Back-to-school season is in full swing! Its been a few years since I was a student, but I remember the first day of school being filled with the question “what did you do over the summer?” It’s been busy around here – to be honest, I’m excited for the routine and predictability that fall brings! Read on for a peek at what kept me so busy this summer!
In May, the kids finished school for the year and I wrapped up a busy period at my full-time job. In the middle of the month, I headed off on a Mediterranean cruise with my close friend Mary. Somehow, this was my third trip to Europe in a 12-month period but this was by far the most relaxing vacation I’ve had in quite some time. We visited Spain, Gibraltar, France & Italy and enjoyed our time onboard the Regal Princess.
In June, I made the decision to change full-time jobs. I gave my notice at the University of Florida to join a company called LifeLabs Learning in a 100% remote position. Most of the month of June was spent wrapping up projects at UF and preparing to make the leap into corporate life. Due to the timing, the West Coast road trip we had planned for later in the summer had to be scrapped, and we scrambled to plan a family trip to Colorado instead. Luckily, some of the big ski resorts in the West drop their prices in the summer, and we were able to find reasonable flights & a rental cabin just outside Breckenridge, CO for the first week in August.
We also spent a very hot Saturday at Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon. I do very much enjoy the Disney water parks; even at their most crowded, there are always places to sit, the lazy river is always cool, and the wave pool is a hoot. In fact, at Typhoon Lagoon, the wave pool is actually a surf pool; the waves are engineered to be large enough for surfboards, and you can actually take surfing lessons (for a fee). Very few of my clients choose to add the Disney water parks on to their vacations, choosing instead to spend additional time in the major theme parks. However, if you’re coming to stay for a whole week, I highly encourage you to consider adding a visit to either Typhoon Lagoon or Blizzard Beach!
In July, my husband (Zach) made a quick trip up to Kentucky to pick up our oldest child from camp where he had been serving as a counselor-in-training for the month of June. Our oldest has been going to Camp Piomingo just outside Louisville since 2014, and it is something he looks forward to every summer.
Also in July, I started my new position and decided to take advantage of the fact that I can work remotely anywhere with internet access. The kids and I packed up and decamped to Disney’s Beach Club for a few days; during the day, I worked while they swam and relaxed – and then we headed out to hit the parks in the evening. My children are not known for being early risers, and the parks stay open relatively late into the evening during summer, so this actually worked out really well! We avoided the hottest part of the day in the parks, and got to enjoy the late hours for Deluxe resort guests at Epcot. Our favorites from this trip were eating crepes in Epcot’s France pavilion, riding Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, and getting to experience the new Guardians of the Galaxy attraction! Guardians might be my new favorite Disney attraction – it’s fun and thrilling and exciting but without being nausea-inducing. It is most definitely a roller coaster, however!
The late hours for Deluxe guests are really a great add for folks staying at the Disney Deluxe resorts. On select evenings, a certain theme park stays open two hours past closing time just for guests of Disney Deluxe resorts. You have to scan your MagicBand or room key every time you get on a ride, so you really do have to be staying in a Deluxe resort to take advantage. On the night we visited Epcot, all of the attractions were walk-on with the exception of Guardians. The other nice thing is that the deluxe hours give you a third change to join the virtual queue for Guardians! We were some of the last people to ride before the park shut down for the evening; my oldest child was on a train vehicle entirely by himself.
For the first time in my adult life, August did not bring a hectic start to the school year! Instead, we were able to take a vacation (!) and even managed to squeeze in a short weekend cruise.
The first week of August, our family visited Breckenridge, Colorado. We flew into Denver and stayed for several nights in a rural rental cabin at the top of a mountain. I had to work during the day, but the kids enjoyed a day of fishing with Zach and some downtime in the cabin. As a family, one evening we went to the Country Boy Mine in Breckenridge; this is a historic mine that has recently opened for group tours. There are still some historical bits in the mine, including a turn-of-the-century pneumatic drill that is stuck in the rock (and still works)! Our tour guide was phenomenal, and we enjoyed learning about the techniques that were used in the early days of mining in Colorado.
I did take a little bit of time away from work on our trip, and we spent one full day at Rocky Mountain National Park (about a two-hour drive from Breckenridge). Rocky Mountain is one of the crown jewels of the National Park System, and includes the highest-elevation paved road in the United States. We drove in the west entrance early in the day, up Trail Ridge Road, and stopped for a while at the Trail Ridge Visitor Center (elevation 11,796 feet) for a bite to eat and a hike up to a viewpoint above the center. From our vantage point, we could see elk, snow-filled cirques, lakes, and endless mountains stretching to the horizon.
Rocky Mountain National Park, like so many of the national park service units, suffers from overcrowding in the summer months; Rocky has handled this by instituting a timed-entry permit system. The most popular corridor of the park, the Bear Lake Corridor, requires a timed entry of its own until 6 pm. After 6 pm, anyone can enter – and in this instance, that meant us. We spent the intervening hours visiting the Beaver Meadows area of the park, taking a short hike, and stopping by a cafe in Estes Park for some pie. The hotel that inspired the classic movie/book “The Shining” is also located in Estes Park (it’s called the Stanley Hotel) so we did a quick drive-by of that as well.
The Bear Lake Corridor is the most popular part of the park and for good reason. If you plan to visit Rocky Mountain, I highly encourage you to make use of the free park shuttles to get around in this area – or to visit really early or late in the evening. We arrived to the area right at 6 pm, and while still busy, we did not run into the crowds that plague this part of the park. We did get to see a herd of elk crossing the road, and did a scenic amble around Bear Lake itself. I was itching to hike in the rest of the park, but will have to make a return visit someday to do a bit more walking.
The remainder of our time in Colorado was spent doing a day trip to Garden of the Gods & Colorado Springs, and stopping by the Denver Museum of Nature & Science for an afternoon before heading back to Florida. Highly recommend the museum if you find yourself in Denver with kids and want something indoors to do!
I had booked a short weekend Bahamas cruise on Royal Caribbean for the kids & I in mid-August; I had some cruise credit from a cancelled sailing that I needed to use, and my husband was intending to be out of town for a conference. Hubby ended up staying home from the conference not feeling well, but we decided to cruise on.
Pre-cruise, I was excited to go on this 3-night sailing on Independence of the Seas. This was my first time on Royal Caribbean, and I had been wanting to try it since they cater so heavily to families with kids. My full-time job wraps up early in the afternoon on Fridays, so we drove down during my lunch break and I finished working before getting on to the ship. With a late afternoon port arrival, we had to park in the outdoor surface lot at Port Canaveral. However, Royal Caribbean had recently dropped their pre-cruise testing requirement for fully-vaccinated passengers so curb-to-ship time only took about 20 minutes.
The ship itself is in good condition, having received its upgrades shortly before the shutdown in 2020. Our room, an oceanview, was perfectly adequate and the kids were excited that they each could have their own bunk bed. I liked that things were clustered on the ship in an intuitive way, with entertainment at the front of the ship and sports & dining towards the rear.
We had any time dining on this cruise, and I was a bit late to the party making the seating reservations. Boy, was I glad that I did! When we arrived for dinner the first night around 8 pm, there was a huge and confused mob of people lined up outside the dining room trying to get seated. It took nearly 20 minutes for us to be seated, even with a reservation. Our wait staff was clearly overwhelmed the first night, forgetting to bring several things to our table. Luckily, this smoothed out over the next couple of nights but it made for a bit of a rough start.
One of the reasons I chose the Independence of the Seas was that I thought my kids would enjoy the things like the Flowrider, giant water slides, splash area, and sports deck. Well, we didn’t visit it one time. They both found it too crowded and wanted to do more relaxing things instead. Their favorite part of the ship was the promenade deck and the shuffleboard!
The dining in general on this ship was not terribly impressive to me. The buffet was fine, but I honestly thought the buffet on my recent Carnival cruise was better. Main dining room food was good, but I really missed having multiple quick service options for when my kids just wanted a snack. They liked the late-night pizza parlor, however.
The other reason I chose this sailing was to visit Perfect Day at Coco Cay. As private islands go, it was nice – the beach was pretty, there were plenty of chairs, and I appreciated having a pool area as well. The food on the island was tasty, and I especially enjoyed the Italian beef sandwiches. The beach area is very calm in terms of waves, however, and my kids got bored pretty quickly. We ended up back on the ship by about 1 pm.
The real downside to this cruise was the number of really drunk adults all over the ship. I know that the short Bahamas cruises have a bit of a reputation for being party cruises, but it was really excessive and at times a bit uncomfortable. Even my 16-year-old commented on how many intoxicated people there were on the ship!
Overall, I think we learned that we like smaller ships a bit better, and prefer to have relaxing options rather than thrilling options when we cruise. I would cruise on Royal Caribbean again, but not (personally) on one of the three-night sailings to the Bahamas. If you’re looking to party, though – this is the cruise for you!!
Now in the third week of August, one of my kids is fully back to school, and the other heads back next week. For the first time in a while, we don’t have any travel planned for the next few months! Our next big trip on the calendar is our Alaska July 2023 cruise – there are still a few spots available if you want to join us! In the meantime, I’m teaching my 16-year-old how to drive, helping the 5th grader with homework, and working on a whole host of client trips for fall & winter!
What did you do on your summer vacation? Let me know in the comments!