Your Life. Designed.
Sometimes the Best Plans Aren’t Plans at All
There is a stretch of late summer on the Front Range that always feels a little transitional.
The days are still hot. School supplies are starting to show up everywhere. Calendars begin filling back in. Families start talking about routines again, even though part of us still wants one more Saturday that feels open, unstructured, and unrushed.
And maybe that is exactly the opportunity.
So much of life asks us to plan. We plan careers, college, retirement, cash flow, taxes, insurance, vacations, estate documents, and the next thing on the calendar. Planning matters. I believe deeply in thoughtful preparation, because it gives people more confidence, more flexibility, and more room to make good decisions.
But not everything meaningful needs to be planned down to the minute or the dollar.
Some of the best experiences are smaller than that. A gentle walk. A weird little arcade. A canyon drive. A quiet lake. A place you’ve passed for years and never actually made time to visit.
Those moments matter, too.
Because the goal isn’t just to build wealth.
It’s to build a life worth using it for.
🧭 The Value of an Uncomplicated Day
I think we sometimes overcomplicate pleasure.
A trip has to involve flights.
A memory has to involve reservations.
A good day has to be optimized before it counts.
But some of the most meaningful experiences available to us are surprisingly close to home. They don’t require a major budget, a perfect itinerary, or a week away from work. They simply require deciding to go.
That kind of day can create space for things we often say we want more of: better conversations, quiet moments, time with people we care about, or even just a great car ride where no one is trying to multitask.
Here are a few Front Range places worth keeping in mind as summer starts to wind down. Not because they are the biggest attractions. Not because they need to be checked off a list. But because each one offers a different kind of pause.
🌿For Quiet: Mother Cabrini Shrine Meditation Walk
Most people have seen the statue from I-70. Fewer have actually stopped.
The Meditation Walk at Mother Cabrini Shrine is outside, high above the city, with a gentle path, benches, and places to pause along the way. The Shrine’s grounds include a Meditation Walk, gardens, a grotto, and a path leading toward the Sacred Heart Statue, according to Mother Cabrini Shrine’s visitor information.
But the reason to go is simpler than any formal description.
It gives you room to be quiet for a little while.
You don’t have to make it a big spiritual outing. You don’t have to rush. You can walk, sit, take in the view, and let the day slow down.
Sometimes that is exactly what you need.
⛪ For Perspective: St. Malo Chapel on the Rock near Allenspark
There are places that don’t ask much of you. They simply invite you to stop.
St. Malo Chapel on the Rock, officially known as Saint Catherine of Siena Chapel, sits near Allenspark on the grounds of Camp St. Malo. It is a functioning Catholic chapel and public landmark built on a rock formation, and Boulder County has designated it as a historic landmark.
But you don’t have to know all of that to appreciate the place.
It is small, striking, and easy to pass by if you are focused only on getting somewhere else. That may be exactly why it belongs on this list.
You don’t need to make it an all-day outing. You can stop, walk the grounds, take in the setting, and let the quiet do what quiet does.
Sometimes perspective doesn’t arrive because we went far away. Sometimes it arrives because we finally pulled over.
🌲 For Clearing Your Head: Helen Hunt Falls & North Cheyenne Cañon
Colorado Springs has plenty of big-name attractions, but North Cheyenne Cañon feels like the better fit for this kind of day.
The City of Colorado Springs describes North Cheyenne Cañon Park as a 1,600-acre park on the southwest side of the city, cut 1,000 feet deep into ancient granite rock, with North Cheyenne Creek running through the canyon floor. Visitors can drive, hike, and bike from the canyon entrance up to Helen Hunt Falls, and the road continues beyond the falls toward Gold Camp Road.
That is exactly the kind of experience I’d rather point people toward: not the most obvious stop, not the most crowded photo op, but a place where the drive itself can become part of the day.
You can make it active if you want. You can hike, explore, or linger near the falls. But you can also simply drive deeper into the canyon, roll the windows down, and let the city fall away for a bit.
Not every outing needs a target.
Sometimes “let’s go see where the road takes us” is enough.
🎠 For Laughter: Manitou Springs Penny Arcade
This one is hard not to love.
The Manitou Springs Penny Arcade has been part of downtown Manitou Springs for more than 92 years and includes more than 500 arcade machines and kiddie rides across several historic buildings, according to Visit Manitou Springs. Colorado.com describes it as a “magical time capsule” of arcade games, skeeball, outdoor rides, and more.
The point is not that arcade games are profound.
The point is that laughter is.
There is something disarming about watching adults play the same games they played when they were young, or seeing kids discover that entertainment doesn’t always need to be new, expensive, or perfectly polished. It’s nostalgic without trying too hard. It’s simple without being boring.
And compared with many family outings, it’s refreshingly easy.
A handful of quarters. A little time. A lot of laughing at yourself.
That counts.
🏜️ For Surprise: Paint Mines Interpretive Park in Calhan
Paint Mines Interpretive Park is one of those places that makes people say, “Wait, this is Colorado?”
El Paso County describes the park as one of its most unique open spaces, located near Calhan, with approximately 750 acres, four miles of trails, interpretive signage, and geological formations including spires and hoodoos. The colorful clays were historically collected by American Indians to make paint, and the park contains evidence of human life dating back as far as 9,000 years.
This is not the usual Front Range mountain-and-pine-tree afternoon. It is open, colorful, strange, and completely different from what many people expect Colorado to look like.
It is also a good reminder that familiarity can make us lazy. We think we know where we live, and then a place like this shows us we’ve barely scratched the surface.
A practical note: this is a fragile protected landscape. El Paso County’s rules prohibit pets, horses, bicycles, drones, climbing on formations, entering the formations, or removing rocks, plants, wildlife, minerals, or artifacts.
That’s part of the lesson, too.
Some places aren’t there for us to conquer. They’re there for us to notice.
🎨 For Wandering: Benson Sculpture Garden in Loveland
If the day needs something quieter but still interesting, Benson Sculpture Garden is easy to underestimate.
The Loveland High Plains Arts Council says Benson Sculpture Garden has showcased sculpture since 1985 and currently includes 188 permanent pieces on display. The garden covers 10 acres, includes accessible sidewalks, a public restroom, and picnic areas, and generally has no admission fee except during the weekend of the annual Sculpture in the Park show.
That is the kind of place where you do not need much of a plan.
You walk. You stop when something catches your attention. You talk about what you like, what you don’t understand, what makes you smile, and what makes absolutely no sense to you at all.
That may sound small.
But good conversation often starts when something interrupts the routine.
🌊For a Slower Kind of Beauty: Lily Lake near Estes Park
Lily Lake is not the kind of place you go to prove anything.
That is part of the appeal.
The National Park Service describes Lily Lake Trail as an easy 0.8-mile loop with views of Lily Lake and nearby peaks, including Longs Peak, Mount Meeker, and Twin Sisters. The area also has an observation pier and picnic tables near the trailhead.
In a state where recreation can sometimes feel oddly competitive — the harder hike, the earlier start, the bigger summit — Lily Lake offers something quieter.
A walk.
A view.
A bench.
A conversation.
Sometimes that is enough.
If you go, check current Rocky Mountain National Park access requirements before heading out. The National Park Service notes that a park entrance fee applies and that a Timed Entry reservation may be required depending on when you enter.
💬 The Conversations Are the Point
This is not really a list of attractions.
It is a reminder.
There are places close by that can create real conversation, quiet moments, shared memories, and perspective. Not every one of them will be life-changing. They don’t need to be.
A good day doesn’t have to become a milestone to matter.
It can be a walk with your spouse.
A drive with your dad.
An arcade afternoon with your kids.
A quiet hour by yourself before the calendar fills again.
These are the kinds of things people often say they want more of but rarely protect time for.
And that is where planning and life meet.
Because planning should not only be about protecting yourself from what could go wrong. It should also help create space for what can go right.
🌄 Use the Life You’re Building
One thing I’ve learned over the years is that people can be very thoughtful about preparing for the future, but far less intentional about using the present.
They are waiting until work settles down.
Until the kids are older.
Until retirement.
Until life feels less complicated.
But life rarely announces a perfect window.
Sometimes, you make one.
Not with a plane ticket.
Not with a spreadsheet.
Not with a perfectly timed itinerary.
Just with a Saturday morning, a little curiosity, and the willingness to go somewhere nearby that you’ve been meaning to try.
The goal isn’t just to build wealth.
It’s to build a life worth using it for.
Maybe this is a good weekend to start.