Three Chilly Nights in Golden, Colorado
Coming into the winter of 2024 / 2025, our daughter was just turning 4 and while she had experienced some pretty cold spells down in Southeast Texas, she had yet to actually experience real snow. On past winter trips to the mountains of Colorado (before she was born), we had enjoyed skiing but really had fun snow tubing so we figured taking her at 4 would be perfect. We debated back and forth but decided to go mid January and to actually stay in Golden, Colorado. Golden is a western suburb of Denver, right at the foot of the Rocky Mountains and home to Coors Brewery and the Colorado School of Mines. Golden was cheaper than the ski towns in the mountains and gave us the opportunity to do other things that would appeal to a 4 year old.
First, I will lay out what our original plans were. We were originally planning to go from Wednesday, January 22 to Saturday, January 25th. However, Texas weather had other plans. We experienced a cold spell in Houston that brought snow on Tuesday morning. It kept temperatures in the 20s for all of Tuesday and didn't rise above freezing or melt out until Thursday morning. Flights on Tuesday and Wednesday until noon were canceled. Southwest Airlines contacted us about our canceled flight and allowed for us to rebook within 14 days. We contacted our AirBnb (though we had booked through a third party site, which made it slightly more difficult) and they said we could move to any open dates. We decided to move our trip to Friday the 24th to Monday the 27th.
This looked great early in the week but as the week went on and Houston began to thaw out, the snow chances for Golden started to go up for Saturday. This stressed me out as driving in the snow isn't something I was too comfortable with but the trip worked out very well. Our original plan was to fly in on that Wednesday, make out way to Golden. Pick up groceries and maybe do Red Rock Amphitheater that afternoon. On Thursday, we would go to Colorado Springs, do Garden of the Gods and ride the Cog Railway up to Pikes Peak. On Friday, we would go up to Frisco, Colorado to the Adventure Park and Snow Tube. On Saturday, we would check out, hit the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden for their Saturday run days and fly home.
Due to the snow chances on Saturday, we thought on our feet and changed up our schedule from what is listed above. When we landed on Friday about noon, we ended up heading to Colorado Springs straight away to do Garden of the Gods. We didn't make the last Cog Railway train of the day but we still had a blast climbing on the rocks of Garden of the Gods. On Saturday, we stayed in Golden, walked to a local diner, city park, brewery and restaurant for dinner; all in light fresh falling snow! On Sunday we headed up to Frisco Colorado to go snow tubing and enjoy the mountains. Monday found us checking out, seeing Red Rocks Amphitheater and Hammond Candies before flying back.
We stayed in an AirBnB apartment in downtown Golden at the corner of Washington Ave and 11th street right above the Atomic Cowboy restaurant. It was the perfect location especially for the Saturday snow day!
Day 1 - Friday 1/24
First, I will lay out what our original plans were. We were originally planning to go from Wednesday, January 22 to Saturday, January 25th. However, Texas weather had other plans. We experienced a cold spell in Houston that brought snow on Tuesday morning. It kept temperatures in the 20s for all of Tuesday and didn't rise above freezing or melt out until Thursday morning. Flights on Tuesday and Wednesday until noon were canceled. Southwest Airlines contacted us about our canceled flight and allowed for us to rebook within 14 days. We contacted our AirBnb (though we had booked through a third party site, which made it slightly more difficult) and they said we could move to any open dates. We decided to move our trip to Friday the 24th to Monday the 27th.
This looked great early in the week but as the week went on and Houston began to thaw out, the snow chances for Golden started to go up for Saturday. This stressed me out as driving in the snow isn't something I was too comfortable with but the trip worked out very well. Our original plan was to fly in on that Wednesday, make out way to Golden. Pick up groceries and maybe do Red Rock Amphitheater that afternoon. On Thursday, we would go to Colorado Springs, do Garden of the Gods and ride the Cog Railway up to Pikes Peak. On Friday, we would go up to Frisco, Colorado to the Adventure Park and Snow Tube. On Saturday, we would check out, hit the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden for their Saturday run days and fly home.
Due to the snow chances on Saturday, we thought on our feet and changed up our schedule from what is listed above. When we landed on Friday about noon, we ended up heading to Colorado Springs straight away to do Garden of the Gods. We didn't make the last Cog Railway train of the day but we still had a blast climbing on the rocks of Garden of the Gods. On Saturday, we stayed in Golden, walked to a local diner, city park, brewery and restaurant for dinner; all in light fresh falling snow! On Sunday we headed up to Frisco Colorado to go snow tubing and enjoy the mountains. Monday found us checking out, seeing Red Rocks Amphitheater and Hammond Candies before flying back.
We stayed in an AirBnB apartment in downtown Golden at the corner of Washington Ave and 11th street right above the Atomic Cowboy restaurant. It was the perfect location especially for the Saturday snow day!
Day 1 - Friday 1/24
- Fly into Denver landing at 10:30am
- Decided to go to Colorado Springs (planned for Sat) due to snow in the forecast for Saturday.
- Missed the last Pike Peak Cog Railway train. It was scheduled for 1:20 but we didn't make it to Colorado Springs until 1:40.
- Visited Garden of the Gods. It was beautiful in the snow! Our 4 year old loved climbing on the rocks!
- Drove back to Denver and to our AirBnB in downtown Golden.
- Got Pizza from Atomic Cowboy, right under where we were staying.
Day 2 - Saturday 1/25
- Woke up to beautiful snow showers!
- Walked to breakfast at Golden Diner down the street. Took us way to long as our kid kept stoping to play in the snow!
- Went back to the AirBnB to rest after breakfast.
- Went to Parfet Park mid morning to play in the snow! It was still falling.
- Went to Golden Mill (tap house with food) for lunch.
- Left early afternoon, played a bit more in Parfet Park in the still falling snow, and then napped in the apartment.
- Ventured out at 3:30pm to shop in downtown Golden, it is still snowing!
- Dinner at Old Capitol Grill and Smokehouse about 5pm.
- Snowed until 10pm or so with 5-6 inches total.
Day 3 - Sunday 1/26
- Woke up and had left overs for breakfast
- Went out for coffee at Windy Saddle Cafe and then to Parfet Park to play in the fresh show on this sunny day.
- Left for Frisco, Co about 11 getting there about noon.
- Got lunch in town at Ein Prosit at 1 after a bit of shopping then ice cream at I Scream Gelato.
- We had a 3:15 reservation at Frisco Adventure Park for snow tubing. It was so much fun!
- Left Frisco at 4:30 and found I70 a standstill.
- At at Smashburger in Frisco before taking Loveland Pass (white knuckle driving but road was in great shape).
- Made it back by 7:30 to Golden.
Day 4 - Monday 1/27
- Packed and out of the AirBnB by 9:30.
- Went to Red Rock Amphitheatre to explore a bit.
- Went over to Hammond's Candies and did a tour to see how they make candy by hand.
- Running a bit late to the airport so dropped the girls off at the terminal at 12:25.
- Dropped the car off and made it there by 12:50 myself. Flight boarded at 1:40.
- Landed back at Houston by 5:30.
Lessons Learned:
- Be Flexible - We decided to go straight to Colorado Springs when we landed due to weather the next day which worked out well.
- Booking Downtown - Being downtown Golden during the snow on Saturday was great! The park was nearby as well as restaurants was perfect for a lazy snowy day.
- Don't be Afraid of the Snow - I think we could have driven around Saturday if we had chosen too. They kept the roads very clear and passible all day. I wish we would have gone over to the Colorado Railroad Museum on Saturday afternoon.
- Given Time to Get Out of the Mountains - I-70 was a parking lot out of the western slope of the mountains on Sunday. Next time, we will try to book our tubing time earlier in the day.
- Book a Second Hour Tubing - Due to us changing our plans, we only had one hour tubing and that hour was later in the day. Next time, we are thinking of tubing mid morning, going for lunch and then do a second round later in the day and be done earlier to miss the rush out of the mountains in the evening.
Safe Travels,
B & E
B & E