I'll be going with my family to Colorado in August. We'll be
staying at the YMCA of the Rockies in a cabin. I've never been
to Colorado, and would appreciate anybody's input on what to
be sure to do while we're there. And is there anything worth 
seeing along I-80 on the way?

16 responses total.

We drove out to Denver from Mich last June.  There were dozens of tourist
traps (e.g., "the sod house") along the way.  My wife wanted to stop at 
"Amana Farms" but was outvoted.  In one motel we found a book devoted to
sights found along I-80.  One suggestion for CO:  Even in late June it was
FREEZING COLD in parts of Rocky Mt. Natl Park.  Take your winter coats!

Climb a mountain. I like to look at "geology": if that might interest
you, get a copy of Roadside Geology of Colorado. Visit the Denver
Zoo. Where is the YMCA of the Rockies? 

        The YMCA of the Rockies is a family-type resort outside of
Estes Park right on the border of Rocky Mountain National Park.  We've
never been there, but have heard good reports and read favorable things
about it in various tourist books. We like the variety of things they 
offer to do since our kids are past the "doing everything with Mom and
Dad" stage. I'll be sure to report back.  And I appreciate the ideas.
        I've heard something about mountain train rides.  Does anyone
know anything about that?

One of my favorite places is the Indian Peaks Wilderness area.
It's about 30 miles south of  there. Take route 7 and route 72 south.
There is a National Forest Campground turnoff to the right, near "Ward".

The road goes 5 miles up to the campgrounds, but there's also a trailhead
and parking lot there. The hiking is specatacular. The trailhead is
at 10,500 feet. We hiked 4 miles horizontally and up 2000 feet to the
continental divide (Pawnee Pass) and back down. It took most of the
day, but our kids were young then.

You can really enjoy that area without going that far, too.
(Did I mention that I reaqlly like hiking?)
Bring stuff to drink on your hike.

If you make it into Denver, the Denver Mint is an interesting place to visit.
Coins everywhere!  If I remember correctly, they're not open every day of the
week, so you may want to call for times if you decide to go.

A little ways south of Denver, near Colorado Springs, is Pike's Peak and 
Garden of the Gods.  And at night I went to one of the most fantastic
outdoor laser light shows I ever saw.  The lights were beamed onto the side
of a canyon wall.  Music under the stars.  It was quite an impressive display.

West of Colorado Springs is the little old west "tourist" town of Cripple 
Creek.  I visited an old gold mine called the Molly Kathleen when I was
there.  Old, experienced miners with first hand experience conducted the 
tours.  The ride down the mine shaft itself was enough to convince me that
I didn't want their job, no matter how much gold was down there! 

xDthe Denver mint closes down for inventory in late June, I think.  Wouldn't
you know that was when we wanted to visit it.
We went to a "teaching mine" operated by the CO School of Mines.  It was a
good tour.  Can't remember the name of the town, though.  I think it was
west of Golden, CO. Then we ate at BOJO's pizzaria -- very interesting
place.

It's been a long time and I don't think we were in Denver for long.  It
was when I was about 12, I'd guess.  What I remember is that air poped
out of the shampoo bottle the first time I opened in in Denver and it
sucked back in when we got back to normal altitudes...

My clearest memories of that trip were the Grand Canyon and Old
Faithful. 

I see that you did the "Grand Tour". Did you have anyone to fight
with during the long rides between?

I remember the name of the teaching mine:  The Edgar Mine.  We stopped
there on our way to see the St. Mary's Glacier.  My whole family (incl.
2 teens) liked it.  We also were able to visit Alice, a ghost town,
which gave my son a real kick.

Yes, Rane, my brother is two and a half years younger.  But we don't fight
all that much.

I hope that you're still checking on this one, because today is your lucky 
day!  I just moved here from Colorado one month ago!  I lived by Boulder 
and also up in Fort Collins.  (FTC is about 50 miles N of Denver, and 40 
miles S of Cheyenne, WY.) The Y of the Rockies is just outside of Estes 
Park.  I've been there too often to count!  If you have any questions, 
feel free to e-mail me! 

The Y itself is pretty large.  They have some organized activities already 
set up like arts & crafts, hiking tours, and that kind of thing.  They 
also have a pool up there, baseball diamonds, and basketball courts. (And 
a small gift shop and restaurant.)  It's a lot of fun, but I'd imagine that 
you'd venture into town at some time, so I'll give you some info on that!

Estes Park is a small tourist community.  On the way to the Y, you'll have 
to go completely through Estes, so you'll get a chance to see what it has 
to offer for yourselves.  Right as you come into town on Highway 34, there'll 
be a horse stables (Sombrero Ranch(?) I think.  The name begins with an 'S' 
anyway.)  You could rent ponies for an afternoon.  There's also a bumper-
boats place on the lake to your left.  The main industry of Estes is 
tourism, so the main drag is filled with souvenier shops.  They do sell 
some very pretty jewelry up here!  You can get 'old west' pictures taken.  
(My sister gets this done every time that she's back in town.)  The best 
pizza is served at Bob & Tony's Pizza on Elkhorn Rd. (said main drag.  It's
actually Highways 34 & 36.)  My sister-in-law craved it both times when she 
was pregnant.  Thank God, they only lived 20 miles away!  There is also a 
putt-putt golf course, water slides, and ariel tram you could consider if 
you happened to be in town. 

Boulder might be a fun day-trip.  It's only about 35 miles away on Hwy 36.  
(Mork & Mindy lived here!)  I don't know if you have children or not, but 
they recently put a children's museum on the Diagonal (Hwy 119) just east 
of Boulder.  I heard that it was actually pretty good.  I was going to take 
my 5 yr old nephew to it, but the chance never came up before I left.  If 
you end up in Boulder, spend some time on the Pearl Street Mall.  (Prefer-
ably in the late evening or night.)  It's an outdoor mall and the shops 
there close around 6/7 pm, but you can catch all kinds of performers there 
at night!  They set themselves up in the doorways and on the street corners 
of the mall.  Some sing, some play instruments, we have even seen magicians 
and an acrobatic troup!!  Further south along Broadway, you'll get to CU and 
the Shops on the Hill.  (The University of Colorado)  Spend any time in 
this area and you'll witness that not only punk, but actual Hippies are not
dead.  The Hill area has a couple of record stores that are note-worthy.  

There's plenty to see in Denver.  The Museum of Natural History (complete 
with IMAX theater and Gates Planetarium), the Zoo (with a newly opened 
tropical exibit which includes pirhanas, boa constrictors, and other 
nasty things that I couldn't get my nephew to look at), the Denver Mint, 
the Art Museum (which is 6 levels of exhibits), 16th Street Mall (somewhat 
similar to Boulder's although not as good), the Museum of Colorado History, 
and the People's Fair is held downtown sometime in August.  That's a fair 
with all kinds of food and festivities from all of the different cultures 
in Colorado.  The Zoo and Museum of Natural History are open from 9-5, 7 
days a week, 365 days a year.  The M of NH has a Hall of Life which 
is interesting.  You get a card (similar to a credit card) for this one 
which you personalize to yourself and you can take all kinds of fitness 
tests.  At the end of the exhibit, you'll find out how healthy you are.  
The Planetarium has regular stargazing features as well as the Lazarium 
shows.  (Pink Floyd, Led Zepplin,  etc...)  There's also a Children's 
Museum, and Forney's Museum (which exhibits all kinds of trains).  I've 
never been to either of these, but have been told that they're good. 

Going out of Denver on I-70 W, you'll get to the mountain areas.  On your 
way, you'll go through Golden, Idaho Springs (home of Bojo's pizza), and 
several other old mining communities.  If you have the chance to go to 
Golden, you could tour the Coors Brewery.  You could also go to Red Rocks 
Ampitheater.  (That's a natural outdoor venue that all kinds of groups 
perform at.)  It's breath-taking.  As long as there are no groups scheduled 
for that evening, you could go there and hike around a bit.  There are 
spa's around Idaho Springs if you really want to pamper yourself.  (Massage 
and Mud-baths...)  you could go further along I-70 through the Eisenhower 
Tunnel and see Breckenridge & Beaver Creek ski areas, but that's a 3-hour
drive from Denver.  If you go South along Hwy 6, you'll get to Central 
City, Cripple Creek, and Blackhawk.  All three of these towns have legalized 
gambling, and I guess that it's a blast!! 

If you were to continue South on I-25 through Denver, in about 1 1/2 hours, 
you'd get to Colorado Springs.  Home of Garden of the Gods, Pike's Peak, 
and the US Air Force Academy.  My cousin from Minneapolis was awed by the 
chapel on the base.  Unfortunately, as I was a resident of the state, and 
never on vacation here, Colorado Springs is not one of the areas I know 
very well.

I know that there's a lot that I've left out.  Feel free to leave me a note! 
As far as I-80 is concerned, don't worry.  Nebraska is not that bad of a 
state.  To me, the drive has always been nothing big.  As far as I'm 
concerned, the worst part of the drive is western Illinois!! The Amana 
Colonies in Iowa are OK, nothing real big.  Des Moines, IA has a big 
amusement park (Adventureland).  If you have an extra day you might 
consider it... Omaha has the Henry Doorley Zoo as well as SAC Air Force 
Base... much past that, you only have the 'Sod House' point of interest, the 
Tribute to the Plainsman Museum, and Buffalo Bill Cody's Birthplace.  Of 
course things COULD be worse....you could be traveling I-70 through 
Kansas!!! 

I hope that I was of some help!!

Cool, kimbii, there's a lot of stuff there. Thanks.

You're absolutely right, kimbii, it is my lucky day.  What a
rich bunch of information.  I'll be  printing it out and taking
it worth us for sure.  We do have kids, but they're in their
early teens, so things aimed particularly at kids aren't 
particularly "cool" anymore.  We have a full two weeks, and
it looks like we're not going to lack for things to do, that's
for sure.
If anything else occurs to you, please let me know. Wow, a
real expert!

I can't add much to kimbii's list, but if you do go west on I-80,
you might consider going over the pass on US 6, rather than going
through the Eisenhower tunnel. I like to get high, and I enjoy the
driving on mountain roads. Also, in the Colorado Springs area is
Manitou Springs: somewhat of a tourist sideshow, but it has an
interesting history, when people came from all over the world to
"take the waters", and teh water was bottled and shipped all over
the world. The place got rather run down when the water "boom"
ended, but they are now restoring the old buildings. Nearby is
Cave of the Winds, rather unique geologically (if you are into
geology).

No problem, roz!  I didn't mention it before, but there are 2 (smaller) 
amusement parks in Denver (Elitch Gardens & Lakeside Park), as well as 
Highland Hills Waterworld (water slides again).  My sister has been to 
all of these, and said that there wasn't much to them.  However, with 
teens going with you, it could be an idea.  If you need directions to 
anyplace, let me know and I'll do my best.

Enjoy your trip!!

        We just got back from the Colorado trip that we had been
planning when I started this item.  The printout of this item was
very helpful -- and Bob/Tony's pizza is as good as advertised.
        I strongly recommend the YMCA of the Rockies as a base for
a trip to Rocky Mountain National Park, especially for families.  But
many age groups and marital statuses seem to happily represented.
It would be possible to have a full vacation without ever going
off the grounds to do more than grocery shop or hike.  The 
hikemasters there are very well trained, the kids day campp was
very good, the lodgings we had were great, and except for a touch of
altitude sickness, all went great.  I'd be happy to answer any
questions anyone's got.  And thanks again for the wonderful
suggestions.

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