"Lukey's climbing this big rock! Look! Lukey's climbing!" We are less than a half mile into our hike and Luke has already pulled over to the side of the trail a half dozen times to look at a cactus, examine a footprint in the dirt, or, in this case, climb the boulders that line this particular part of the trail. It's a good thing our loop is only two miles, or we'd be spending the night with whatever animal left its prints in the dirt.

It was our first snowy hike as a family. Although not strangers to Colorado, the concept of intentionally hiking through inches upon inches of snow - with a toddler, no less - was one we hadn't really considered until after our move to the state earlier in the year.