Colorado

Hope you will enjoy your trip. I just visited my great grandbaby in Union WA, they have a great place, lovely view of Olympia Mts and Hood Canal. It rained 3 straight days, something we're not used to in Boulder, but we had fun.
It should not be crowded on those dates as most of the CU students leave (about 25,000 of them) so it will be easy to get around (except coming from Monument and Denver.) All of the hotels listed online downtown and close to CU are ok and about the same price. (Marriot, Best West, Millenial Except the historic Boulderado and the St. Julien which are expensive. We have a few 5-star restaurants, some on the Pearl Street Mall, and Flagstaff which are great and pricey. But many at good prices. Our other "mall" is 29th st. and it has some decent ones; if you like ethnic food or vegan, many of those. There is good parking at both malls, Pearl St from 9th st to 18th is our favorite walking area, has a good bookstore and will be pretty at Christmas. You might be interested in a cottage at our historic Chautauqua Park, about 2 miles from center of town. Wonderful music and theater in the summer and fall but Christmas music at the churches and CU is over by those dates. Lots of hiking and biking trails all around; we've had a beautiful fall but the weather can and does change within a few hours.

If the weather is still good the best place to go is Rocky Mt. Natl. Park; Trail Ridge will be closed by then so that you can't get to the western slope that way, but it's still beautiful in the winter in the park. Estes Park and the Stanley Hotel ("the Shining&quot are fun to see too. But it's a good day's trip and your mountains are pretty spectacular and you will see some more going home. You are fortunate to have both ocean and mountains. I hope you'll come back in the summer or fall while your daughter is here. CO Springs and Pikes Peak are fun to visit too and I hope they enjoy CO. Good place and good people.