The Nightmare Airport of Istanbul

Easily our worst travel experience was in the Istanbul Airport, where after I growled at the customer “service” representative for his complete inconsideration, I sat down on the floor as though I received a gut punch to the stomach. Knowing that a violent rage was swelling up inside of me, I dismissed myself from the line, passed him off to my wife, and sat down in the middle of the floor, watching as the world whirled around my head, seeing the shimmering strains of a migraine aura as they reached their claws across my vision.

I’d have to shake it off. I had to keep it together. My three-year-old was right there beside me, completely not understanding what just happened.

I had to set a better example than this. This public, infantile pouting at my loss. But then, knowing how pathetic I looked only compounded the utter feeling of helplessness and uselessness.

I suppose we’ve all had that feeling. Haven’t you?

Here’s how it happened.

The Istanbul Airport Design Scam

Upon some introspection, I can admit where I was at fault. But I also think the Istanbul Airport was purposefully designed to highlight those faults and make money off it.

Now, I admit, I can’t prove anything. I’ve searched Kaggle and BigQuery and can’t find any hard data on missed flights in Istanbul. I doubt it’s public-source info anyway.

So, hear me out.

It’s huge

Every time we’ve flown through Istanbul—and living in Brussels but being based in Tbilisi meant we’ve flown though it A LOT—they’ve never even been able to post the gate or terminal info of any connecting flight until 30 minutes before boarding. Of course, the sign tells you “1 hour”, but that’s until takeoff, a completely irrelevant number when it comes to hauling your ass to your connection.

That means you typically have 30 minutes to get to your next gate. Maybe 45 minutes if you’re lucky.

The entire airport is set up like a wheel spoke. There’s one massive central terminal, which is like the size of a small city or gigantic shopping mall, filled with shops and restaurants, and the there’s five super long concourses (what is the difference between a concourse and a terminal, anybody?).

To get across that central terminal… you can rush across it with a child, from one concourse to the opposing concourse, in maybe 20 minutes. That doesn’t leave you a hell of a lot of time.

It’s family friendly

So, I’ve mentioned the part where it’s huge and they only tell you where your connection is with thirty minutes to go. That means if you’re dallying in one concourse or the next, for any reason, you’re probably going to miss your boarding time.

But here’s the kicker: it’s a really amazingly family-friendly place. The entire airport was built around distracting your children. Each concourse has a cool little indoor playground, with slides, see-saws, and rocket ship climbing frames, and then the central terminal is lined with toy shops (or shops with toys).

Do you see where I’m going with this?

When you arrive, you generally follow the herd towards the central terminal. After the 15-minute walk, you come to the chart with the flight information that inevitably says, “Flight information unknown; wait for update 1 hour before flight”.

So, then you think, “Okay, what else is there to do? We’ll let the kiddo play.”

Mistake #1.

We let our kiddo play. And this was dumb, because we know full well that once he warms up to a playground, separating him from that place is always a hellish nightmare of torment and bickering and wailing and gnashing of teeth and all that Biblical jibbajabba that defines something bad, and you don’t want to go through it.

People waiting for their flights

No messing around

And when we saw the update, we initially thought, “Oh, an hour to get to the gate, that’s not too bad, we can take our time.”

No, you can’t.

It’s not an hour until boarding, it’s an hour until takeoff, and they aren’t messing around about that time.

We finally yanked the kiddo off the climbing frame and trundled along into the main, massive complex that I’ve already described as the main terminal. The place is beautiful, a huge central lobby area with a mezzanine looking down, both levels lined with shops, restaurants, trees, etc., something that gives me the feeling of how space stations or Mars base might one day look if humans are lucky (the other option in aesthetics is the Nostromo).

We still thought we had some time, though we knew we had to get moving. The kid though ran into one of the toy stores, and here again we were faced with a dilemma. Retrieve a screaming kid who really wants to look at toys (not even necessarily by them, but just really get a good, good look at every friggin’ option that there is in the entire shop before becoming too overwhelmed with a choice that he doesn’t have anything before finally deciding that he must have a 10 cent dinosaur figure and then hollering if we don’t even get him that). I know you know what I’m talking about, if you, dear reader, are a parent.

Then we made it to the concourse. 30 minutes to spare. There was another playground that he ran into. Okay, we could let him play for 10 minutes.

But wait. My travel-addled mind was nagging me about something. I looked at my watch, trying to handle the time changes in my head. I looked at my phone. It hadn’t updated. Or maybe it did? Or it didn’t. Feck, what time was it anyway?

Then I glanced at the chart. “Now boarding”.

Shit. Where’d my wife go?

Alarm mode. I grabbed the kid, found the wife in the nearest shop, and we raced down to the end of the concourse. Still 10 minutes to spare. But everything was dark and closed, and nobody was there. What the hell had happened? The plane was still there.

We knocked on the door. Tugged it. Another Russian lady ran up too, cursing.

Finally, a stewardess appeared. “We have boarded.”

“Yes, we can see that; can we get on?” we pleaded with her.

“Yes, you can go and talk to the customer service desk.”

I looked around. There wasn’t one nearby.

“But can’t we just get on? The plane is right there.”

The stewardess nodded with an empty smile. “Yes, yes, go talk to the customer service desk.”

Click on the pic for your Facetious Guide to Prague and Czechia

It was like the last two pieces of a puzzle didn’t fit and you had already put the entire thing together. But why didn’t these last two pieces fit? “What are you talking about? Just open the door and let us on. The plane is right there. I see the plane. It’s not leaving for another 10 minutes.”

“Yes, yes,” she answered in agreement. “Just go talk to the customer service desk. It’s near the terminal.”

“But by then you will have taken off,” I said.

“Yes, yes, I’m sorry, I must go.” I'm a big believer in the Power of Yes, but to hear her bastardize that word so much really made me grit my teeth. She opened the exit door and slid into the narrow crack, closing it swiftly behind her. It was perhaps my imagination, but I could have sworn I heard a locking bolt sliding into place.

So-called customer service

And now here we are. I’m sitting on the floor next to the customer service desk. My mind was full of additional pieces that just didn’t fit. The guy had first told me it would cost nine hundred dollars to rebook the two-hour flight to Batumi. That was a bit jarring.

“But I could just get our stuff, we could go to the bus station and take a bus. That’d be like 200 bucks max,” I told him. I knew that was true too, I’ve ridden that bus half a dozen times. Getting there wouldn’t be a problem, even with a kid. We’d just call an Uber.

“Then we’d have to cancel your entire flight,” he said.

“Right,” I said, narrowing my eyes, trying to see the fault there.

“Including your return flight.”

“Ah, erm, why?”

“That’s Turkish Airlines policy, sir,” he said.

“But how does it cost 900 dollars to get to Batumi? Just let us get our luggage.”

"No, sir, we’d cancel your entire flight. Pay 900 now or you don’t know what it will cost when you’re coming back.”

My eyes bulged. Now the guy was threatening me.

“It’s 900 now, it could go up at any time,” he said.

I felt nauseous. I didn’t really have 900 bucks. I only had it in “funny money”, lala land money that doesn’t exist on my credit card.

“Oh, look, it’s 1200 now,” he said.

“WHAT?!” I lost it. I knew I shouldn’t have lost it, but I did. “What the fuck?” Oh, that’s where my kid learned that phrase. “What the fuck?! You just said it was 900?!”

“It’s going up sir,” he said. Was that a smirk on his face?

Somewhere, vaguely, as though reaching through some clouds of perception, as though it were part of someone else’s body, I could feel my wife tugging at my arm, pleading with me to be cool.

“Screw it,” I said. “You deal with the guy.” And I stormed off like the 40-year-old toddler I am.

A night’s stay

We had until 6 the next morning for the next flight to Batumi.

It wasn’t until after our 60 euro Arby’s meal for three—Arby’s! The only places I’ve encountered Arby’s outside of the US have been Turkish airports!—that I realized that I remembered something something about lounge access at airports. I pulled out my phone to read the bennies and there it was:

LoungeKey.

And they had a lounge at the Istanbul Airport. When we walked in, I cursed myself for not thinking of that early. They had an all-you-can-eat buffet, an all-you-can-drink bar, billiards, a kiddie room (that’s frankly nowhere near as appealing as those little kid traps in the concourses) and a stellar view of the plebs down below.

View from the lounge

After this trip, we made sure to have 4-hour layovers in Istanbul every time. No chance of missing our flight and every chance to stock up on delicious Turkish food and sweets and beer. I mean, Efes ain’t the best, but it ain’t bad either. Especially when it’s free!

The catch was that we could only stay for three hours. Then we had to move downstairs to a couch with the rest of the stragglers. But that wasn’t a huge issue. We found somewhere with room enough for our young one to spread out on caught some shut eye.

Sleeping in Istanbul Airport

Sleeping in Istanbul Airport

I was most impressed by how the kiddo was handling everything. Was it that he had utter faith in us, despite the Big Guy having a meltdown? Or did he just not know any better?

I patted his head, pushed his fluffy hair behind his ear and smiled. It’d be all right.

A Facetious Guide to Traveling with a Kid

Stay tuned for my upcoming book, A Facetious Guide to Traveling to Traveling with a Kid, where I include various humorous anecdotes and tips on what not to do when jaunting across the world with your tyke! Good reading for new parents, soon-to-be-parents, and a great gift for your friend who’s about to pop one out! Sign up for the newsletter to be sure when it comes out.

Want to be a premium reviewer? I’ll score you a shirt from my shop and send you a signed hardback copy if you’re one of the first 5 to give it a verified review on Amazon. Holy moly, that’s a cool deal. Just sign up on my newsletter so you know when it’s out and you can DL that Kindle action ASAP.

And don’t miss the video/podcast version on YouTube or Podbean, if you prefer those formats. It’s not just reading, it’s a whole improvisational set on the same story.

Jet Lag Blues

When we came back from this latest trip, I thought I had mastered jetlag. I had ultimately abandoned all of my well-thought out strategies to handle the condition, tossing them out of the unsurprisingly loose-fitting passenger doors of our Boeing 787-10. The truth is, I can’t follow the strategies. I know I should stay awake or go to sleep, but inevitably I end up doing the opposite, and my red-rimmed eyes only end up staring at my watch in desperation, my butt cheeks clenched for another agonizing few hours of flight, and my fingers tapping out another movie to watch on the seatback screen. Every bit of me dreading the few days of the topsy-turvy internal time to come.

The day after landing, I thought the issue was vanquished. I wasn’t at all tired. It was the late morning, and the family and I seemed prepared to deal with the rest of the day, as bright and chipper as we ever are.

But there’s a problem with living in Brussels. Already it’s quite north, so the winter days are quite limited as it is, but on top of that, it’s raining and overcast almost all the time.

So, when we woke up the next morning to darkness, I thought nothing of it. I must be night, I’ll just sleep for a bit longer.

And longer.

And then it was eleven o’clock. But which eleven o’clock? I could have sworn I went to bed later than that. But maybe earlier. Or wait—that’s the morning, isn’t it? But where’s the sun?! And why isn’t my kid jumping up and down on my bed?

I peered into his room. He was sound asleep. I looked out the window. It was a typically meh Brussels day, a hazy, muted glow from the thick layer of heavy grey stratus clouds. Victory was not mine. I should have followed my damned strategy.

The curse of time

Jet lag, as most of us veteran travelers know all to well, is when your body has physically moved across the earth while your mind has failed to catch up. We flew from Colorado to Belgium, and our subconscious minds are still in Colorado, controlling those invisible managerial mechanisms of our body, ensuring that our blood cells and bacteria counts are following the right timecards.

The internal body is somewhat incapable of knowing that it has moved halfway around this giant ball called a “planet” and that it must change its schedule accordingly. There are natural outside indicators of requiring these changes—namely, the Sun can rise and shine, blasting through the eyes and indicating that the schedules are somewhat off and an adjustment is required.

As we are in Belgium, then what of the Sun? It fails in such a duty, and we are left tired and miserable, unsure of what the “day” is and the “night”, a condition already existing without the jetlag, but now much more greatly amplified.

But what if I told you things didn’t have to be this way?!

Jet lag fandango

There are ways to mitigate this time-curse. They are not for everyone and certainly not for the weak of heart. These time-tested, winning strategies are for those globe-spanning flights that are certain to whack out your circadian rhythms like a mafia thug who’s upturned his mattresses. Had I followed some of my own advice here, it wouldn’t have taken me a week to recover. Or if I were living in Spain rather than this desolate, Vitamin D-deprived land.

The time of arrival is the most important thing to keep in mind when seeking to overcome jet lag. This defines how you approach your strategy. Do you land in the morning or in the night? When you know this and keep this in mind, then you’re already on your first step to dominating your rhythm and forcing it into place like pieces on a locksmith game.

A fisherman on the coast of not sun-deprived Majorca

Morning arrival

Arrivals in the morning can be tough, and these are by and large the worst for me. This is what threw me off this last round of travels, because the older I get, the harder it is for me to follow my recommendations. Like most advice in life, this stuff works best for when you’re young (which is also, ironically, the time in your life when you’re least likely to listen to advice).

Sleep

Get as much sleep as you can. I know it’s going to feel weird. Likely you left at 10 in the morning, you’re flying for nine hours, and you’re arriving at 11 in the morning. It’s weird. It’s freakish. You’ve got to do all sorts of calculus operations in your head to get a hold of it, but you’ve just got to accept it. Go to sleep as soon as possible.

On these long, over-the-ocean flights, they normally try to put you to sleep anyway. They toy with the oxygen levels, dim the lights, and serve free alcohol. Anything to make you more likely to sleep that doesn’t include giving you a comfortable place to snooze.

If you’re short, then rolling up in a ball and blasting your Zzzz’s probably isn’t a big deal, but for those long-legged kings like myself… we’ve got some issues on the comfort wagon. Every time I let my leg straighten out, it gets kicked by some dufus stumbling down to the toilets.

Alcohol

Nearly every international, ocean-crossing flight offers free alcohol of some kind. Take it and down it. Usually, it’s just wine and beer offered. Wine is better because you won’t have to pee so much with its higher concentration of the good stuff. Enough drinks will help you pass out, even while those aisle prowling bastards are smashing your leg repeatedly.

You can always use Dramamine or whatever your sleepy potion of preference is. Bottoms up and let it roll!

Post-flight mitigation

If you do manage to sleep, it will jolt your clock into place when you wake up and land in the morning. I would then recommend a short nap around one or two, coffee, and then force yourself to stay awake until as late as possible. When you do finally go to sleep (as late as possible), be careful not to oversleep on the next day. The sooner you can force yourself back on a schedule, the better!

Evening arrival

An evening can be a real slog depending on how many connections you’ve made, but in total I prefer such arrivals. This is mainly because now that I’m a quadragenarian, I can’t really sleep on planes anymore, no matter how much beer I’ve had. It used to be when I was younger, I could sleep anywhere. Planes, buses, park benches (even the ones with those spikey bum deterrent rails)—nothing was a match for my sleepiness! But now I just end up in a half-drunken daze, slobbering over my cheese fudge while watching Deadpool for a second time since I was too sleepy to understand the jokes.

But when I’m not trying to sleep, not being sleepy is no problem! I happily sip my beer, catch up on all my movie watching guilt-free, and head out of the flight, running on some 30 hours being awake. The absolute best is if I can catch a late evening departure with the late evening arrival. Heavenly. Only rarely works out like that, but I digress.

My methods?

Coffee

Of course, I still drink that free beer. But when they roll down the aisle post meal, I stock up on coffees, too. Inevitably, this forces me to get up and walk around (to pee), which gets my blood going, which keeps me awake. I advise the same for you. Drink it up and pee it out and you’ll stay awake the whole flight.

Post-flight mitigation

One might be tempted to go to sleep immediately. Don’t do it! You’ve got to wait just a few more hours to top off the exhaustion. Once midnight hits, hit the sheets with full escape. You’ll sleep well into the morning, but also here it’s important not to oversleep, as I mentioned before. Set that alarm for eight hours later.

Dealing with kids

If you have a five-year-old like me, then you probably know that kids have no idea about the importance of sleep. Most adults don’t even know about that. But unlike adults, kids need about 10 to 12 hours of sleep. And in Belgium, they also don’t seem to realize that the Sun has very little to do with “daytime” or “nighttime”.

Luckily, with kids, their rhythms are a little more easily manipulated. We made the mistake of letting our kiddo play his tablet and watch the seatback television on the way over to the United States. The next day he was suffering greatly and out of rhythm since we made it to our destination in the mid-morning and he had had no sleep.

But on the way back we knew better.

As soon as the lights went out, we unplugged all his equipment. “Okay, it’s sleepy time now.”

And the usual argument: “But Shawn isn’t going to sleep!”

Sleeping on the plane

So, I read to him, waited for him to pass out, and boom, beer and Deadpool for me.

Consequences

If they’re not able to sleep and they balance wrong, you can have a difficult first few days of adjustment. Which is why I always recommend planning a few days of padding before the real big vacation events begin (like skiing) or before the return to school. They’ll definitely need that time to adjust.

What can happen while they’re rhythms are out of whack? A kid can get lethargy, drag around, wake constantly at night (and keep you up), and even get a low fever. Yes, fever, because ultimately their bodies are super confused. Well, our guy got a fever when we went to Colorado, but that also might have been altitude contributing to that.

Whatever, he got better, and that’s all that counts.

Top 10 things to do with kids in a Colorado winter

Over the Christmas holidays, we hit the planes and trails again, flying across the ocean with our 5-year-old and landing at my folks home in a mountain town in Colorado. For those of you who don't know Colorado, it's got some of the best skiing and hiking in the United States, sun all the time, and lots of really fit people with blunts hanging from their lips (joking… curiously, despite weed being fully legal, I didn't smell any at all!).

Since we've lived in Brussels and Tbilisi for so long, I've become less of a "Denver native" and more of a European tourist to Colorado. The longer you're an expat, the less you're at home. Anywhere really. We move so much and wander so much that I'm not even sure if Georgia is even home anymore. But I digress. A toast to all those who wander and ARE lost.

Gathering from our recent trip, and from my own time living in Denver, I decided to compile this listicle-type blog and write about all the things you can do with your kid on a trip to Denver.

As with on a trip to anywhere in the United States, I highly recommend renting a car to get the most of your trip. It is possible to visit Denver, ski at Winter Park using the ski train, and get a pretty exciting vacation. But still, you'd be missing out on a ton that the state has to offer.

Normally, I advise people to visit New Orleans, San Francisco, and New York City when they ask where to go in the U.S. But whenever I meet an outdoor nut, I tell them Colorado is the must-see place. With Rocky Mountain National Park, tons of skiing, biking, hiking, rafting, endless blue skies, and what have you, it's a kind of paradise.

So, shall we begin with the top things to do in Colorado with a kid?

1. Skiing at Granby

Granby Ranch has become one of our go-to places for skiing now that our kid is of the right age. Located just north of Winter Park and a little off the highway from the town of Granby, it was an old ranch converted to a suburban-style housing project and resort. The resort is busy year-round, with downhill and Nordic skiing in winter and some tops mountain biking and golf in the summer. Since it's a smaller mountain, it tends to stay off the radar of most tourists, doesn't get the crowds of the other resorts, and tends to be a bit cheaper too (for American skiing)—but it's also an easy drive for Denver, if you're staying in the big city.

For kids, I'd recommend waiting until 4 for them to pop on some skies, as before that it's just not practical to teach them much. As one teacher told me while waiting on the lift, "Anything younger and it's just daycare with snow."

But our kid has really taken to skiing. The training course is a super gentle slope with a carpet-style lift, and they have a longer carpet lift and a very short hanging lift for the beginners. There's never a crazy crowd, and even when it's busy for Granby you don't have to worry about collisions. Believe me, we went during peak season, and it was like an off-peak day at a place like Aspen.

The kiddo ready to zoo down after his ski class

Kids 5 and under ski free, and if they take a class they also get their equipment free for the rest of their stay. So it's a great deal for families.

There is a hard mountain with mostly blacks, but the main mountain is green and easy blues (lower intermediates). While I was skiing with my wife, who prefers the green slopes, I was able to stay entertained with all kinds of fun forest runs alongside the greens. For those wanting to bust a move, there's also a great terrain park on the green mountain.

Since it's in American suburban-style, there are plenty of sleeping options but not many dining options. Visitors will definitely want to have a car. There's a nearby grocery store, Domino's pizza, and a bit further to Winter Park or Granby for a myriad of restaurants. For a pretty juicy elk-sausage burger, hit Maverick's Grille in Granby.

Obviously, Granby isn't the only sky resort in the mountains that is good for kids. You might also check out Keystone or Monarch, both having good children's programs (I learned to ski at Monarch!).

Salida, near Monarch

2. Sledding at Hidden Valley or Mueller

Hidden Valley, located in Rocky Mountain National Park, is a fantastic spot for family-friendly sledding, and I wish I had known about it before. Back in my day living in Colorado, there was almost nothing to do in RMNP, and the adjacent Estes Park was like a ghost town, but all that has changed. Once a minor ski area for locals, Hidden Valley has been transformed into a designated sledding, snowshoeing, Nordic, and snow play area, making it a perfect destination for snow-bound families. It's, I guess, an attempt for Rocky Mountain National Park to rebrand for winter fun.

The sledding hill at Hidden Valley is gentle enough for young children but still provides plenty of excitement for older kids and adults. Families can bring their own sleds or rent them from local shops in nearby Estes Park. The area is well-maintained, and park rangers are on hand to ensure everyone's safety.

In addition to sledding, Hidden Valley offers opportunities for snowshoeing and cross-country skiing. The surrounding trails provide stunning views of the snow-covered landscape and are suitable for all skill levels. After a day of sledding and exploring, families can warm up with a picnic at one of the park's designated picnic areas or head into Estes Park for a meal at one of the local restaurants.

Sledding at Mueller Park

Conversely, if you're staying in Colorado Springs or that area, then Mueller Park has some great sledding options. Situated at a slightly higher elevation on the southern rises of Pike's Peak, it manages to stay covered in snow even when the surrounding villages are looking summery. The former ranch-turned-state-park has about four clear runs, and is rarely too busy to carve your own sledding trail. It's also on the way to Cripple Creek (see below).

3. Snowshoeing in Rocky Mountain National Park

Not just for sledding, Rocky Mountain National Park is open for extensive snowshoeing treks and is a fantastic way for families to explore the winter landscape and enjoy the beauty of the park. The park offers a variety of snowshoe trails, ranging from easy walks to more challenging routes, ensuring that there is something for everyone.

One of the best trails for families is the Bear Lake Loop, a 0.6-mile loop that takes visitors around the picturesque Bear Lake. The trail is relatively flat and easy to navigate, making it suitable for young children and beginners. For those looking for a longer adventure, the Emerald Lake Trail is a 3.6-mile roundtrip that offers stunning views of the surrounding mountains and frozen lakes.

Snowshoeing is great for the older kids, though for the younger ones probably not the best activity as it can be a lot of work. Families can rent snowshoes from local shops in Estes Park or bring their own. The park also offers ranger-led snowshoe walks, providing an educational and guided experience for visitors.

Fun fact about Estes Park, Stephen King had been staying at the Stanley Hotel with his wife when he was inspired to write The Shining!

4. Tubing at Fraser Tubing Hill

Fraser Tubing Hill, located in the town of Fraser between Granby and Winter Park, is a popular destination for families looking to experience the thrill of snow tubing. The hill offers a variety of tubing lanes, ranging from gentle slopes for young children to steeper runs for those seeking more excitement. The hill is well-groomed and maintained, ensuring a safe and enjoyable experience for all visitors.

One of the standout features of Fraser Tubing Hill is its lift system, which makes it easy for families to get back to the top of the hill without having to hike up. This allows for more time spent tubing and less time spent climbing. The hill also provides tubes for rent, so families don't need to worry about bringing their own equipment.

Kids as young as 3 are allowed in a tube with an adult and can go solo from 7 (but must be accounted for by someone over 18). You can't reserve a place, and every time I've attempted to go, it's been crazy-packed, so don't be like me but go early instead. The proximity to Denver and Winter Park makes it a super-popular place for those looking for time off or an alternative to the ski slopes.

5. Electric Safari at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

I lived in Denver and went to the Denver Zoo a few times. Nothing to discredit the Denver Zoo, but it is "just a zoo". I didn't really understand the full potential of zoo-dom until living in Brussels, where I witnessed the awe-inspiring Pairi Daiza.

I'll have to say, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo is probably as close as it gets in the United States, and any animal-loving visitors even to Denver should take a visit to the southern neighbor.

Cheyenne Mountain is better known as NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) and has the dual purpose of securing our skies and offering a great zoological experience. They double down in the month of December too with the "Electric Safari" event when the zoo transforms into a veritable wonderland. With over 85 light sculptures and thousands of twinkling lights, the Electric Safari is a magical experience for visitors of all ages. The event typically runs from late November through early January, making it a perfect holiday outing for families.

lights of a cat

feeding the budgies

During the Electric Safari, you can stroll through the zoo's beautifully decorated grounds, enjoying the light displays, festive atmosphere, and insane, twinkling view across Colorado Springs. Many of the zoo's animals are still on exhibit into the night, providing a unique opportunity to see them in a different setting. Kids will love the chance to see their favorite animals while also taking in the holiday lights. It's the perfect time for the more nocturnal animals, like the lions, who came right up to the display window to hang out with the respectful visitors. Respectful, but for that little girl who insisted on blocking everyone's camera view!

In addition to the light displays, the Electric Safari offers some other activities and attractions. Families can warm up by the fire pits, enjoy hot cocoa and holiday treats, "horse-back" ride on the old-style carousel, ride up the ski-lift to a playground, and enjoy the nightly drone show.

6. Low Elevation Hikes at Red Rocks Park

Across the Front Range, there is a scattered array of mysterious and stunning red ribs sticking out of the ground and jabbing into the sky like an unfinished rack at a Texas rib house. Red Rocks Park is one of them, located just outside of Denver, and is a beautiful destination for low-elevation winter hikes that are suitable for families with young children. The park is famous for its stunning red rock formations, which provide a unique and picturesque backdrop for hiking and exploring. The other, Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, is a bit below.

During the summertime, Red Rocks is known for its massive concerts with stunning views and contact-highs from the weed-haze, which is, by personal experience, understandably much stronger during Reggae Fest than during Nine Inch Nails.

The park offers a variety of trails, ranging from easy walks to more challenging hikes. One of the most popular trails is the Trading Post Trail, a 1.4-mile loop that takes visitors through the heart of the park and offers stunning views of the rock formations. The trail is well-maintained and suitable for hikers of all ages and skill levels.

In addition to hiking, Red Rocks Park is home to the famous Red Rocks Amphitheatre during the summer, a natural outdoor concert venue that hosts a variety of events throughout the year. Families can tour the amphitheatre and learn about its history and significance. The park also offers picnic areas, making it a great spot for a family outing.

And not to be missed is the grave of Buffalo Bill and his museum (free during winter on the first Wednesday of each month!). Doing all sorts of derring-do with a variety of acts that would be considered highly sensitive for ethnic reasons, Buffalo Bill took his troupe across the world to showcase "Old West" culture. The troupe included expert riders from Georgia billed as "Russian Cossacks", despite being a troupe of shvilis riding Dzhigitovka, and their antics and flair inspired American trick riding in the coming decades.

7. Exploring Garden of the Gods

Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs answer to Red Rocks, is a stunning park that offers a unique and picturesque setting for winter exploration. The park is famous for its towering red rock formations, which provide a dramatic backdrop for hiking and sightseeing.

Garden of the Gods in winter

The park offers a variety of trails, ranging from easy walks to more challenging hikes. One of the most popular trails is the Perkins Central Garden Trail, a 1.5-mile loop that takes visitors through the heart of the park and offers stunning views of the rock formations. The trail is well-maintained and suitable for hikers of all ages and skill levels. Though as they are paved, it can get a bit icy in places, so watch out.

In addition to hiking, Garden of the Gods in the summer offers opportunities for rock climbing, wildlife viewing, and photography. The park's visitor center provides educational exhibits and information about the geology and history of the area. Families can also enjoy a picnic at one of the park's designated picnic areas, making it a great spot for a winter outing.

8. Visiting the Denver Museum of Nature & Science

When it's too cold to go outside, or when I-70 is more of a cold mess than usual, the Denver Museum of Nature & Science is a fantastic indoor activity. The museum offers a wide range of exhibits and interactive displays that are both educational and entertaining for visitors of all ages. Both a dinosaur museum and a geological museum, it's got tons to do inside and is still, to this day, one of my favorite science museums. It also has one of the best views in Denver, where you can view downtown's skyscrapers standing against the dramatic purple mountain majesties.

One of the highlights of the museum is the Discovery Zone, a dedicated area for young children that features hands-on exhibits and activities designed to spark curiosity and creativity. Kids can dig for dinosaur fossils, explore a water play area, and engage in a variety of science experiments.

The museum also offers a range of permanent and temporary exhibits, covering topics such as space exploration, ancient civilizations, and natural history. The IMAX theater and planetarium provide additional opportunities for learning and entertainment, with a variety of films and shows that are both educational and visually stunning.

9. Ice Castles and troll at Cripple Creek

Cripple Creek is one of the array of gambling villages that are scattered throughout the mountains of Colorado. These also include Black Hawk and Central City, both near Denver, and then there's two more on Ute Nation territory in the South (Ignacio and Towaoc). Central City, Black Hawk, and Cripple Creek all offer something of a mix between an old West vibe and a weird attempt at something modern. Personally, I'd prefer cashing in on the Old West vibes and let Vegas have all the rollercoaster mumbo jumbo, but I digress.

The Ice Castles in Cripple Creek

Cripple Creek, which is located near the mining village of Victor on the opposite side of Pike's Peak from Colorado Springs, has a kind of charm. The street is lined with half-empty casinos, and the inhabitants of such places are either retirees bussed in from the Springs or confused youthful drunks like myself 20 years ago who like to wander 24-hours a day for free drinks at the price of a slot machine pull and some fairly good dining at the array of busy restaurants.

There has been something of an attempt to revive the town, with new big investments like a renovated Heritege Center and the glass-faced Chamonix Hotel that will supposedly draw in big-time performers. There's an array of other activities, like hiking and mine tours, but not much more for the winter time. Though Mueller Park can be reached by a short drive for some pretty fun sledding.

That is until they started hosting the Ice Castles (there's also one in Eagle between Aspen and Breck) from late December to early March. They're different every year due to both varying imagination and weather changes, but always give a sense of wonder, especially after the sun goes down and the LED lights placed within the ice come on. Artists "grow" anywhere from 5,000 to 12,000 icicyles a day to sculpt the ice formations, towering walls, delicate scupltures, tunnels, slides, and parapets.

Last year, there were three ice slides, with one being reached by a walk along the icy battlements. This year, there was one large slide and one very small kids' slide, but they had also added some food and drink stands for hot dogs and hot chocolates. There were also a lot more tunnel areas this year, and both years featured a kids' crawlspace/tunnel dome thing.

The concept started in Utah, when the founder, Brent Christensen, had the idea of creating a backyard ice castle for his daughter, which had quickly become a local hit. The idea expanded to a national enterprise, featured in 5 cities throughout the US (Midway, UT, Maple Gove, MN, North Woodstock, NH, and Cripple Creek and Eagle, CO).

In 2025, it was 29 bucks for general admission, $23 for kids, and free for those 3 and under.

Also, if the weather isn't so bad (and it usually isn't around there), you can take a short walk to the troll, Rita, who's just outside Victor. Rita is actually the second troll of Colorado, the first being over near Breck. Rita took over 8 days to build with over 100 volunteers under the supervision of Danish recycle artist and rapper Thomas Dambo (who apparently did a whole troll village here in Belgium).

Rita, the Rock Collecting Troll

So an easy day would be to see the troll, visit the Ice Castle, and then have a meal in Cripple Creek.

10. Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Center

Located in the town of Woodland Park on the way to Cripple Creek from Colorado Springs, the Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Center gets a mention because every time we'd pass, my kid would shout out "dinosaur" like he was a character from Peppa Pig. Yet, tragically, we never stopped to go inside. One of these days! This 12,000 square foot warehouse of dino-bones is strategically located to the famous digsite at Fossil, Colorado.

The Resource Center was founded in 2004 by Mike Triebold, who had a lifetime passion for collecting fossils. And not just small ones. He made his name known in the world of dinos when he discovered the world's first mostly complete Pachycephalosaurus in 1994, later topping that with a fully complete Protosphyraena pernicosa. Hot damn.

At the shop, you can buy all kinds of replica fossils, as well as a mostly complete and real Edmontosaurus and Maiasaura.

All this and more

And here I didn't mention all the indoor playgrounds, libraries, and other fun places for kids that other cities tend to have as well. But as you can see, Colorado has plenty of options, and any visit will be stuffed with things to do (as long as you have a car).

By the way, I've got a book coming out soon: A Facetious Guide on How to Travel with a Kid. Sign up for my newsletter to get alerted when it's out so you can enjoy the intro discount and also grab a free Ultimate Checklist for Traveling with a Kid!