Posted on 10/01/2010 8:47:41 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
Hey, FRiends. Mrs. POF and I are driving from Twin Falls, ID to Boulder, CO week after next. We are going to visit relatives in Twin and SLC and then have 3-1/2 days to get from SLC to Boulder.
What do you recommend we do in CO? Should we stay on the Western Slope? Visit the Black Canyon of the Gunnison? Crested Butte? Head more into the Rockies? We love to hike, but probably 6,000 feet tops because we live at sea level in CA.
Ideas on what to see and where to stay would be greatly appreciated. Mrs. POF would like to stay at ski resort towns like Vail or Aspen, but I say "over my dead body." I want to find a ranch or remote resort, rustic but comfortable. What do you say?
Go to Durango and take the narrow gauge railroad to Silverton. It’s one of the best day trips my wife and I have ever taken.
I can vouch for that. {I live in Durango}.
Go rustic and comfortable. To me Aspen and Vail are way over priced. You cannot beat the majesty of the mountains though.
Don’t forget Casa Bonita! :)
I don’t know that part but if you are going south anytime and don’t mind winding roads take Red Mountain Pass from Ouray to Silverton, we drive that about 6 times a year and I never get tired of it.
From SLC, not just Canyonlands but Arches too!!
And when you get to SLC go a bit south to Draper and around there is a great restaurant, I think it is called Marketplace. Go early and sit at the bar. It gets crowded and there’s a long line but you can get a seat at the bar. Good seafood, if you can believe it in the middle of Utah! and the best bread I’ve ever had.
Then go to Arches. Climb to Delicate Arch. Canyonlands is incredible too. It’s just perfect except for coffee. If you are a coffee drinker there doesn’t seem to be any place to get good coffee. It’s worth it - even with no good coffee.
Oh yes and have an emergency box/kit/bag whatever as one never knows and one should keep this kind of thing in the car winter, spring, summer or fall. Be prepared for anything that way. No matter how warm the day may be...DO NOT leave without taking your jacket. Temps can drop quickly.
check it out on the web.
There are so many places to see and enjoy but in my book...just being in Colorado no matter where that might be is vacation enough. :)
This is my stomping grounds for many decades, driven this route many times...
If it was me, I’d go:
South from SLC on I-15 to Scipio, Utah
At Scipio, take Highway 50 to Salina.
In Salina, stop at Mom’s Cafe for lunch (famous landmark featured in Nat. Geographic)
Get on I-70 to Green River, this passes through Butch Cassidy country and the San Rafael Swell, some of the most fantastic scenery, right from your car.
Just past Green River, turn south on 191 to Moab. Visit Arches if you want.
Continue south to La Sal Junction, take 46/90 into Colorado.
More fantastic scenery, and a hidden part of America few people ever see.
Continue on 45 into Ridgway, then north on 550 to Montrose.
(Just south of Ridgway is Ouray - the inspiration for Ayn Rand’s “Galts Gulch”).
Stay in Montrose and visit the Black Canyon National Park.
Continue on 50 past Blue Mesa (largest body of water in Colorado), continue to Gunnison, the on to Poncha Springs.
Follow 285 into Denver.
You’ll see God’s country all the way, and a big bit of Reagan/Palin territory too!
Come on up to Steamboat Springs: beautiful now.<<<<<<<<<
I’ve never forgotten a family trip from CA to Nebraska when I was a kid; we stayed in Steamboat Springs for a day or so on the way. I still remember the place was a little typical 50’s motel called “The Rabbit Ears” or something similar. Gorgeous views everywhere, and I always thought the name of the town was so cool.
Also fond memories of sitting in a pool surrounded by glass walls with snow all around in Loveland. And riding horses in Estes Park. I’d love to visit CO again, but must find effective liberal repellant beforehand.
Rocky Mountain NP
Pikes Peak/Garden of the Gods near Col Springs
Colorado National Monument is near Grand Junction
Good tips. Here in the Four Corners area we are spoiled. We have lakes, desert and mountains and it’s all beautiful!
But we’re full up. FReepers are always welcome.
I would recommend a visit to the Pawnee National Grassland near Sterling, in the northeastern part of the state, where one can go to the top of a butte and gaze out on rolling grasslands as far as the eye can see.
Good food can be had at the Drover’s Restaurant in Brush, about 100 miles east of Denver. Just west of Brush is Fort Morgan, home town of the band leader Glenn Miller. The Fort Morgan Public Library contains some displays of Miller memorabilia.
Thanks. We did that route last year in reverse. Up to Nederland from Boulder, then down to Idaho Springs. I was last through there in spring of ‘73 when it was a narrow windy road...and no casinos. It was an untouched old mining town, no tourists and very pleasant. I was totally shocked at how ruined and overgrown the area had gotten in almost 40 years.
I’m hoping to find remote, out of the way places, preferably a ranch or guest house for three nights.
We were hiking in BC a couple weekends ago north Whistler at Pemberton. Our daughter took us on a 5 hour hike to the Joffre Lakes near Pemberton at about 5,000 feet. Incredible glacier fed lakes. Did fine at that altitude. Most magnificent hike! Pretty low altitude for such Alpine scenery.
Red Rocks.
If there’s a concert there, buy a ticket. You will never forget it.
And in Estes Park
and the Durango-Silverton Railroad
Wow...what a view off the deck! Did the fire get close to you last month?
We were in Boulder for Parents Weekend at the university last October. We went to Rocky Mountain NP - up rt 36, then back down rt 7. Even rt 7 was magnificent through the red rock canyons.
A friend was working in the oil patch in Farmington, NM many years ago and we skied at Durango. That was magnificent. I’ve never taken the train ride, but it’s been on my to-do list for many, many years. I took the Heber Creeper outside SLC years ago and that was a magnificent train ride (not the same caliber as Durango, however). Unfortunately they went bust and sold off all 11 of their engines including many steam locomotives. What a shame.
I think Durango is just a little too far out of the way on this short trip.
LOL. My wife, daughter and son took the Budweiser tour last February in Ft. Collins. Free beer, pretzels, sodas and a tour of the Clydesdales, too! But I guess “Budweiser” is a dirty word to you ;>)
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