Pikes Peak and Jellystone

(Originally posted by Sandra on Facebook on August 13, 2026)

We had an absolute ball with the girls. Lillian and Emery entertained us the whole way as we created many fun (we hope) memories along the way. Sometimes the trailer was an absolute mess and at no time was the trailer tidy. They are great travelers, adventurers, campers AND Junior Rangers. We traveled three states and two National Parks for a total of 1,500 miles in 8 days. They never once complained. In fact, on our last night, Lillian asked “why can’t I just come with you for the whole trip?” Meanwhile, Emery said, “I think it’s time to go home.”

August 6–9 — End of our trip with Lil and Em

Before departing Great Sand Dunes we spotted a bald spot on our passenger side tire. We couldn’t travel any further, we had to switch out the bad tire for the spare. The girls waited patiently in the car while we took the actions necessary to safely change the tire before leaving Great Sand Dunes. We scheduled an appointment at Discount Tires to do some tire swapping before we could begin our longer journey.

With the new tire in place, we revealed the surprise destination of the trip. We told the girls we were headed to Jellystone/Larkspur just north of Colorado Springs. We were there three nights. We wanted to get them out of the car and just let them enjoy all the amenities of Jellystone. It was like camp with planned activities for the families. The girls really enjoyed the pool and waterpark. The girls were so excited they wrote their own song about camping and started recording their own vlog, which was hilarious. While we were there we crafted, played mini bowling and mini golf. We even had a picnic with Yogi Bear. The girls found new friends to play with at each activity.

We had one more trick up our sleeve. Early on our first full day in Jellystone, we drove south to Colorado Springs. We took the Cog Railway up to Pikes Peak. The ride up is just over an hour fifteen but with an elevation gain of 7,800 feet. The base depot in Manitou Springs sits around 6,500 feet, climbing all the way to the 14,115-foot summit.

We saw lots of activity along the way. We passed a waterfall, yellow-bellied marmots, Pikas (small, rabbit-like animals), bighorn sheep, moose baby and mama and some folks on the train spotted a bear and cubs. When we reached the top we had a quick snack. We tried to get a good picture of all of us, but sometimes the subjects don’t cooperate, so we did the best we could before boarding the train and heading back down.

Did I tell you that the train goes at a 25% grade on the steepest part of the trip? We had to hold onto our things, as water bottles roll either to the back or front of the train depending on which direction you are traveling. I can attest to this, as we had to retrieve a couple items.

We really wanted to stop and shop in Manitou Springs. It is such a cute little town. But parking is another issue!

We stopped to pick up Chick-fil-A for lunch so the girls could get back to the camp and play. We played the rest of Friday and all day Saturday. The campground has over 500 campsites and it was totally full with families enjoying the last weekend of summer break.

On Sunday morning we packed up both camp and the girls for the flight home. We moved Belle to a campground near the Denver Airport so Tom could drop us off without towing the trailer through the airport. His job while I was gone was to clean and do the laundry.

A few hours later, I returned the girls to their parents at Dallas Love Field. They were so excited to see Grayton and their mom and dad. After we all had a quick dinner, they dropped me off at a nearby hotel and they returned to Tyler with two very tired girls.

I took an early morning flight back to Denver to reunite with Tom. We left Denver by noon and began the next leg of our journey. With a hop, skip, and a jump, we overnighted in Cody, Wyoming and then continued on to Red Lodge, Montana, for six nights.