Colorado & South Dakota Vacation Plan || Family of 5

A Family Vacation to Colorado & South Dakota with Little Kids

One of the things that Dustin and I swore to each other when we found out we were pregnant with our first, is that we wouldn’t stop adventuring together on a fun vacation as much as we could. Some of our absolute favorite memories pre-kids are the trips we took to Europe. Every year we would go overseas… we saw Paris, Rome, Brussels, Ireland, & London. We would always tell people, we are saving all of our domestic travel for when we have kids. Mainly because of the long flights it takes to cross the Atlantic. And that’s exactly what we did. Grayson is now 5 years old and a big brother to both Hazel (3) and Evelyn (1) and it really hasn’t slowed us down at all… so thankful we saved the domestic vacation for after kids though because the long flights can kick off a good vacation in a really frantic way.

This is the last year that we had Grayson on his flexible pre-k schedule before he enters public elementary school next year, so we had to go all out on this year’s family vacation. I had blocked off the time on my calendar and began researching all the cities that we had mentioned wanting to go to. We ALWAYS fly Delta because that’s the airline we have had the best experience with overall, and I was just basing our destination and our dates on the most affordable flights. I came to Dustin with the cheapest 5 and thought we had decided to go south for a little beach town action and then one day I came home from a wedding and he had planned our entire vacation to Colorado & South Dakota 😂. So I can’t take credit for any of this. I had so so so many people ask for our itinerary while we were on this vacation, so here it is in case you want to duplicate it for your own family!

We went over Labor Day weekend and our dates for this vacation was Sept 4-13, 2022. See a day by day itinerary below and then I’ll show pictures of all the different spots we went to with a little description of each one as you scroll!

9/4/22 – Flight arrival at Denver airport around 2pm (We always fly Delta, but it does not have a direct flight to Denver… Allegiant has a direct flight from Knoxville into Denver and is always super cheap). We got a rental van from Alamo (vans are the best when you’re doing a vacation with kids because they have ample space and great gas mileage and are WAY cheaper than a large SUV to rent). If you have a costco membership, car rentals through Costco are always the cheapest option and you can earn your membership fee back in the savings on just one single vacation rental! We drove straight to Estes Park that night and on the way stopped and saw a GORGEOUS church called Camp St. Malo. It closed for tours at 4pm and we had just missed that mark, but it was still gorgeous to stop at! We checked into The Ridgeline Hotel and had a great stay at this hotel. We did a room with a patio overlooking the pool so that Evelyn could take naps and go to sleep early and we could step out on the balcony and let the big kids swim. The pool was great at this hotel as well… super warm and they had floaties and pool toys for them to play with. The hotel is also in the heart of the city so everything we could want to do was so close and convenient, including driving into Rocky Mountain National Park. This night we went and stocked up on snacks, food for the kids, 4 gallons of water jugs, a couple swimming pool things that we didn’t end up needing, some wine, and some diapers and wipes for Evie girl.

9/5/22 – One of the things that we REALLY wanted to do was the Estes Park Tram and we timed it wrong. We ended up missing our ticket purchase to get into the Rocky Mountain National Park and had to enter the park earlier than planned and therefore had to miss our tram time. We decided to push it to another day but the tram was closed the only other day that we were in Estes Park and we didn’t realize that. I would make this a priority and plan this part first so you don’t miss out on it like we did! So instead of doing the tram this morning, we drove the Upper Ridge Road of the Rocky Mountain National Park. The Rockies are weird to get into. The rules change regularly, so you’ll need to check the rules before you go, but when we went, you had to buy tickets the day before and they didn’t go for sell until 5pm. Dustin got on at 5:15pm and they were all sold out. But if you arrived to get into the park before 9am, you could get in without a timed ticket and could stay as long as you wanted. So strange, but since we missed the tickets for sale on 9/4, we had to get into the park before 9am on 9/5 in order to get in at all on that day. The Upper Ridge Road was gorgeous though. They had tons of pull offs with amazing views and lots of little walks/hikes. We stopped several times and just walked around for a few. The kids climbed on the rocks and the wind blew our hair everywhere and it was glorious. We spent the whole day doing this. Saw lots of animals like Pika and little chipmunks. When we got back to the hotel, we got Bob & Tony’s Pizza for take out and ate it back in the room and swam for the rest of the evening. It was delicious enough to keep the left overs and eat it cold one morning for breakfast. Don’t judge 😂. Also, Estes Park is known for the Elk that freely roam in their downtown and it’s true… they are EVERYWHERE. We saw so so so much Elk while we were in and around Estes Park.

9/6/22 – This day we drove the lower half of the Rockies and went to a hike called Lake Haiyaha (pronounced High-ya-ha) that is accessible through the Bear Lake trailhead. This was one of our favorites from the whole vacationat Red Rocks Theater.

. It was a beast of a hike though when you’re taking little kids. I carried Evelyn in the backpack on my chest the whole time while Hazel went back and forth between Dustin’s shoulders and his arms. The hike was 4.2 miles and you pass three separate lakes before you arrive to Lake Haiyaha. Bear lake is the first one and is right beside the parking lot. A little bit into the hike is Nymph lake with lilly pads all over it and is so pretty. Dream Lake is about half way and you can walk a circle around it and we saw some Elk and a Moose and lots and lots of fish. At dream lake we REALLY debated on turning around and going back, but we pressed on and I’m so glad we did because not only did we get to see a glacier but the water was this foggy blue/green and it was crazy pretty. The kids got to boulder hop and take their shoes off and put their feet in the water and it was 100% worth the extra work. However, when we got done with this hike we were done for the day physically. We got back kind of early since we had to start so early and ended up getting dinner at a little sandwich shop and ice cream afterward. Then we swam more because Grayson and Hazel love swimming.

9/7/22 – We checked out of Ridgeline Hotel in Estes Park and headed for South Dakota. What we thought was a 4 hour drive, was actually a 6 hour drive… don’t know how we miscalculated that one so badly haha. We had planned to do a wildlife drive and Mount Rushmore after we arrived into South Dakota but we ended up only having time for Mount Rushmore. We arrived there a couple hours before sunset though and it was perfectly timed because the lighting was GORGEOUS for photos! Some of my favorite landscape shots were at Mount Rushmore. Also, there were lots of the things for the kids to play on and run around at after we had just drove for 6 hours. There was also a really great museum to walk around and read more about the build of Mount Rushmore. Lots of stairs for them to run up and down and we even ended up having dinner at their cafeteria. From there, we checked into Courtyard by Marriot in Rapid City. It was THE BEST because it came with an indoor waterpark called Watiki Waterpark that the kids LOVED and we have Marriot points to accumulate!

9/8/22 – We woke up on 9/8 and Dustin drove us all the way to downtown Rapid City to have breakfast at Harriet & Oak Cafe… Initially, I was like this is SO far out of the way, why are we coming all the way down here but oh my goodness… this was the best meal that we had on our entire vacation. We got some of everything on their menu too… a plethora of food and we ate every last bit of it. And didn’t eat again until dinner because we were so full ha. Please make sure you go there for breakfast at some point! Then we drove to the 1880 train for a train ride in Hill City, SD. This was a great way to spend one of our days because it wasn’t very physically exerting. You just sat down and rode while you looked out the windows and listened to a narrator talk about the railroad and the Black Hills National Forest. It was low key and the kids LOVED seeing how a steam train worked. The second half of this day was spent at the Watiki Water Park. You can buy tickets to the water park on site the day you want to go, however, it can sell out so if you are going in a different season that is more crowded, I would buy them in advance! It was, hands down, one of their favorite parts of our vacation. It is where Grayson learned to love water slides and where we learned that Hazel surprisingly doesn’t love water slides. Evelyn slept on my chest because it very much had a white noise effect while we were in there and Dustin and I took turns going down the big slides with Grayson. We all had fun at the water park! We ate dinner that night in the water park as well… you ordered from your waterpark table and they brought it all out to you. It was so nice!

9/9/22 – I made Dustin take me back to Harriett & Oak for a to go order this time before we headed to the Badlands National Park. There were tons and tons of overlooks and little hikes within the Badlands… I think we did them all. Big Badlands Overlook, Pinnacles Overlook, Panorama Point, Saddle Pass Trailhead, Fossil Exhibit Trailhead… they were all easy, short, and had amazing views. There is nothing else like the Badlands in the United States. It is so unique. The day we went it was super overcast and rainy which was a bummer, but one of the park rangers said that it made the color of the sand pop way more than on a sunny day. After editing the photos, I definitely think he was telling the truth. We brought PB&J’s and fruit with us to eat from the grocery store this day because there is not really anything in or around the Badlands.

9/10/22 – We checked out of the Courtyard in Rapid City this morning and left for Wind Cave National Park. We bought a cave tour in advance for 10:30 am at Wind Cave and ended up getting there around 9:30 am. On our way into Wind Cave, we saw tons of wild Bison. They were all over the place… while we were waiting on our tour to start, we sat in a little movie theater and listened to some history about Wind Cave and it talked about how the Native Americans helped grow the buffalo population because it was their only source of food and warmth back when the land was first settled. It was super interesting! This cave was unlike any other cave Dustin and I had ever been to. Normally caves are really grand and like a wide open room. This cave was a ton of tiny little tunnels and the most fascinating part was about the young man who found the cave initially and actually got it marked as a national park. I won’t go into all the details here because you’ll learn all about it on your own tour, but it is definitely worth getting the tour. And everyone was really understanding when Evelyn started getting fussy within the first 5 minutes of being there. We also saw a bat right after the tour guide said it was really unlikely for us to see any bats in this particular cave because of the way the wind pulls through it. After the Wind Cave tour was over, we were heading back to Denver and stopped in Custer State Park right before we left South Dakota to enter back into Colorado. This HAS to be a stop for you guys. It was absolutely SO beautiful and so unique. If you’re not a hiker, you could just simply drive through the whole thing and be amazed. If you are a hiker, you MUST do the Cathedral Spire Trail (only 3 miles round trip). It takes you up to this bowl that you are standing in with sharp, needle-like rocks surrounding you 360 degrees. You can climb up some of them, walk through them, and just stand amazed. They are so so so cool. We also hiked up and around the Needle Eye Tunnel. You drive through this tunnel on the drive through but you can also park and climb up the rocks to stand on top of the tunnel. You’ll see a picture of a stranger doing this below, we did it too, I just didn’t have my camera to take a photo of us on top since I was up there with the rest of the fam! When we left Custer, we started the long drive back to Denver… it was 7 hours going back to Denver because originally we left from Estes Park. This was the longest drive ever and Evelyn woke up the last two hours LOSING HER MIND. This was probably the hardest part of our vacation right here. But it was so worth it and I’d do it again in a heartbeat to experience South Dakota again. When we got back to Denver, we checked into Courtyard by Marriott Denver and had a great stay there!

9/11/22 – If you are in Denver with children… or even without children… the Denver Museum of Nature & Science is so worth a visit on any Colorado vacation! You do have to buy tickets in advance and they do sell out, so make sure you get those before you leave for your vacation! You will be there all day long and that is without any of the additional tickets you can by like the imax theater and special space thing they were offering. We did every exhibit and the kids did all the interactive stuff they offered. We ate lunch there and literally spent the entire day there loving every second of it. It was beyond interesting and had so many things to intrigue the kids with! Even Evelyn had something she could do at 9 months old!

9/12/22 – The Denver zoo was what we did on this day and it was also very impressive. I picked up some kind of bug and ended up getting a giant head cold this day along with Evelyn but we still had fun. They had tons of exhibits, tons of animals, and the kids absolutely loved it. The zoo opens at 10am and we got there at opening and didn’t leave until they closed at 5. We ate lunch there too and watched an elephant show. When we got back to the hotel, we focused on packing up all of our stuff because our flight was at 7am the next day.

So that’s it, you guys. It was SUCH a fun vacation and we juggled all three kids on it pretty easily. There were lots of things to hold both their interest and ours and lots of physically active things to really wear them out so we all slept really hard. If you are outdoor-loving people and enjoy hiking and mountains and exploring… this is definitely a vacation worth taking! See some of our photos below along with where each of the photos were taken in relation to the spots listed above!

All of the photos below are from Camp St. Malo… it is absolutely beautiful.

Here starts the Upper Ridge Road of the Rocky Mountains with several pull-offs and hikes along that road.

Below is proof of the Elk that are just chillin’ in downtown Estes Park.

Here is the lower half of the Smokies with the Lake Haiyaha hike with bear lake, nymph lake, and dream lake… all lakes that you pass on the way to Lake Haiyaha and even though it’s hard to keep going… do it. You’ll want to see Lake Haiyaha… it’s absolutely beautiful, as you can see below. At the beginning of this hike there is a little ranger station. You can get books for the kids here that will include pencils that you can fill out on your hike. It’s a scavenger hunt finding different animals, the different lakes, and different trees and plants. When you get back, the park ranger will recite a little pledge with the kids and give them a wooden ranger badge. Grayson and Hazel LOVED this process. It made the hike so much more fun for them! See notes on specific pictures showing describing which lake was which. We skipped bear at the beginning but went back at the end so it’ll be last in the series!

Mount Rushmore at sunset was absolutely beautiful! See below!

Next was the 1880 train ride followed by our time at the waterpark that I didn’t take any photos because I didn’t want to bring my big camera into the water park! You can search Watiki Waterpark Rapid City and find all kinds of photos of it though!

Badlands National Park was next!

Wind Cave National Park was next and I didn’t take many pictures of the actual cave because of how dark it was… obviously pitch black. I was also having to carry Evelyn the whole time and had zero hands for anything extra.

Custer State Park in South Dakota was absolutely beautiful and so unique. HIGHLY recommend! The Cathedral Spire Trail is also a must and is generally very easy, only 3 miles round trip.

Then we were back in Denver and did the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. I didn’t take many pictures here because the lighting was also very low in most of it and also it was very interactive and I was busy doing all the interactive things! I also didn’t take any pictures at the zoo because that was the day that I woke up sick and feeling terrible. But both were incredible and well worth a visit if you are in Denver! At the end of this section of photos is our time at The Red Rocks as well! It would have been WAY cooler to get to attend a concert there, but still worth a visit during the day time if you aren’t doing a concert either!

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