In November 2024, Matt and I starting booking our longest camper trip with our kids, actually our longest trip with the kids in general, to date, of 24 days. Matt lovingly started calling it Nomad Summer, and now, that is undoubtedly an annual trip we will take until our kids are grown – not to the same destination, but long, long trips to fill out summer breaks. I realized I did a few posts about this last year, but not a full recap of all the things we did for our first Nomad Summer.

Nomad Summer, Week One – Home Base of Ouray, Colorado

Ouray, Colorado is a part of the state neither of us had been to before, and the route that led us from Colorado Springs to Ouray was a drive that we’ve never taken before, and it was a really beautiful drive. We passed Manitou Springs, went through Gunnison National Forest, and finally started to see San Juans. I had heard it dubbed the Switzerland of America, and I totally see why. Ouray has the most perfect location. The San Juans tower overhead, waterfalls seemingly flow in every direction you look, and the Uncompahgre River flows through it.

We stayed at the Ouray Riverside Resort, which was absolutely stunning. The river runs right alongside it, and there’s a riverwalk trail that leads straight into town that we took almost every single day. From our camper, we had 360 views of mountains and a view of a waterfall from right outside our kitchen window. It was both the most expensive and most beautiful campground we’ve ever stayed at.

While Ouray was the reason we stayed here, and we knew we had a few things we wanted to do around here, we had no idea how hard we’d fall for the San Juans and the areas around it. We found even more destinations than we had planned. I also didn’t get to do my biggest draw there – the Perimeter Trail, but I also know I will have the opportunity to do that another time.

Within Ouray, We Did a Few Different Trails

We went to Box Cañon Park, which was a bit expensive, in my opinion, to just have access to a few short trails. It is a birding hotspot, but for us, with Liam being free for being under 4, I felt $19 was steep for less than 2 miles of hiking. It was beautiful and if you’re looking for short hikes, and don’t mind paying to do short hikes, this is a good spot. We did all three trails and it took us about a total of an hour with our 2 littles.

Next up, we did Cascade Falls park where we did both the Lower and Upper Cascade Falls Trails. These trails were easy peasy. Even our two-year-old did a decent amount of the walking up this trail. This too was only around a mile. But, I loved the ability to walk behind the falls here. Plus, it was free!

Baby Bathtubs was the last trail we did within Ouray. However, CJ decided she was terrified of bugs this day, so we didn’t get to do it as a family. Generously, though, Matt let me do this super quick trail on my own. This is also within a free hiking area.

Other Activities We Did Within Ouray

While in Ouray, we did a lot of day trips, but we did explore the town itself as well. Our main activity here was to shop. There were some really cool shops here with a good mix of some kitschy tourist shops, and some that were more gallery-style or much more themed. I loved Gator Emporium, the candy store, and the Rock Shop in town.

The Hot Springs Park and Hot Springs Park Pool were our collective family favorites because well, the kids love playing outside and these spots had some of the most incredible mountain views! The park is fairly small in the section of play equipment, but there’s also a large, open green space. There were several spots to climb up on things, though, and a couple wiggly sit-on things (what are those even called?) and some swings, but it kept our kids entertained long enough that they didn’t want to leave.

The Hot Springs Park Pool, was incredible. Although it was so much fun, it was vastly overpriced. There are several pools of varying temps. There’s a rock wall that goes over a pool, so if you fall, it’s into the pool – this wasn’t open when we were there, there are two waterslides that cost extra if you don’t go on a certain day, and there are basketball hoops at one end of one of the pools. It was an incredible experience to do once, but even with Liam being free, it was $78 – yes, seventy-eight dollars! – for us to spend one day there. And with a 2 and 4 year-olds, it wasn’t even a full day. But, we had fun, made amazing memories and basked in the glorious mountain views while playing in a hot springs pool. We only did it once, and I don’t know that I would do it again this year, but it was a lot of fun if you’re not running on a budget.

One evening, we drove up to Red Mountain Pass – the mountain pass before leading down the other side of this section of the San Juan mountains. This is the first chunk of the Million Dollar Highway, and in our humble mountain-loving opinions, we both think that this is the most beautiful section of it. This leads up past the remnants of old mining towns, which was really cool and interesting to see, but I have to say, the show is in the nature around you. We saw stunning mountain landscapes, waterfalls cascading and fell hard, I mean hard, for the San Juans.

Adventures Outside of Ouray, Colorado

While we did spend a fair amount of time in Ouray. Spending time outside, soaking up the mountain air and walking that riverwalk, we also used Ouray as a jumping off point to do a fair amount of things. We definitely didn’t just sit around, though, wait until you see everything we did from Ouray.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park

It is less than one hour from downtown Ouray to the South Rim of Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. And I really loved this park. It was the perfect day trip from Ouray. We got up in the morning, did a recommended hike from the park rangers, a couple of overlook trails, ran into Montrose for lunch, came back and did all the other overlook trails and part of the South Rim Overlook Trail. We managed to do all of this in one day. Going in early June was lovely because there were a shocking amount of wildflowers in bloom. We also saw three big horn sheep rams, two of which ran right across our trail. It was just a really special experience.
Tip for a visit to Black Canyon of the Gunnison – If you don’t have a picnic lunch packed, Montrose is incredibly close by. You can pop out, have lunch and come right back into the park – this is what we did. Or if you want, you could stop at one of the grocer stores in Montrose before going into the park. While we loved a lot about Ouray, the price of groceries there was insane.

A Couple of Half-Day Trips to Telluride, Colorado

We only intended to go to Telluride once, but after we spent an afternoon and evening there, we wanted to go back and Charleigh was begging to go back. Our first night there, we rode the gondola (which is entirely free and has some of the most incredible views), popped into a lot of shops like the local chocolate shop, art shops and kitschy shops. We ate at Brown Dog Pizza, which was incredible! Charleigh very sweetly told every human she passed, “You have got to ride the gondola… It’s free!” It was so cute.

There was a coffeeshop that I had wanted to try, but it was closed already. Then, it was just even more beautiful than expected and we saw that there was a farmers market later that week and there was a biking trail that we thought would be so much fun. So, we decided to come back another day.

The farmers market was just incredible, The Coffee Cowboy – the coffeeshop I wanted to visit the previous visit was so good that I went twice that day. We went to Telluride Brewing for lunch. It was okay, but not the best I’ve ever had, but we went to the one in Mountain Village so we could take the gondola to it. We took the kinds in the Burley Bee on a nice little ride out of downtown. The views were incredible and we had so much fun using our bikes on Nomad Summer. Then, we went to the Telluride Library. It was a wonderful, free spot for the kids to play in. They had an indoor play area, learning activities, coloring pages and, of course, lots and lots of books to read!

Driving the Million Dollar Highway and Beyond to Mesa Verde

The section of highway between Ouray and Silverton is a long, winding drive with truly incredible overlooks and view points. It was absolutely stunning and I think every turn had us saying wow! I couldn’t get over it. There are peaks, ponds, lakes, waterfalls… just views after views. Admittedly, post Silverton, I fell asleep because Matt accidentally bought me regular dramamine, instead of non-drowsy. Ha. We grabbed a quick lunch in Durango and made our way to Mesa Verde.

One of my big regrets of the Ouray portion of the trip is that I wasn’t prepared as I should’ve been for Mesa Verde. We didn’t get any tickets to tour any of the archaeological sites. I also didn’t realize that the sites that you could self-tour were on a road that closes in the afternoon. It’s insane. So, we did the little overlook walk to Cliff Palace to actually see the beautiful structure. I did the Soda Canyon Overlook Trail and we saw several cliff dwellings from afar. It had so much potential to be a wonderful trip to a national park, but I didn’t do all the work that I could’ve and should’ve to get the most out of it. But we’ll get there again. I know I will.

Ouray, Colorado Week Quick Itinerary

Day One – in Ouray, Colorado: Had brekkie in the camper, went to Box Cañon Park – did all the trails there. Then we went to Cascade Falls Park (free!) and did the Upper and Lower Falls Trails. We had lunch and play time back in the camper before taking the Uncompaghre River Walk Trail into town and back. Soaking up the nature. Then we drove up to Red Mountain Pass and stopped at different old mining sites. We also stopped at Bear Creek Falls, which is literally right off the road. We enjoyed a stunning sunset and spent the evening as a family in the camper.

Day Two – in Ouray, Colorado: We started the day with a hike a Baby Bathtubs after breakfast in the camper. After this, we spent the day shop-hopping in Ouray. We took a bike ride on the Uncompaghre River Walk Trail and ate lunch at Thai Chili Restaurant – if there’s Thai food, we’ll find it. We had a little downtime and popsicles in the camper before going to Ouray Brewery, which had decent beer, gorgeous views, but honestly, as a beertender, I was less than impressed with the service there. We had dinner and family time back in the camper.

Day Three – We went to Black Canyon of the Gunnison for the majority of the day. We had a long lunch in Montrose, somewhat intentionally, as I was waiting for news from back home and wanted to be sure to have cell service. But we loved the time in Black Canyon. Dinner was an easy night of leftovers.

Day Four – We started the day with laundry (we had two additional days of travel not included in this itinerary) and the facility here was nice. So we put laundry in, did a little work, had lunch and waited out a morning storm to go to the Ouray Hot Springs Park Pool! Then we went to Telluride for the evening.

Day Five – Ouray to Mesa Verde via the Million Dollar Highway.

Day Six – Kicked off the morning in Telluride. Then we went to the rock shop for CJ to get a few crystals and rocks. Then, we went back to the camper for dinner, then we walked to the park via the Uncompaghre River Walk for the kids to play and soak up some of the gorgeous mountain views for the last night.

Nomad Summer, Week Two – Home Base of Moab, Utah

Moab is a destination that we’re very familiar with. At this point, we’ve spent cumulative months in Moab, so people are always surprised when we go back again and again, but realistically, I never get tired of it. Plus, this was the first time that we were setting up for Matt to work remotely from the camper. So being somewhere that I felt confident exploring felt really important. It ended up being wonderful. Matt learned more about what is easiest for him and I learned about being a capable mama completely on my own. And that was really empowering.

What We Did In Moab

We managed to get here during a heatwave. Like even hotter than normal kind of heatwave. So we didn’t do as much as we normally would. But we still managed to do and see quite a bit. We went, and fell hard for, off-roading. We did Shafer Trail, Long Canyon Drive, and Gemini Bridges. It was amazing! In Canyonlands we did Mesa Arch and Grand View Point Overlook. In Arches we did Tower Arch and stopped over at Balanced Rock. We obviously did the super short trail to Gemini Bridges when we were on that drive. We stopped at Intestine Man Petroglyphs as well, so I could pop out and see these amazing works. I took the kids to Moab Giants, which was actually super cool, but it was also insanely hot!

Our Day Trip to Capitol Reef National Park

We took a day to drive down to Capitol Reef National Park. We grabbed pies from Griffith Homestead, hiked to Hickman Bridge, we did a few overlook trails and saw petroglyphs on the petroglyph trail. It was a beautiful day trip from Moab and we could’ve squeezed more into the day, but a sand storm had rolled in and it was blowing sand into the kids’ eyes and they were miserable. So, we headed back to Moab.

Our Moab, Utah Week Itinerary

Before you look at this as a trip itinerary for yourself, this is what we did on a week that Matt was working remotely, and I’ve been to Moab seven times. So, this is just how we spent this particular week in Moab during a heatwave and a sandstorm. If you want to read more about what I’d prioritize in Moab, check out THIS POST!

Day One – We got to town, got setup, went into town, did a little shopping at Moab Made, grabbed a quick dinner and drove to Shafer Trail!

Day Two – I got up, got the kids ready, grabbed coffee at my go-to spot in Moab, Snake Oil Coffee, and drove up into Canyonlands National Park. Up there, the kids and I went to the visitor center, they got their Junior Ranger Badges for Canyonlands and then we hiked Mesa Arch! We got back to town, grabbed Matt for dinner. We all went to Moab Diner (I got the first thing here I didn’t like, the pot roast, just FYI, but every single other thing I’ve ever had here is delicious!) Then we went into Arches National Park. We were going to do the 4WD road to the short trail to Tower Arch, but we got partway down the road and got to a section that the truck was simply too long for, and at that point, it was too late to hike the trail. So, we went back into town, did a little grocery shopping and headed back to the camper.

Day Three – I started my day the same in Moab as most days: getting the kids together and Snake Oil Coffee! I got the kids out to Moab Giants, which I wouldn’t personally do without kids, but it was an amazing stop to make if you have kids or you yourself are very in to dinosaurs. That evening we went back into Arches at an appropriate time to be able to do the Tower Arch Trail, which is now one of our favorite trails within Arches National Park.

Day Four – It was laundry day again, so I was at the campground most of the day with the kids. When Matt got off work, we went into Arches to go do the Balanced Rock loop because Charleigh had been asking to go closer to it to be “brave this time.” She was afraid it was going to fall and squish us last year. Ha! Then, we decided to take on Gemini Bridges 4WD road. In addition to the drive, we did the short hike to the bridges – don’t miss them.

Day Five – I got up, got coffee at Snake Oil, gathered the kids and we went off-roading! We did Long Canyon Road and I was so high on life from it that I wanted Matt to do it again that evening, so we did! Then, on the way back down from the top to Moab, we stopped at the Intestine Man Petroglyphs. Then, we did the Moonflower Canyon Trail almost to the end – we turned back because of the poison ivy there, but we also saw the petroglyphs there.

Day Six – Snake Oil Coffee, of course started my day. Then we did some shopping in town while Matt worked. When he got off we drove Long Canyon Road again up into Canyonlands and did the Grand View Point Overlook Trail for Sunset.

Day Seven – The day trip down to Capitol Reef National Park.

Nomad Summer, Week Three – Home Base of Estes Park, Colorado

Back in 2016, Matt and I spent a day up here with my Uncle Brad hiking and then hanging out. We loved what we saw, but we also knew there was so much more to see! What we didn’t realize was just how hard we’d fall not only for the mountain town itself, but for Rocky Mountain National Park as well! This place is something special. So special that we’ve decided to spend two weeks here in 2026.

What We Did In Estes Park

We ate at a few different restaurants that we loved. Estes Park Brewing had an incredible French Dip – which is typically my go-to sandwich on a menu. The place we loved so much we ate there twice was Indian Bites – we literally discovered this place by smelling it. For coffee out, I went to Coffee on the Rocks three different times. It was so good, and located right next to a rock shop… Someone also told us about Haley’s Ice Cream and even though it was insanely expensive, it was worth it and we went there twice. The first time we had one scoop, the second time we got two scoops because we wanted to have more flavors, but it was too much. The scoops are huge. We had a really delicious dinner at Rock House Inn with a friend as well! It was our “nicer” (ie, more expensive, but still casual) dinner and well worth it.

We did a lot of walking around shops waiting for our timed entry. There were a lot of really cute shops and a lot that just had some kitschy junk. There was a Christmas shop that we fell hard for as Christmas decor lovers, and the above-mentioned rock shop: Red Rose Rock Shop, which we made several trips to. I also fell for this used bookstore called Cliffhangers. It’s run by volunteers and all the money goes back to the local library. We found some really incredible and unique books for the kids.

The town itself is really beautiful and there are lots of stunning views and you have a high chance of seeing elk even in town. We saw several ranging from along the road, to literally walking through the river in the middle of downtown.

If you have kids who love a playground, the Stanley Park Playground is absolutely lovely. It has a lot of equipment and is located with scenic views. It’s a really special place to let the kids get outside, interact with other kids and have fun. Plus, it’s free!

What We Did in Rocky Mountain National Park

The Trails We Took

We took on a handful of trails, but because of their two-tiered timed entry, we were a bit more limited because we got as many Bear Lake entries as we could, but we absolutely learned from this experience. Even with that, we hiked to Alberta Falls from Bear Lake trailhead, and then we did Bear Lake Loop. Another day, we went on beyond Alberta Falls to Mills Lake, which is one of my favorite hikes of all time now.

From up on top of Trail Ridge Road, we did the Tundra Communities Trail, which was absolutely stunning. I was sleeted on and there were elk up there too! Plus, we did every single pullout overlook. It was worth every single one of them, and I loved seeing all of the tundra wildflowers in bloom. Up from the Alpine Visitor Center is the Trail Ridge Trail. It’s only 0.6 miles, but is considered moderate because of the altitude and the fact that it’s essentially just stairs up to the top of a 12,005ft mountain.

Outside of the above two sections of the park, we spend an afternoon in the Wild Basin Area where we hiked to Copeland Cascades and Calypso Falls. This section felt very different because you follow along the river. The Copeland Cascades are beautiful beautiful, but I think that it was an especially beautiful hike because we went all the way up to Calypso Falls. It was a beautiful fern and forest trail. And the other trail we did – which we did multiple times – was Lily Lake. It’s a quick and easy loop around a lake that’s just under 1 mile. We saw a cow moose and her two calves in the lake on one of our morning hikes here.

The Other Things We Did in RMNP

We drove Trail Ridge Road, which is the highest paved road in a U.S. national park, with extremely gorgeous mountain views. We took it all the way to Grand Lake, but if I didn’t have a trail in mind over there, I would personally turn back at the Visitor Center. Alpine Visitor Center is the highest national park visitor center, and has a little restaurant and lots of little shops. We went up here for a mediocre meal, but spectacular views! We just wanted to be up in the mountains a bit more.

While we were here the kids also did the Junior Ranger Program, and we went to the Beaver Meadows Visitor Center, which had videos and interactive exhibits. This park is a very drivable park to see a lot of beauty, but also, I highly, highly recommend lacing up your boots and hitting the trails.

Our Estes Park Quick Itinerary

Day One – We got up and went into RMNP for our Bear Lake Timed Entry. We started by hiking to Alberta Falls. It’s a stunning trail through groves of trees and lots of wildflowers and ferns lining the trail. Then, we stopped at Bear Lake on the way back and did the loop around it. It was a really moody day and had stunning views. That evening, we popped into the Beaver Meadows Visitor Center and then went into the park to drive Trail Ridge Road. It was a stunning drive with lots of beautiful overlooks – take them all if you safely can! We did the Tundra Communities Trail. We drove into Grand Lake, which was an expensive little town where we decided we didn’t want to eat dinner, so we grabbed gas station food and headed back up Trail Ridge Road where we saw and incredible sunset!

Day Two – This was a rest day. We spent most of the day around the campground, hanging out and relaxing. Then, that evening we went to our friend’s parents’ vacation home. They all happened to be in Estes at the same time and they invited us over for dinner! We had just the loveliest time with loads of laughs and they were so generous and lovely to the four of us.

Day Three – We got up and did the Lily Lake Trail which was stunning. It was an easy way to stretch our legs in the morning. After this, we went into Estes Park, we went to Coffee on the Rocks which is a coffee shop with the most incredible view and a little pond in the back where you can feed ducks. Then, right next door is a really cool rock shop. CJ and I both love rocks and crystals, so we, of course, had to stop here. After this, we went to the Wild Basin Trailhead to do Copeland Cascades and Calypso Falls. It was incredible. We went back and had dinner with a friend of mine from high school who lives and works there at Rock House Inn.

Day Four – We started the day at Coffee on the Rocks again. I met up with another friend of mine that I worked with at the brewery who grew up in Colorado and moved back a few years ago. It was really good to see and catch up with him. Then we went into town, popped into shops and had Haley’s Ice Cream before our timed entry. We went to the Glacier Gorge Trailhead to do the Mills Lake Trail. It was an absolutely stunning trail. It took us to Alberta Falls and then beyond. Stunning mountain views up to an incredible alpine lake that gave very Canadian Rocky vibes. I was awed by this hike. We picked up Indian Bites and brought it back to the camper for dinner.

Day Five – Lily Lake was our first stop this morning. We saw a mama moose with her two babies and it was cool to have a new experience in the same place we’d already been. We had to wait for our timed entry again, so we went to the coolest little used bookstore called Cliffhanger. All of the books are donated and used, all the staff are volunteers, and all the profit goes back to the local library. After that, we went to Haley’s Ice Cream before going up Trail Ridge Road. We did the Trail Ridge Trail up at the Visitor Center, and walked around the shops a bit. We had dinner from Estes Park Brewing where I got an incredible French Dip.

Day Six – We went to Stanley Park Playground, where the kids played hard. It was a scenic park with views of the mountains and Lake Estes. After that, we went back up to the Alpine Visitor Center for lunch. The kids wanted a rest day, so we gave it to them. We grabbed Indian Bites again, and after dinner decided to get a bit of a jumpstart on our drive home. So, we packed up and got 5 hours down the road so we could get home at a reasonable time the next day.

We Packed So Much Into Nomad Summer

We didn’t want to waste any time. We learned so much about our longer trips. We learned big things we want in life, little things we want in life, and how the day-to-day operations of living as a family of four in 450 square feet looks. This was my first big camping trip roundup, so I wasn’t sure exactly how to do it. Did you like this format? What are the things that you want to know that I didn’t share? Also, 2026’s Nomad Summer will be five weeks: two weeks in Kanab, Utah, one week in Montrose, Colorado and two weeks in Estes Park, Colorado. I hope you continue to join us on our adventures!

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