Visiting Garden of the Gods with kids

After our excursion the Air Force Academy (and lunch at Subway). We drove to Garden of the Gods.

I love this place. It’s a 480-acre area of land filled with rock formations, hiking, and horseback riding.
And it’s free! (The last wishes of the land’s owner, who died in 1907.)
We got there on a busy day and it was crowded. The husbands found a spot right away and took the big kids to the Park and the wives took the little kids to the Visitor Center. This was a great arrangement because it was late in the afternoon and the little kids were exhausted.
Just like Arches, Garden of the Gods has huge sandstone formations filled with cracks and crevices perfect for climbing. The big kids had a blast exploring. Eli even informed me later, he had found “secret hideouts” that he knew Indians used to live inside long ago.

The Visitor Center is geared toward smaller children, so the little kids had a blast. Though I’m sure the air conditioning would be a welcome reprise for kids of all ages on a hot day! Cyrus loved the full sized mountain lion in all it’s taxidermy-ed glory. He proudly announced to the whole room multiple times, “the mountain lion is DEAD!” The center also had a small section about dinosaurs and a volunteer station with all different animal pelts where kids got to guess which animal each pelt came from. Cy’s favorite part was playing with the trains in the gift shop.
Because we don’t have any trains at home that he plays with all the time already. HA!!

We had ice cream at the café and headed home for naps and dinner.
Then we said goodbye to our friends (boo) and drove just north of Denver for more adventure!

Day 3 – Traveled 85.6 miles

Things to know, if you go:

Parking can be tough. Go early, or park at the visitor center and walk in.
They do have a small Visitor Center and café. Perfect for lunch while out sightseeing.
It’s free to get into the Park!
Easy hiking. (When the kids are older, we plan on trying the horseback riding!)