list. Ha, trying to park at this place on a nice Saturday morning is impossible especially in the truck you all know we are driving}, so we skip it and grab some lunch. Lunch was great, actually the best meal we had the whole trip, so at least we are leaving on a high note. So we ended up not doing a lot of the things on my list, and not really sleeping. But, we did get away from normal, and we did have time together as a family. So it in no way was a waste but it sure does make me hesitate when  thinking of another night away from home with my little guy. I just haven't decided an age where it won't be too hard,maybe 12?  So for now I think I will stick to day trips and stay away from overnights, just until I can forget my tubless night in the Springs.

Kelly Callahan