My boyfriend and I booked a flight to Colorado with no plans 24 days before lift off. This trip was for our college spring break and our trip was just days before the Coronavirus pandemic hit the United States.Wanna know what we did? Below is our spontaneous itinerary for our 5 day trip to the high altitude state of Colorado.

Day 1: Denver

We landed into Denver International Airport at 8 p.m. Instead of waiting 45 minutes for an Uber/Lyft, we found a rather expensive taxi at the airport (If you’re on a budget, wait for the lyft.) We had booked a rental car from ‘Turo‘ which is an app where real people rent their cars to travelers. You can find an average car much cheaper than the airport Enterprise on the app. From our rental car, we drove to our Airbnb in Denver and walked around downtown until it got too cold for us.

Day 2: Rocky Mountains

From Denver we eat a quick breakfast and start driving to Rocky Mountains National Park (about a 3 hour drive.) There is a park entrance fee and it is well worth the price. We decided to explore by driving around the whole park considering we were not prepared with traction on our boots from all the snow and ice. Although, we did hike a short trail head called ‘Bear Lake.” In the month of February, there was light traffic and we almost had it all to ourselves. After leaving the Rocky Mountains, we start our 5 hour drive to our next Airbnb home located directly in the mountains. We get there around 9 p.m and go to sleep after a long day.

Day 3: Red Cliff, Colorado

We drove to our next Airbnb last night. We are secluded high in the mountains over 8,000 feet. Our Tiny Home on A Mountain is beautiful. We wake up early and eat breakfast. When people think of Colorado, they think of skiing and snowboarding. How about the snowmobilers? We spend the rest of the day snowmobiling. If you are ever near the Vail/Red Cliff area in Colorado, I highly recommend Colorado Backcountry Rentals for all your snowmobile needs.

Day 4: Drive to Colorado Springs

The next day we wake up before the sun rises over the mountains, pack up all our belongings, and start our 3 hour drive to Colorado Springs from Red Cliff. We pass many fourteeners along the way, which are mountains that are over 14,000 feet! We arrive to Colorado Springs around 2 p.m for a day of exploring. I highly recommend visiting Garden Of The Gods if you ever decide to stay in the Spring’s. We stay in a cute bungalow home from Airbnb for the rest of the night.

Day 5: Flying Home

We wake up early. Our flight is at 7 pm. The drive from Colorado Springs to Denver is short so we visit Garden Of The Gods one more time before we leave. We see the huge Red Rocks Amphitheatre as we are driving on the freeway. The airport is filled with people in masks. COVID-19 is in the States and we are flying home to Michigan.

I do not expect people to take this into their own travel plans, but they worked well for us. In 5 days, we visited so many parts of Colorado. We stayed in 3 airbnbs and never got altitude sickness. Colorado is now my favorite travel destination.