Road Trip To CO: Camping, Keto, and Coping With Altitude Sickness. This post will cover the pros and cons, the tips and tricks, and the ups and downs of roading tripping across the across. I talk about camping in Lakewood, CO, eating keto on the road, and coping with altitude sickness in humans and dogs alike.  We had an epic week, check it out!

Our Road Trip To CO: Camping, Keto, and Coping With Altitude Sickness. Kieran and I recently drove cross country to go camping in Lakewood, Colorado with my sister, her adorable family, and her best friend, Wendy. It’s the first time Kieran and I have taken a week-long vacation in years. We loaded up our car, with our dog Homie, and hit the road with grand expectations of adventure.

The drive from home to Lakewood, CO was approx 18 hours but that didn’t include gas or pit stops. We decided Huntsville, UT would be a great stopping point for the first leg of the trip. Especially since I found the coolest Airbnb in the quaint little town. Check this out, we stayed in a mini dome! Our hosts were hilarious and a tremendous joy to be around. We stayed two nights in order to have a day off from driving. We took advantage of our day off with dog park and pub hopping in Salt Lake City.

If you’re passing through Huntsville, I encourage you to stay at the dome, especially if you’re a stargazer. The view from the dome is almost too spectacular for words. On our last night, we sat by the chiminea clay fireplace while taking in copious amounts of rum, the view, the stars, and entertaining conversation with our hosts. Ooooh, I almost forgot to tell you. If you stay in Huntsville, check out the Shooting Star Saloon! It’s the oldest bar in Utah! In fact, we were told it’s the oldest bar this side of the Mississippi! True confession time – I’m not sure if that’s true, but it sounds good.

The following morning was no rest for the weary, we arose early, too early, and tackled the remaining 8 hours of driving before reaching our final destination.

Alright, let’s get into the nitty-gritty: Road Trip To CO: Camping, Keto, and Coping With Altitude Sickness.

Check out the video of our adventure:

Road Trip To CO: Camping

We camped at Bear Creek Lake Park which is situated on the southwest side of Lakewood, CO approx 30 minutes from Denver. Bear Creek’s emphasis seems to be family-friendly, camper style camping. Kieran and I prefer primitive tent camping although we’ll camp just about anywhere to be outdoors.

If you’re camping at Bear Creek, this is what you can expect:

PROS

Location
The campground is conveniently located, in fact, it’s located IN town. You can see a Home Depot building looming in the background. You don’t have to drive far to get groceries, get to Denver, the Red Rocks Amphitheater, or the mountains.

Kid-friendly
Bear Creek is an amazing campground for kids. Kids have access to activities like horseback riding, archery, swimming, fishing, hiking, and playgrounds.

Trails
Bear Creek campground offers numerous miles of trails both hikers and bicyclist can explore. We enjoyed hiking with Homie as the sun rose.

CONS

Location
You can see a Home Depot building looming in the background. The light pollution from Lakewood doesn’t allow for stargazing.

Bear Creek Doesn’t Cater To Tent Campers
Tent campers must sleep on gravel. Kieran and I own self-inflatable camping pads that helped buffer the hard, rocky ground but it wasn’t enough to ensure a comfortable sleep. I woke up sore every morning.

No Trees
The campground is a wide open property with little to no trees near the campsites. If you get caught in 90-degree heat during your stay, you’ll be uncomfortable unless you bring your own source of shade.

Overall, Bear Creek Lake Park was a pleasant experience. The staff was friendly, the showers were refreshing, and the camping amenities got the job done. However, since Kieran and I prefer primitive camping we wouldn’t go back unless we were camping with little kids.

If you have any questions about this campsite leave a comment below!

Road Trip To CO: Keto

Kieran and I designated our week in Colorado as cheat week but we didn’t fly off the handles. We made keto friendly choices in any situation we could control, with a couple of exceptions, like beer. Because beer.

The hardest part of maintaining keto on vacation was America’s lack of healthy food choices on the road. Sure, you could order a fast food sandwich without the bread but leafy greens are nowhere in existence. The drive to Colorado took us approx 18 hours which we broke up into a couple of days, there and back. The way to Colorado was easier on the diet because I loaded the car with keto friendly snacks like macadamia nuts, cubed cheese, bacon, and hard-boiled eggs.

We cooked the majority of our breakfasts and dinners at camp which allowed me to interject leafy greens back into our diet. I cooked up brats and veggies (recipe coming soon), steak fajita caesar salad, and Wendy surprised us one night with a campfire foil packet consisting of chicken, asparagus, and broccoli.

Kieran and I made a tentative plan on when and what types of situations we would cheat, but we didn’t beat ourselves up if we failed. We enjoyed our week off but still made keto friendly choices whenever we could. Did we splurge? Hells to the yes- kids, is that a cool saying? Help this old fogie out. I indulged in one S’more, split an ice cream sandwich, and mouth plowed an Italian beef sandwich with bread. Annnnd I downed some beer. Okay, I’ll quit lying, a generous amount of beer.

On the drive home, we ran out of snacks so we found ourselves eating at fast food joints a lot. We took advantage of intermittent fasting eating breakfast, skipping lunch, then eating dinner. We both found it easy to fast while driving since we weren’t burning an abundance of calories.

Here are my tips for eating keto on a road trip. Pack keto friendly snacks, make keto friendly choices when you can, and don’t stress about cheating. Because beer. Live your life and have a good time because keto will be waiting for you when you get home. Kieran and I are back on the diet and I’m happy to say it was effortless to get back into the keto swing of things!

If you have any questions about keto on the road, leave a comment below!

Road Trip To CO: Coping With Altitude Sickness

We traveled to Denver armed with information on altitude sickness. I expected we’d experience symptoms like lightheadedness, shortness of breath, and dehydration which all turned out to be true. We took precautions by drinking water and limiting our exercise until we were acclimated. Anytime we felt winded we’d slow down and take our time.

Once acclimated we planned our excursions into the mountains in small increments. We knew the last day of our trip would be spent driving to Mt. Evans which towers at 14,265 feet. The day before Mt. Evans, we drove 7,000 feet to reach Mt. Lookout. Each day we drove a little higher to ensure we’d be ready for Mt. Evans.

The day we drove up to Mt. Evans we stopped at almost every rest stop to ensure everyone in the family was feeling OK. Kieran was getting dizzy behind the wheel so Wendy offered to drive our car the remainder of the way. This scenario ended up being perfect because Wendy loves to drive and Kieran could focus on the view and help me film.

Now that Kieran and I had altitude sickness under control, I was able to focus on Homie. Dogs can experience altitude sickness too. I read some articles about dog altitude sickness before our trip so I kept a watchful eye on Homie to ensure she was OK.

In a nutshell, be mindful if your dog tires easily, pants excessively, is less interested in food, and/or is vomiting. These are signs your furbaby may not be feeling well and you should move to a lower elevation. Every article I read emphasized the importance of proper hydration so be sure you give your pet ample water.

Homie is a picky eater when we camp/travel so it was difficult for me to determine if she was exhibiting signs of altitude sickness or just being her normal, picky self on this trip. She refused her kibble, even though it was mixed with raw food. One trick I learned is to buy canned wet food for these occasions. Our pets don’t know how to regulate hydration so the wet food added additional, much needed, moisture to her diet. Homie ignored her kibble the majority of the trip but she devoured the wet food. Now that we’re home, Homie is back on her regular food schedule and I couldn’t be happier!

I recommend doing your own research or consulting your vet before you vacation or hike high altitudes with your pet. If you have any questions about altitude sickness, leave a comment below!

Road Trip To CO: Camping, Keto, and Coping With Altitude Sickness.

The following morning we rose with the sun, finished packing our car, and hit the road for home. On the way to Colorado, we broke the drive into 3 days, however, at this point, we just wanted to get home so we broke the drive into 2. To stave off boredom we listened to podcasts, music, and audiobook Ready Player One.

Ready Player One was our favorite, it made the trip home extra engaging and entertaining. The book takes place in a dystopian setting where people log into a virtual reality called The Oasis. The creator of The Oasis dies and hides clues to an easter egg within the VR. The first person to find the easter egg would inherit the creator’s fortune (worth trillions) and ultimate control over The Oasis. This sets forth a competition between some nerdy kids and an evil corporation who will stop at nothing to win.

For me, the best part about Ready Player One was it’s homage to 80’s video games. The creator of The Oasis was an 80’s memorabilia fanatic, so in order to find the easter egg one needed to be well versed in 80’s genre. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the book while reminiscing about the games, movies, and music I grew up with.

Anytime we stopped for gas we’d hurry back into the car to find out what happened next. We arrived home before the book ended so we parked our butts on the couch and finished the book in its entirety. The ending was a bit cheesy but overall it was a fun ride.

I’m so grateful Kieran, Homie, and I got to spend a quality week on vacation together. Spending time with my sister, the Airbnb, camping, and visiting Red Rocks and Mt. Evans was certainly the highlights for me. Oh yeah! I even had the opportunity to meet Milena from the blog Craft Beering and listen to her talk about all things blog and beer!

Whelp, you know the drill, that’s a wrap on this week’s post, Road Trip To CO: Camping, Keto, and Coping With Altitude Sickness. I’m excited to be back home so I can bunker down and focus on upcoming Shock Munch posts. Milena gave me some good pointers so I’m hoping to master what I recently learned. If you made it this far, THANK YOU for reading and/or watching the video about our trip to Colorado. I hope you have a great weekend and I’ll see you next week!

Thank you for being apart of the Shock Munch community, I appreciate you!

Sincerely,
Christina

Where do you like to camp in Colorado? Are there any campsites in the PNW you think me and Kieran would enjoy? Please let me know by leaving a comment below! If you like our recipes, hiking adventures, and projects you can follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, and/or Instagram!

You can also visit my YouTube channel! If you like the video please give it a thumbs up and subscribe for more content!

Want to add this to your adventure list? Pin it for later!