In the summer of 1995, we visited Colorado. It took 16 hours to drive from Chicago to Denver, where we started our driving loop around the state.
When we arrived, we spent the first 2 days in the Denver area. We went on the Coor's Brewery tour in Golden, shopping in Boulder, and checked out the Red Rocks Theater.
But we didn't go to Colorado to see the city, we have enough of that back home in Chicago. The third day we drove up to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park. This was the first experience I have ever had high in the Rocky Mountains. The drive through the park on Trail Ridge Road was beautiful. Make sure you get there early because the crowds can cause a traffic jam up there. But it beats sitting on the Kennedy anyday. If you plan on camping, I would recommend finding a campsite before you do anything else. They are taken on a first come basis. We ended up camping on the side of a hill outside the west side of the park in Grand Lake, where we camped alongside a biker from Seattle.
After sleeping through a rainstorm all night, the next day we quickly made our way back into the park and staked out a good campsite at the Timber Creek camping area. After we settled in, we went hiking. A short walk from the campground we passed over a 10 foot wide stream that was the beginnings of the Colorado River. While hiking all day, we saw beautiful waterfalls and a moose. Camping that night, we had a couple on one side of us that came up from Denver that in an old VW bus, and on the other side we had a father and two kids that also came from Denver in their Range Rover. The couple in the VW was on a 'date'. It must be nice to live somewhere where you can just hop in the car and get lost in the mountains within no time.
The next morning we woke up cold and without a shower and they were forecasting rain for the entire day. So we packed up the car and moved on. We drove much of the day, winding through the mountains heading west. We had lunch in Breckenridge at the Breckenridge Micro-Brewery, then shopped a little. We drove another few hours and finally stopped in a town called Glenwood Springs, not far from Aspen. We were in the middle of nowhere, there wasn't anywhere to camp and almost all the hotels were almost full. But we did get a room, and a shower for the first time in 3 days.
The next day was mostly spent viewing Colorado's beautiful scenery from the car. We made it Aspen in an hour or two and walked around town. My wife wanted to find Cher's house, but it's not like you can just open the phone book and find her address. So we walked around the town and visited it's many stores. There were are few that were pretty pricey for the average person, but it was fun to check out. We had lunch at a mexican restaurant and got in the car and started back towards Colorado Springs. Instead of going back to the main highway though, we took the back roads going over Independence Pass. The roads are narrow and cliffs steep, but the view was unbelievable. This is true Colorado mountain "back country" at it's best.
When we finally arrived in Colorado Springs, we set up camp near Pike's Peak at one of the state parks. It was a lot warmer down near Colorado Springs, and there were more bugs. There was so much to do down here, it took us 3 days. First we visited Cripple Creek's casinos and rode the Victor narrow guage railroad. Cripple Creek is a cool town where you can really feel the history of the old west. Next, we did the 19 mile drive up Pike's Peak. Very fun, but not as picturesque as Rocky Mountain National Park. Make sure you have enough gas and don't ride your brakes. The tour of the USA Olympic training facility was very fun, but we didn't get to see any stars. Garden of the Gods was very peaceful. I wish I lived close to here so I could ride my bike or takes walks through the park. The Air Force Academy was our last stop. Another excellent tour. Across the street, we were able to watch some of the planes do some maneveurs overhead.
Looking back, this trip to Colorado was one of the most memorable trips I've ever been on. It was my first time on an extended camping trip. My first time west of St. Louis. And my first unplanned adventure. When we started this trip, the only thing that was planned was the hotel reservations for the first 2 nights in Denver. After that point, we were free to go anywhere and do anything. It was fun and exhilarating, something everyone should try at least once, if not often.
Seeing that the trip tickets were for the first weekend in February, snow country was our destination. Julie had never been skiing, didn't really want go, but said she would try it out. After doing some research, Winter Park was where decided to go since it was one of the closer ski areas to Denver. I found a condo to stay in, rented a car and we were set.
We arrived in the new Denver area and were amazed to find the temperature outside nearing 70 degrees. Much warmer than Chicago. This can't be right. Where's the snow? We stopped at a local grocery store in Lakeland to stock up and to buy some ski lift tickets (they're cheaper in town than at the slopes). We stopped in Golden for lunch and headed up into the mountains. When we arrived in Winter Park, I was still a little underwhelmed by the snow. I had always heard about the huge snowfalls up here. 200+ inches a year I was told. There wasn't much of a base. Seems they were going thru a bit of a heat/dry spell. No worry, there was still enough to ski on.
I won't go into much of the details about the skiing, except to say that Julie did not enjoy herself. The second day in Winter Park, I met up with Lloyd, a friend from Chicago who had transplanted to Denver several years earlier. I worked with Lloyd at Discover Card where he sat right across the hall from me. I remember talking about finding a job at MCI in Colorado Springs or somewhere else in Colorado. Well Lloyd actually made the move that we had talked about and now here he was, enjoying the outdoor life that Colorado offered. We met up on the ski slopes and we had dinner later that night. There was a fun little mexican restaurant right off the main road in town. I think it was called La Taqueria. There we drank Blue Margaritas and ate mexican food while sitting next to the fireplace. It was a neat little place that I would recommend to all who visit Winter Park.
The next day we went snowmobiling and tubing. This day was a blast! Julie loved the snowmobiling. We took a route that went into the Arapahoe National Forest and up to one of the peaks. From there we had a breathtaking view of all around us. Our guide was a guy from Australia who had been traveling around the globe taking ad hoc jobs to pay the bills. He was in London for the summer, and heard about the jobs in Colorado during the winter, and somehow found his way there. Really nice guy too. Next , I was really excited about the tubing and oh man did it live up to it's hype. The hill rented large inflatable tire/tubes and had a rope pull to pull you up from the bottom of the hill. After cruising down the hill, you have to make a long walk in deep snow back to the rope, lay down on your tube, grab a handle on the rope when it comes by, and hold on for dear life. The rope pull was exhausting so be prepared. But otherwise, the tubing was just a blast!
On our last day in town, we woke up to snow. In fact, it snowed the whole day. This was what I was expecting. There was fresh, new white stuff all around us. But we had to get down to Denver and hop on a plane home. Too bad. Our flight wasn't until later in the evening so we drove down around noon and stopped in Boulder for lunch so we could relive some more of our memories from our first trip out here. Three days and lots of fun!
I have since been to Denver several more times. Once I visited for the weekend with the wife and kids. We pretty much just revisited some of our favorite sites while our 3 and 5 yr old girls just complained in the backseat. Still had a nice time.
Returned again to see a Chicago Bears vs Denver Broncos football game at Invesco Field. I flew with a friend from work, Ron. We flew out in the morning sitting in business class drinking Bloody Mary's. Saw ex-NFLer Mark Schlereth in the airport and then cabbed to the stadium. Weather for the day was near 1 degree but we tailgated and had a blast at the game. We came home later that evening.
Following are links to many of the places we have visited, as well as a few others we would like to see on future visits to Colorado.
Mike's Virtual Vacation Colorado Web Page - www.geocities.com/mike_knott/colorado.htm
email your comments to me at: mike_knott@yahoo.com
