Life is Grand! Plan Your Mountain Getaway in Grand Lake, Colorado…

​My family and I love exploring new and family friendly places near Denver. For Labor Day weekend, we decided to explore a place we’ve never actually spent much time in---Grand Lake.
 
Grand Lake is approximately a 2-hour drive from Denver, in Grand County. It is located outside of the Western entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park and sits at 8,367 feet in elevation. In the summer months, you can get to Grand Lake via Estes Park and Trail Ridge Road or I-70 to 40 over Berthoud Pass through Winter Park. We chose to travel the Winter Park route.
 
We arrived on Friday with plans to stay through Monday. The drive there was beautiful, especially as you travel over Berthoud Pass and then past Lake Granby, Shadow Mountain Lake, and finally to Grand Lake.
 
Grand Lake is Colorado’s largest and deepest natural lake, and part of the Colorado River headwaters. It is 265 feet deep which also means the water never gets particularly “warm.” Not surprisingly, that doesn’t usually deter the kids from getting wet!
 
We stayed at a place we found on Home Away that was right in town on Grand Avenue and had views of the lake. We chose an in-town location so we could easily walk the western boardwalk, Grand Avenue, that boasts more than 60 shops, restaurants, bars, and galleries.
 
Things to Do:
Though Grand Lake does offer year-round recreation, we only experienced some of the summer activities. The best summer activities include hiking, biking, boating, sailing, and fishing. In winter, Grand Lake is known as the “Snowmobiling Capital of Colorado.” Here are a few ideas:

• Headwaters Marina- The Marina offers scenic boat tours and boat rentals (pontoon boats, pedal boats, and Crestliners). We did the scenic lake tour which was interesting and really was more of a home tour via boat. There are some pretty spectacular lakefront homes that you can only see by boat.
• Swimming- While the water is cold, there is a public beach that offers sand and a roped off area for swimming.
• Rocky Mountain National Park- The Western entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park borders Grand Lake. We did not go in to the park on this visit.

 
Places to Eat:
We were pleasantly surprised at the variety of food options available. Here are some places we enjoyed:

• Miyauchi Snack Bar- Located right near the public beach, Miyauchi offers ice cream, burgers, and other fast food. The line can get long, but it’s worth the wait.
• Rapids Restaurant- The Rapids Restaurant is located right next to the Tonahutu River so you can experience beautiful and scenic views while you eat. This was the fanciest place we ate at, though every place seems to be mountain casual. The food was delicious. We sampled the pork chops, filet, and rib eye.
• Sagebrush BBQ and Grill- We ate early here but the Sagebrush is open late, has a bar, and seemed to have live music most nights. The BBQ ribs were great. It was very kid-friendly and we all enjoyed eating peanuts and throwing the shells on the floor, as instructed.

 
Places to Stay:
There are many different lodging options available including cabins, camping, private homes, and resorts to fit all different budgets. Here are a few ideas:

• Grand Lake Lodge- www.grandlakelodge.com 70 Cabins located in Rocky Mountain National Park, Mountain and Lake views, pool, Open May-October, on the National Register for Historic Places.
• The Historic Rapids Lodge and Restaurant- www.rapidslodge.com
• Grand Mountain Rentals- www.grandmountainrentals.com
• To rent private homes-See www.homeaway.com www.vrbo.com or www.airbandb.com

 
This mini vacation was well worth it. Being in land locked Colorado, I often forget how rejuvenating and calming looking at large bodies of water can be. Life here really is Grand…
 
For more information, visit:
www.townofgrandlake.com

This article was written by Kristin Kleimann and will be appearing in a future issue of Life in the Park magazine.