One of my favorite states to vacation in is Colorado! This time my mom and I took a much-needed vacation to see our extended family in Grand Junction. We couldn’t think of a better way to go than to fly to Denver for our mother-daughter Colorado road trip.
Being and living in Texas, Colorado and New Mexico always seemed like the perfect places to go on vacation. On this trip, we flew to Denver, picked up a car at the airport, and ventured out along Hwy 77 to Grand Junction, CO. Driving on unknown roads, we were as happy as could be. This is our mother-daughter vacation in a nutshell. Not to mention, a very blessed Mother’s Day for both of us.
Mother-Daughter Colorado Road Trip
First off, flights to Denver at this time of year were cheap…very cheap. So, we decided to fly and get a vehicle for the road trip to Grand Junction. I was able to score a 2017 Mitsubishi Outlander SEL S-AWC in exchange for writing about our experience.
After landing and getting the car, we headed west to Idaho Springs, where we had lunch with my cousins at Beau Jo’s Pizza. I have to say that it was the BEST pizza I ever had. Since it was getting late, we decided to stay the night in Glenwood Springs.
Before heading to Grand Junction the next day, our adventures begin here!
What to do in Glenwood Springs, CO
Glenwood Caverns – Mountaintop Adventure Park
The tram ride was fun, a little stuffy, but when we got up to the mountain, we saw such beautiful scenery, scenes we would never see in Texas, so it was cool. We toured both caves. I learned quite a lot about caves in general. Our hotel gave us a coupon for the tram, so check with your hotel before heading here.
Glenwood Caverns Highlights
- Take the tram to where the adventure begins
- Cave Tours
- King’s Row
- Historic Fairy Cave
- Thrill rides include the Cliffhanger roller coaster, zip ride, canyon flyer and more
- food
- gift shop
- 4D Motion Theater
- Laser Tag
Check it out glenwoodcaverns.com
Our Mother-Daughter Colorado road trip just got better when we arrived at Iron Mountain Hot Springs. I only wished we had enough time to enjoy it. We didn’t realize how much Glenwood Springs had to offer, so we stayed there a while. Not much planning went into this part of the trip as our primary focus was getting to Grand Junction to visit the family that we haven’t seen in years.
Iron Mountain Hot Springs – Glenwood Springs, CO
Iron Mountain Hot Springs Highlights
- 16 pools for adults; one huge pool for family
- Fourteen different minerals found in the water – the five most abundant are iron, sulfate, chloride, sodium, and calcium.
- huge bathhouse
- Sand Bar
- cafe with covered patio and indoor fireplace
- gift store
A Texas girl in Colorado with California license plates driving a 2017 Mitsubishi Outlander up and down the mountains between the Denver airport to Grand Junction, CO. – a vehicle loan I was able to get for our road trip. You can see my full write-up here >>>2017 Mitsubishi Outlander SEL S-AWC.
Next up is our time in Grand Junction, CO, with family going antiquing, visiting small towns, our visit to Two Rivers Winery and Chateau, and my trip to Aspen.
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What an amazing trip! I would love to do something like this with my mom.
Wow how beautiful! Your trip looked like so much fun! I love the caves!! I will definitely be visiting Colorado one day 🙂
Those caverns look awesome. We don’t travel that often because of the kids, so I love seeing blog posts like this.
It looks like the two of you had fun! The hot springs looks very relaxing.
I went to college in colorado so my mom and I definitely had a lot of road trips (we are from WY) and I always adored them. So many amazing and fun memories!