Budget Kid-friendly short snow trip Dec 09

[riley2008]

My boys want to see snow. DH doesn't care - he's a scuba diving beach loving kidda person.

We have $350 SWA credits to be used by February. I would like to take the boys to "see" snow. It doesn't have to be skiing or anything sport related (I don't really want to invest in snow bibs and such).

I'm at a loss for ideas.

Suggestions?

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

The part that is tough is guaranteed snow. I think you will have to book your trip closer to travel time based on the forecasts for the area. You just never know.


We got "lucky" after a very sad event. My husband's grandfather died and we went to Michigan for his burial. His funeral was on Valentine's day and they had great snowfall on that very day. My children were happy with that.

The snow from a prior fall had melted to a few dirty patches and dirty "mountains" of shoveled snow.

You just never know what the weather will plan.

 

[chyam]

Your best bet from Texas would probably be into Denver, then it is a 70 mile trip into the mtns. Once you go through the Eisenhower tunnel you should have no problem finding areas with snowfall.......But I wouldn't go until at least January. I really don't know where SW flies there but there are also other areas such as Durango which you could fly into and then head up towards Silverton.

 

[ontariomonkey]

Hi! I don't know what snow bibs are, but you will definitely want to kit out your boys as I am sure they will want to role around in the snow. Snow gets everywhere when you play in it and your clothes get soaked before you know it, then you are freezing. So they will need a coat and hat and scarf and gloves (waterproof), and snow pants and boots. I'm guessing that in Texas, you don't use any of that stuff. If I were you, I would consider buying it at second hand stores or Walmart once you are up there and then giving it to charity if you think it won't get used again, save on baggage.

Have a great trip, I personally do whatever I can to escape the snow each year.

 

[DisneyFan32WI]

How about this........since I DON'T want to see snow this winter, you can come live in my house, and I can come live in your house!

It will be a house swap.

 

[jsmith]

i dont know where you are in texas-but southwest flys into both denver and albequerque-while snow in either of those two places is iffy-there is almost always snow in the angelfire nm area and in the colorado high country-i disagree with the poster who said wait til january-while there will probably be more snow in january ski season starts in november-and if you really want to see alot of snow march is the month you want to come-its our snowiest month-especially on the front range. we have had a very wet summer-that can either forbode a dry winter -or feets and feets of snow-just watch the weather channel and keep track of whats going on up here.
Also i dont know where in texas you are-but this summer i got 120/pp roundtrips from denver to austin on frontier. In fact i have NEVER seen south west be the best value in and out of denver unless you are going to salt lake-frontier is usually much cheaper and united frequently is as well.

 

[riley2008]

Your best bet from Texas would probably be into Denver, then it is a 70 mile trip into the mtns. Once you go through the Eisenhower tunnel you should have no problem finding areas with snowfall.......But I wouldn't go until at least January. I really don't know where SW flies there but there are also other areas such as Durango which you could fly into and then head up towards Silverton.

Colorado may be my best bet. I've been to Denver and to Winter Park area, so that may be our best bet. I definitely watch the weather and book a few weeks out.

I'm now thinking maybe a late January, early February long weekend.

Thanks!

 

[riley2008]

How about this........since I DON'T want to see snow this winter, you can come live in my house, and I can come live in your house!

It will be a house swap.

Sounds like a plan! We've actually seriously considered this once with a family from NewYork that we met. Now that would be a budget trip!

 

[riley2008]

i dont know where you are in texas-but southwest flys into both denver and albequerque-while snow in either of those two places is iffy-there is almost always snow in the angelfire nm area and in the colorado high country-i disagree with the poster who said wait til january-while there will probably be more snow in january ski season starts in november-and if you really want to see alot of snow march is the month you want to come-its our snowiest month-especially on the front range. we have had a very wet summer-that can either forbode a dry winter -or feets and feets of snow-just watch the weather channel and keep track of whats going on up here.
Also i dont know where in texas you are-but this summer i got 120/pp roundtrips from denver to austin on frontier. In fact i have NEVER seen south west be the best value in and out of denver unless you are going to salt lake-frontier is usually much cheaper and united frequently is as well.

Thanks for the information! I'll watch the prices. I'd like to use up our SWA credits, since it's gotten so hard to get rid of them, but if it's still cheaper on another airline, I'll definitely consider that. (We're about 2 hours from Austin, Houston, SanAntonio and Corpus Christi - so I do get to shop a bit for prices) Thanks.

Also, I didn't know that March could be a snowy month too. Hmmmm.... maybe a spring break trip in the future. Looks like I'll keep an eye on the weather channel and airline fares.

 

[Disneylush]

You could always come up to minne-snow-ta (Minnesota)

If your kids really just want to "see" snow and not play in it this would be the perfect place. You could go to the Mall of America which also has a hotel with an indoor water park, underwater adventures (an underwater a fish tank thinger), Nick Universe (indoor amusement park)

southwest flys here too...just another thought

 

[KennedyMcKenna]

Someone else mentioned Michigan, although not in such a great circumstance, I'm sorry to hear about your family death. However, Michigan is Winter Wonderland, and as we are a large tourism state and currently in an economic crisis, there are cheap hotels and fun to be had everywhere. I would be happy to provide any ideas or suggestions if you decided on the good old mitten state!