From the Belvedere Castle to a zoo, there is a lot for tourists and locals to enjoy in Central Park, but for us there was only one priority – to see the statue of Balto,’The Bravest Dog Ever’.
Our interest in the famous Alaskan sled dog began early this school year when our daughter’s first grade teacher gave her a book about famous dogs. The story featured Balto and the incredible mission to save children in the small town of Nome, Alaska from an outbreak of diphtheria in 1925.
This story captured our daughter’s imagination and soon we were ordering other versions of the book including ‘The Bravest Dog Ever: The True Story of Balto (Step-Into-Reading)’Â and ‘Balto of the Blue Dawn (Magic Tree House: Merlin Missions Book 26)’. Through our Balto research, we discovered that there is a bronze statue of Balto in Central Park. Since we were planning a trip to New Jersey to visit family, we decided to find the statue in New York City on our Spring Break trip.
On a Sunday morning, we took a train from New Jersey to Penn Station in New York. We were a little nervous to use busy public transportation with our kids, but they did great. Here is a map of the NJ Transit Rail System. At Penn Station we were able to get on the Subway (Subway Map) to Central Park and the Museum of Natural History.
We attempted to re-create a picture we took during our first trip to New York, which was six years ago. I wrote about our experience visiting New York with a baby stroller here.
At last, we found Balto! You can find out more information about ‘one the most beloved monuments in the Park’ from the Central Park Conservancy.
Today I’m looking back at a hike we did last January at Devil’s Den State Park in Arkansas.
Yellow Rock
My husband and I were able to schedule a babysitter so that we could hike the Yellow Rock Trail (3 miles) and the Devil’s Den Self Guided Trail (1.5 miles) back-to-back.
Pairing these two hikes makes a great combination because you get the views from Yellow Rock and great waterfalls and caves/rock formations on the Devil’s Den Self-Guided Trail. In a short amount of time, you get a good taste of what makes Arkansas hiking so incredible.
January is typically cold in Arkansas, but when the sun is shining, winter is one of my favorite times to hike in the Natural State.
rock formations decorated with icicles.
Arkansas waterfalls
Melting icicles and snow led to more active water flow. We spotted extra waterfalls along the Self-Guided trail compared to when we hiked it during the hot summer months.
helpful links
On previous trips to Devil’s Den State park, we hiked the Yellow Rock trail with our kids which I wrote about here. We also hiked the Self-Guided Trail and wrote about that here.
Devil’s Den State Park website includes hours, directions, and additional trail information.
Hike-it-baby’s website reviews the Yellow Rock trail and gives great pointers about hiking with children and pets on this trail.
A while back I shared six lessons we learned from buying and selling property in Estes Park, Colorado. I wanted to follow-up with the lessons we’ve learned from renting out our cabin. I’m going into a lot of detail in this post, but I hope that it is helpful for anyone who is considering buying a property in Estes Park with the idea of renting it out to offset costs or earn income. There are many ways to rent out your property, and I’m not an expert, but I hope you find this helpful.
Scheduling our vacation time
We live out-of-state, so we wanted to take advantage of the time we are away from our cabin by earning rental income. Our property has on-site management that takes care of all the details for us from booking to cleaning. This means we don’t always know when our cabin is booked, so we must communicate with the management company to understand availability. There have been several times that we haven’t reserved our preferred weekend in advance and the cabin was booked. The summer and fall weekends can fill up quickly in Estes Park.
balancing income vs. personal use
We are still trying to figure out the best balance between using the cabin for ourselves and earning income on the property. Some years the rental income covered the cost of owning the property (homeowner association dues, cleaning fees, utilities, insurance, property taxes, and basic repairs). It wouldn’t cover the cost of a mortgage or larger maintenance projects in one year. However, we have been able to save income over a few years’ time and use that money to upgrade the flooring.
The issue of balancing income is something we expected based on the trade-off of having a significant percentage taken out of rental income with the turnkey on-site management, as well as our own personal use of the condo during peak season nights. Obviously, if you pay for the cabin in cash or pay off the mortgage, there is less ongoing costs to factor into this equation. Blending personal usage with your investment property can also have unique tax implications, so be sure to keep good records and consult with a tax professional to keep things straight.
Repairs and projects
We were a little concerned that renting out our property would result in extra expenses related to heavier usage. We are grateful that our guests have treated our cabin with care. We had to fix our fold-out couch which was covered under warranty. There were a few other minor issues like a shower door getting off track and a leg of a stool that needed repair. Overall, we’ve had good luck so far.
We invested in our property by staining the outside. The stain will help protect the wood from harsh winter conditions and keep the cabin looking beautiful. This cost was in addition to our normal HOA fees.
In 2021, we upgraded our flooring. We chose LVP which we hope will last longer and be more durable. Having work done in a mountain town can be more expensive and difficult to schedule. We were happy with the service and quality we received from a local company, Park Flooring.
New Flooring
The pandemic has had a positive impact on bookings as more people want to get outside and can work remotely. Based on this usage, we are anticipating additional repairs and budgeting for them.
Cleaning service (pros and cons)
As owners we pay a cleaning fee each time our property is rented. We feel like this is a better value for our guests, compared to other vacation rentals that tack on extra booking and cleaning fees. We also pay a cleaning fee for our own visits so that the property is always up to a rent-ready standard. It’s nice to be able to leave without worrying about washing and drying all the bed linens. At our first Estes Park condo, we often spent half a day cleaning before we left town.
Manage Financials
We have found it helpful to keep a spreadsheet of expenses and a separate bank account for this property for tracking purposes. It’s also important to understand the insurance/liability that comes with owning a rental property. Condo insurance can be complicated. We have separate coverage for ‘walls-in’ while the structure is covered by the HOA’s policy. With that much riding on the HOA, it’s important to understand the financial condition of the association to avoid any surprise expenses or assessments.
Pets and personal items
Many renters prefer pet-free units for allergy concerns. We are technically allowed to bring pets as owners, but the management company doesn’t allow renters to bring pets. Therefore, to make our cabin marketable we don’t bring our dog along with us on our trips. This adds a significant expense to our vacations. Dog boarding costs up to $40 a day. We are okay with this trade-off because the National Park doesn’t allow dogs on trails and that’s where we typically hike. However there are a lot of dog-friendly hikes in the area, and if you love to bring your dog on adventures, this is something to think through as you consider the rental process.
We also don’t put up a lot of personal items such as family photographs. If we didn’t rent out our cabin, I would love to add more personal touches. We have an owner’s closet and put away some personal items, but for the most part the cabin is furnished in a mountain theme with renters in mind.
the best fit
When we bought our first condo in Estes Park, we were able to go nearly once a month, sometimes on a whim. At that time, we didn’t put our property in the rental program. Now that our girls are in elementary school and we live further away, it makes sense to rent it out despite the trade-offs. We feel lucky to be a part of a solid management group that has a great reputation with guests that return year after year. We also have amazing guests who treat our property with care. I’m not sure what we will do in the future, but right now renting out our property in Estes Park has been a great decision for our family.
My husband and I just got back from a romantic getaway in Estes Park, Colorado. We stayed at our cabin at Solitude Cabins where we enjoyed the warm fireplace, views of Longs Peak, and cozy kitchen where we cooked several of our meals.
restaurants in estes park
Besides eating at the cabin, we also enjoyed several meals at local restaurants. Himalayan Curry & Kebob’s spicy cuisine warmed us up as we looked out the window at falling snow. We also enjoyed a warm bowl of soup at Claire’s on the Park for a post-hike lunch.
We selected Bird & Jim’s for our anniversary dinner. Described as, ‘Modern mountain dining from an ingredient-driven kitchen’, dining at this restaurant has been on our Estes Park bucket-list for a long time. We opted to sit in the bar area where we sat on a blue velvety coach. The lounge furniture paired well with our smoked whiskey drinks and hummus appetizer. We enjoyed our meals of roast chicken and steak. The whole experience was perfect!
Our evening walk in downtown Estes Park felt like strolling through a scene in a classic Christmas movie with festive holiday lights and fresh snow.
To warm up from the frosty weather, we enjoyed sampling wine at Snowy Peaks Winery and drinking seasonal pints at our favorite Estes Park brewery, Rock Cut. We sipped Kind Coffee as we strolled down the Estes Park Riverwalk.
Snowshoeing in Rocky Mountain National Park
Estes Park is located near the East entrance of Rocky Mountain National Park. In the summer, this is a hikers dream-spot. In the winter months you can hike with traction, or snowshoe depending on trail conditions. When we arrived, the area had just received fresh snow, so we rented snowshoes from Estes Park Mountain Shop along with poles with snow baskets on them.
Winter is considered off-peak season in Rocky Mountain National Park, so there are no timed-entry permits to worry about. Finding a parking spot is quite a lot easier, although we were surprised to see a long line at the entrance around noon (holiday week).
Winter Hike to The Loch
We went on two snowshoeing excursions during our trip. The first day we attempted to make it to The Loch. We parked at the Glacier Gorge trailhead which is in the Bear Lake corridor. As we stepped out of the car, we were hit with brutal winds. The winds calmed down significantly once we got deeper into the woods. However, my gloves were no match for the 10-degree temperatures, so I was fairly miserable. I was proud of myself for making it past Alberta Falls to the North Longs Peak Trail junction before giving up when a blast of icy wind blew away our snowshoe tracks and scared me to go beyond that point. We gained about 800 feet of elevation and hiked 3.7 roundtrip.
There is a winter trail that we missed that skips Alberta Falls but offers a more direct route to The Loch.
shopping in downtown estes park
That afternoon, we enjoyed shopping in downtown Estes Park. We bought adorable Smokey the Bear beanies at Trendz boutique for our little girls. We also bought nice ski gloves for me at Hyk.
Winter Hike to Chasm Lake junction
Bolstered by my new glove purchase, we decided to attempt snowshoeing again the next morning. This time, we headed to the Longs Peak trailhead in hopes of hiking to the Chasm Lake trail junction. My husband enjoyed this hike last January which he wrote about here.
The winds were much more tolerable. I had moments where I felt warm as we gained 1,800 feet of elevation. This hike was beautiful in the snow. Some spots were challenging where the snow was deep.
Once we approached the tree line, a gush of what felt like hurricane-force wind came down the mountain and we immediately turned around. It was intense!
I enjoyed the hike back down because it was much easier than the way up and went pretty fast. Our total hike was 4.5 miles. I tried to take in the beauty of the forest in the snow while also looking forward to our awaiting seat-warmers.
Layer upon layer – What I Wore hiking in cold weather
pants: Under Armour cold-weather tights and hiking pants
shirt: base layer turtleneck, fleece, winter coat
feet: wool socks, waterproof hiking boots, snowshoes and poles with snow baskets
extras: sunscreen, sunglasses, beanie, neck gaiter, ski gloves, hiking backpack. *our pack’s straw froze, so pack a separate water bottle
COTREX – location tracker and digital topo maps that don’t require cell signal. Keep in mind that cell phones can freeze up in extremely cold temperatures. I found this article about how to prevent loss of use.
rocky mountain tot 