Thanksgiving in Colorado

This Thanksgiving found us traveling to Colorado!  My brother and I helped plan our corporate United Way campaign in July and came across this amazing resort in Gateway, CO.  We both mentioned putting it on our bucket list for 'someday' and on we went!  It wasn't long until Gateway Canyons got brought up again and before I knew it we were booking tickets and planning our trip to meet my brother and his family and my Mom and her husband for the holiday.

We attempted to leave were scheduled to leave Cedar Rapids late morning of the 24th.  We were leaving the house that morning and it was super foggy and precipitating.  It wasn't quite snow, but it was cold, so it was a bit slick.  We got to the airport and checked-in, went through security, and sat down to wait to board and got hit with the first bit of news that we would be delayed...and the delays kept coming.  First it was mechanical, then weather related, then mechanical again -- after a handful of delays we were finally boarded -- but only to sit longer.  We realized while sitting on the runway we were likely going to miss our connection in Denver.

Happy travelers!

Once we finally got to Denver we hopped in the United Customer Service line to see if we could get re-booked on another flight to Grand Junction?!  No such luck!  We were given hotel and food vouchers and sent on our way to baggage claim to retrieve our bags, we would be staying in Denver for the night.

Patiently waiting!

We were really pretty committed to not freaking out about the delays and taking it all in stride.  That can obviously be a challenge with a 5 year old in tow, but she was doing amazing!  However, all of our patience started to wear thin when after T-W-O hours of waiting for our luggage to arrive.

Where are you bags?!

Trying to keep our smiles!  Truly just happy to be together!

After 2 1/2 hours we finally got our luggage and we made the trek through the airport to pick up the shuttle to our hotel.  We were thinking we might venture out to dinner, but we were all so exhausted from the long day, and the hotel had a nice restaurant, so we just hung close to the hotel!

Cheers to being out of an airport!

We had to be up and at 'em early the next day to catch our flight to Grand Junction and we were so excited when we finally touched down and picked up our rental car and continued the journey to Gateway.  Gateway is about an hour away from Grand Junction, it is the west side of the state, nearing Utah.  The roughly hour drive into the mountains was beautiful!

Driving out of Grand Junction

We aren't in Iowa anymore!

When we finally arrived at the resort we were welcomed by Jason, Jen, Celia, Ruby, my Mom, and Terry!  They had gotten settled in to the resort and knew the lay of the land already!  We didn't waste any time to go get some lunch and take advantage of the game area at the Paradox Grille, a restaurant on the property.

This shuffleboard game became a staple of the trip!

After lunch we went back to the casitas and the girls jumped into their bathing suits for a swim.  It should be noted that it was roughly 35 degrees outside!  That didn't matter, the pools were properly heated for year round outdoor swimming!  BRRRR!!!!!

There are swimming suits under all of those layers!

Enjoying the warmth of the water!

So, let me take a step back and explain more about the resort, Gateway Canyons.  The resort has been lauded by Conde Nast Traveler as #12 Best Resort in the World!  The property is similar to an all-inclusive resort with everything you need right there on the property, but it isn't "all-inclusive" in regards to a food & beverage package.  The resort is owned and was started by John Hendricks, John is also the owner of the Discovery Channel.  Once you understand the history of the property it really starts to make sense.  With his love of outdoors shown via his television channel, Gateway Canyons really is like his personal mecca!

Gateway Canyons is in the Unaweep Canyon and has 72 sleeping rooms made up of hotel style suites and small "home-like" casitas, so it is very quaint in that regard, but it offers so much to do!  There are 3 restaurants on the property, a spa, an HD theater, a car museum, helipad & hangar, full horse stables, and an adventure center that has everything from guided hikes in the mountains, bike rentals, UTV experiences, Baja truck racing, and on and on!  The resort is truly beautiful!  The staff, the food, the accommodations, it was all second to none!

The view outside our casita - Palisade rock

We celebrated Jen's birthday while on the trip, too!  She wanted to wake up the morning of her birthday and go on a hike into the mountains!  We used the adventure center on the property to coordinate the hike and that was the first time we got introduced to Mandy, the gal who manages the center.  She spent the morning with us hiking all around the area and was super sweet to make the girls a part of it all!

Ready to conquer the mountains!

Looking for animal tracks!

Looking back towards the resort

Making memories!

Daddy's girl!  They enjoyed the hike together!

Walking along...

Our view!

A little yoga stop!

Family picture!

Silly family picture!

Celia's got moves!

Cousin love!

Mandy & the girls!

Back at the casita - staying warm by the fire!

Thanksgiving Day found us enjoying a wonderful meal at the Entrada Restaurant.  There weren't many people on the property during our stay, so to see more folks come from the town of Gateway to enjoy their Thanksgiving Day meal was nice!

Happy Thanksgiving!

After our delicious dinner we met Mandy at the adventure center to take the UTV's out!  What a fun way to celebrate Thanksgiving!  Everyone got suited up and ready to hit the terrain!

Our little adventurist!

Safety first, girls!

Thumbs up!

The quad!

UTV Selfie!

Mandy took the girls in the quad so the couples could all go out together in the two-seater UTV's.  With Mandy & the girls in the lead we were off for some fun in the red rocks!

Mom & Terry up ahead of us!

The captain of our "ship!"

Jason & Jen behind us

We pulled over at the turnaround point to explore a little bit.  We had crossed over into Utah and Mandy was sharing with us that there were cabins where we were that can be traced back to outlaws -- pretty cool!

A quick break and a little exploration!

A little time in Utah!  A first time state visit for Mike & Lila!

Loading up to head back

Making our way back

There were tons of very large cattle along the way!

Our final day in Colorado was the Friday after Thanksgiving!  We spent it hanging out enjoying our last day on the property and watching the Hawkeyes play Nebraska.  We woke up early Saturday morning to drive back to Grand Junction and got home Saturday late afternoon.  We had such a great time and if you ever get the chance we would all recommend checking out Gateway Canyons!

While it is hard to be away from the other parts of the family during a holiday, it is also super nice to have that time away with family to reconnect and create memories!

Happy to be home!