Colorado in the summer?

[mommyto3]

We are thinking of going to Colorado. Two families, 4 kids 14 - 6 years old.

Where?

When?

What to do?

How many days?

Should we drive?
(From Houston)

As you can tell, I'm totally CLUELESS!!!!

Any suggestions........

Thank you!!!

 

[slimplaw]

Good questions! We are also going in 3 weeks for the first time. We'll be in Colorado Springs and Breckenridge. We're driving from Dallas area. Looking forward to answers from Colorado residents.

 

[auntpolly]

We go in the summer more than in the winter. Vail and Aspen are beautiful in the summer and easy to get to. There are trails everywhere, music festivals, white water rafting, great restaurants and shopping. There are ghost towns to explore, and lots of other history. I could spend a whole week in Denver just for that. We've gone hiking and four wheeling, and happened upon ghost towns and old cemetaries. There are wild west towns that the kids would like, steam engine railroads.....and the old mining roads are -- really scary -- but fun. Telluride is harder to get to from Denver but worth the drive. It is gorgeous, and a cute little town. (There's a dude ranch that I've never tried but looks great. Also, if you go that way, you gotta go to Mesa Verde! It's is sooooo cool.

Personally, I'd fly into Denver but that depends on how much time you have. Driving around Colorado is a lot of fun but can be challenging.

 

[hipporina]

I love Colorado! One of my favorite places to go is the southwestern area around Durango. Auntpolly mentioned Mesa Verde National Park, and I agree, it is amazing. It is one of the most incredible places you can visit. Definately worth at least one entire day. Also, the mountains in the area are beautiful. We took a jeep tour out of a little town called Ouray, up through the off-road areas and LOVED it.

In Colorado Springs, don't miss the Garden of the Gods. It is amazing! Ever since my first visit there as a child, it has been one my goals to learn to rock climb and go there to do so. (I'm still waiting on that one!) It is also a lot of fun to tour the Air Force Academy.

In Denver, you can visit the US mint. I haven't been in years, but it was really cool. I liked it as a kids, so I'm sure the kids in your group would too. The Museum of Natural History is great too. It has some realyl good displays.

If you are around Denver, don't miss Rocky Mountain National Park. The drive through it is amazing, and there is some great hiking in the area. For the truly adventurous, you can hike/climb (no technical = no ropes, etc) to the top of Long's Peak over 14,000 ft high. Not a good idea for the little ones from what I've read and very strenuous. (Also on my to do list.)

I would absolutely drive! Its not a terribly long drive, and so much of it is gorgeous. We almost always drive, because we feel you miss entirely too much if you fly. We live on I-45 about 1 hr south of Dallas and we drove through to Colorado Springs in one day. It seems like it is around 13 hours. When we went to Mesa Verde National Park, we left after lunch and stopped in Amarillo for the night. We saw Palo Duro Canyon (lots of fun too) in the morning and then drove through to Farmington, NM. We could have gone further, but we went ahead and stopped there.

If you have any questions, feel free to PM and I'll help as much as I can. I've never lived there, but I've been many times, and I love to research trips. (We just got back from a trip to the Buffalo National River in AR. All I knew when we first thought about it was that it was good for canoeing. By the time we went, we had stuff to do for our entire 5 day trip and more. It's amazing what you can learn online!)

 

[mrsv98]

DD and I leave on Tues for Denver to visit my DSister!

We go every summer and it is wonderful. Warm days, comfortable nights and low humidity. There are tons of things to do in Denver with kids. We are going to the Denver Zoo for Wild Nights, the zoo at night is totally different. Also Ocean Journey and the Denver Children's Museum plus the Butterfly Pavilion.

There is also a Six Flags and Cirque de Soliel is in the parking lot of the Pepsi Center for much of July.

The nice part is downtown Denver is not very big. You could conceivably drop the older ones at Six Flags and take the younger ones to Ocean Journey and The Children's Museum and be very close. Also, for some nice shopping/eating and people watching, check out the 16th Street Mall.

Out of the city pretty much any drive up into the mountains is spectacular. We have gone to Breckenridge and it is beautiful and not nearly as expensive as in ski season. Also check out Dinosaur Ridge just outside of Denver for some really neat fossils still embedded in the mountains plus some cool fossilized footprints.

We look forward to going every summer and always find something new.

 

[ColoradoBuffaloMom]

These are all great ideas and just reminds me how lucky I am to live in Colorado. I'd also suggest driving to Boulder and walking on the Pearl Street Mall. It is a fun outdoor pedestrian mall. You can stop in Boulder on your way to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park. Glenwood Springs off of I-70 is a fun place also. It has great natural hot water springs that are fun to soak and play in. Check out the Hotel Colorado in Glenwood for a place to stay and play.

The Royal Gorge railroad west of Colorado Springs in fun and a beautiful trip. As mentioned before Southwest Colorado where Durango and Telluride are is beautiful.

I am pretty sure the Denver Mint is closed to tourist ever since 9/11. Besides to be honest it is pretty boring. My daughter's 4th grade class went there a few years ago and the kids were bored to tears.

I'll write more if I think of more stuff.

Have fun!

Elise