Make Parent's Weekend Travel PLans ASAP

usafamom
Fri, 18 Jan 2008 01:36:22 +0000

Freshman year (2004) we stayed at the Cheyenne Mt. Resort, they frequently give special rates for military. It was far enough from the Academy that our cadet felt that he was getting away. The down side of that is that it is about 20-30 mins to get to the Academy grounds. We bought his printer on Friday night after the squadron open house and were able to avoid some of the crowds later that weekend at Best Buy. There was a football game which started at 10:00 AM so our cadet had to be back at the Academy at 7:00AM, hopefully that won’t happen this year. My advise is not to plan too much for your cadet. Our son wanted to go to the movies, eat about five times a day, play golf and sleep. We had dinner the first night with a family from our state which worked out very well because we learned so much from the two cadets talking about their experiences. I’m sure we wouldn’t have heard nearly as many stories if we had just had dinner with our cadet. Don’t be surprised if your cadet doesn’t want to give you the grand tour–we didn’t get the tour of Jack’s Valley until his Junior year.
We have always come in on Thursday and returned home on Tuesday. It makes for a much more relaxed day on Monday and allows you to spend the entire day with your cadet without having to deal with the stress of checking out of the hotel and trying to get to the airport. Don’t be surprised if your cadet gets quiet on the last day of the weekend. Make sure you have lots of tissues with you, it is gutwrenching for parents when you have to take them back. It gets easier each year as you see them settling in and progressing at the academy.

In subsequent years we have stayed at the Residence Inn at Interquest pkwy. It is right across I25 from the Academy Air field and very convenient to both the North and Sought gates. There is also a Hampton Inn across the street there. Our son is on the Wings of Blue Parachute team, so it is very convenient for us to watch him and for him to get back and forth from the air field to the hotel. They have studio, 1 and 2 bedroom units. They raise the rates for Parents Weekend, but each unit has a full kitchen and they have a hot buffet breakfast every day. The kitchen is great since your Doolie may not want to go out since they have to be in uniform whenever they are out in public.

Downtown Denver is also a great place to stay over Labor Day weekend. Most of the hotels have special weekend rates and the 16th St Mall and Lodo are very walkable with lots of great restaurants. There is also a festival with a taste of Denver near the 16th st Mall. If your cadet wants to try skiing there is a huge warehouse ski sale called the Sniagrab (bargains spelled backwards) where you can get great bargains on last seasons equipment. We were abel to outfit our cadet for about 1/3 the regular cost of equipment.