We planned a day trip to Vail last minute so I knew I needed to get my run in early or it wouldn’t get done. I really wanted to run outside and thought I had prepared well but I didn’t check to see if my headlamp was working. The batteries were dead and we didn’t have any extras. It was hard mentally to switch to the treadmill when I had my heart set on running outside.

I got it done, at least I chose my coffee mug well.

I don’t think there is much better than going to the mountains in the summer. We thought we might start to see the trees changing color for the fall but we were too early for that.

The leaves weren’t changing but the wildflowers were still in full bloom and it was gorgeous. It was also the perfect weather, cool in the morning and warm in the afternoon without being hot.

We parked on the east side of Vail at the Betty Ford Botanic Garden. This place is gorgeous and free to visit!

This weekend should have been Oktoberfest in Vail but it was cancelled because of Covid. We have gone up to vail this time of year almost every year and always love it.

Humphry came with us on our adventure but we didn’t want him to walk too much or get too excited so he road along in the stroller.

People seemed to love seeing him cruising along with us. Cannon and Emmy just took turns who would walk and who would hang out with Humphry.

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We walked down past Vail Village to Lions head and had lunch at the Vail Chophouse.

The Chophouse is right at the base of the gondola, has an amazing patio and was great at keeping diners spread out. They were also very sweet to Humphry.

It is fun to watch all the mountain bikes come off the mountain. After lunch we found another playground, Vail has some of our favorite playgrounds!

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Humphry seemed very happy to hang out while we played.

Lions Head is very cute and nice to visit.

but Vail village is my favorite.

It tries a little hard to be like a European ski town but it is so quaint and lovely to walk around, I find it to be the most walkable mountain town in Colorado.

Emmy and Humphry napped in the stroller while Cannon found yet another playground (it’s one of our favorite things to do while traveling).

After playing we made our way back to the car and had an easy drive home.

Vail is less than two hours from our house and is one of the best ways to spend the day.

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What is one of your favorite places to visit?