Family fun in central Colorado

                    Near Grand Lake, Colorado (courtesy justasungod at flickr's CC) 

This is a guest post by Linda Walsh, who runs the Family Travel Gear Web site and online store. 

We have to test our family travel products every month, and are “forced” to explore our wonderful state of Colorado with our 3 little kids (ages 2, 5 and 6.)

Some of our favorite spots to go while still staying on our family budget include:

**  Tiny Town and Railroad Park — 6249 South Turkey Creek Rd, Morrison, CO 80465 (303) 697- 6829. 

Simply too much fun, for only a few dollars.  We ride a miniature steam train (the kids ride in the little red caboose) and play in the miniature buildings. There is a picnic area under the lodge pole pines; it is a very relaxing and fun way to spend the day.

**  Cave of the Winds — Highway 24, exit 141, Colorado Springs, CO 80929 (719) 685-5444.

My son was fascinated with bats one day and wanted to know where they lived, so we drove down to Cave of the Winds (didn’t see any bats though) and had a great time taking the tour through the caves, exploring, learning and having a great time with our kids.

**  Town of Grand Lake  One of my favorites is to take a 2-hour drive up to Grand Lake and walk along the boardwalk through the little town to get candy apples at the local candy store there.  We try to get up to Grand Lake a couple of times a year.  We made it again this year and even went into Rocky Mountain National Park, which has very little traffic in October and lots of wildlife to view right from your car.  It was simply spectacular. My kids have been practicing their elk bugle calls ever since!

These are some of our favorite places to go in Colorado…but the list is so long, I will have to send you more in another post. 

Oh, one other thing….I also sell a book on our website titled “500 Places to Take Your Kids Before They Grow Up” and we plan to start checking those locations off the list after we see everything here in our own state.

Thanks for contributing, Linda!