Denver/Boulder/Estes Park/Ft. Collins

[Mr. Irrelevant]

Starting a one week vacation in Colorado on Saturday. Going to at least those areas listed in the subject.

Anyone have advice on good restaurants, good bars in those areas? Good hiking trails in Rocky Mountain National Park? Is it easy to get tickets to Rockies' games? Ticket Window or Scalpers? I was hoping to go to Sunday's Rockies-Giants game. Any must see type of stuff out there?

All replies are greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance.


Mr. I.

 

[asipilot]

Hey,

For a good dinner in Estes there is a good brew pub / restaraunt right next to the little fun park, wish I could remember the name. For easy hiking, glacier gorge is a nice day hike, A little more challenging hike, but well worth it is the spruce lake trail from the Morain campground area. Good luck wish I was there!

 

[RockyMnt1]

RMNP

Go up Fall River Road. One way dirt road that meets up with Trail Ridge Road at the summit house.

 

[52vincent]

Rockies tix will not be a problem, they have not sold out in years. Just purchase them at the window or do it online before leaving for yout trip.
Check out this link for some good info on hikes in the park, it has some good gouge.
If you have time visit Colo Spgs, Garden of the Gods,Seven falls, or take the tram or drive up Pikes Peak. Lots to do in Col. Spgs.

Have a great trip, PM me if you have other questions I live in SO. CO., Iam sure there are others on this board that live in the Denver area, BobbySamD comes to mind.

 

[52vincent]

Oops forgot Link

Here you go
http://estes.on-line.com/rmnp/rmnp-sug.html

 

[PositiveRate]

Boulder area - Pearl Street Mall....great outdoor place to spend an afternoon and a variety of good restaurants, shops, activities for a family. There are a few neat brewary type places as well...remember Fat Tire and Sunshine Wheat are brewed in Boulder! The drive up the Flat Irons is impressive. A trek into Boulder Canyon will take you past many good trailheads and picnic spots. I remember hiking Green Mountain when we were kids...I don't think it's very far from Boulder.

Estes Park - There's a restaurant up there that my parents claim saved them from insanity on our family trips back in the day (grew up in Boulder)...it's call the Dun Ravon (spelling?...we used to call it the Dumb Raisen as kids). In any case, it's an italian place up in the mountains right near Estes Park. There are a lot of great hiking/fishing/camping places up around Estes.

Denver - The whole area by the Rockies stadium has been renovated the past decade....lots of good restaurants and brewaries in that part of town. Rockies tickets are easy to get. If you have kids, there's a six flags amusment park right in that area as well.

An hr's drive west will take you to Idaho Springs, home of the best pizza place in colorado - Beau Jo's. They also have places up and down the front range, but the one in the mountains is the best! www.beaujos.com

Colorado springs - if you go, visit the US Air Force Academy....it's awesome and a great afternoon trip. Also, Garden of the Gods is quite impressive as well.

I don't know anything about Ft. Collins.

Have fun!

 

[skyslug]

The Rio in Ft Collins has the best margarita's around (they have a 3 marg limit). It's in downtown on Mountain I believe.

 

[skylane58]

Also, Old Towne in Fort Collins is great at night. Its the downtown area on north College Blvd. It has many clubs and bars. Zydagoes, Suite 152, and Lucky Joes to name a few. The best pizza in Fort Collins is at Woodys, Its just North of the CSU campus (just across the street). Also, Big City Burrito is good eats. If your up to it, this time of year is great for white water rafting in the Poudre Canyon. For the most part I agree with the other posts.

 

[Mr. Irrelevant]

Muchas Gracias Fellas. Those are some great tips! I'm looking forward to the week off. Hiking, probably a little rafting, and maybe hit COS the last day. A friend had mentioned Garden of the Gods as well. Glad to hear tickets aren't tough to get for the game. Caught the Giants-Rockies in San Fran last year and had to buy scalper tickets. I'll definitely try Rios (keep my gf happy with the Margaritas) and the hiking recommendations sound top-notch.

Thanks again.


Mr. I.

 

[Cardinal]

I'll second The Rio and their margaritas - there is sound reasoning behind that 3 round limit. For a less demanding hike try Devil's Head mountain. Drop by UA TK and pick up a quick type rating. Georgetown, up I-70 into the mountains is an old mining town, and they offer frequent, narrow-gauge, steam-powered train rides around the scenic mines, as well as a pretty good tour of an old silver mine. Some cutesy shops in town for the girl, and down the road in Frisco there's massive outlet shopping. I think there is still lots of skiing to be had, if that's your inclination, even though it's 70 and sunny right now on the front range. You timed it right, the grass is as green as it will get all year and the temps are nice. The Denver Museum of Natural History is right next door to the Zoo, and they have a full size Imax theater. Have fun!

 

[Olin]

Good times in Boulder

On Pearl Street go to the Walrus, the Walnut Brewery, the Oasis (which is right down Broadway) and the Rio (if you miss the Rio in Denver or Ft. Collins). On the Hill, you have got to go to Planet Sub (subs and beer), the Sink - A Boulder Institution - (pizza and beer), Nick's (bar food and beer), Teresa's (more pizza and beer, Tulagi (hot girls and beer) and the Fox (great live music and beer). Hiking the Flatirons is a must for a great view of Boulder. Also, check out CU while you were there, it is a great campus. I spent 4 years there, nestled between the mountains and reality!

P.S. If you haven't got the hint, Boulder has some kick a$$ microbreweries!

 

[Skyrunner]

Fort Fun

Mr. I,

Hey, I live in Ft Collins. If you want bars go to Old Town. Plenty O Bars. College is out, but some students still hang around.

Try Sullivans Tavern on the corner of Elizabeth and City Park. It is on the west edge of campus. I frequent there because I only have to stumble 50 yards to my house.

For pizza, Woodys on Laurel is primo. Cant say enough about wood fired pizza.

For hiking or trailrunning, the best, IMHO, is Greyrock Trail. There is no fee for entering the trail. Take 287 5 miles North out of town. Then take 14 W into the high mountains (Roosevelt National Forest) for 13 miles. It takes around 17 minutes to great there from Fort Collins. On the left there is a designated parking lot. Cross the road and over the foot bridge that crosses the Cache la Poudre River and youll be there. The trail is awesome. The view at the top is unbelieveable. The trail to the top is only around 3.5 miles but the vertical gain is around 2200'. Not hard, but not easy. A lot easier hiking it than running it.

Got any questions, PM me. Have a good time in CO.

Chris Bow

BTW - Ft COllins is where Fat Tire Amber Ale is brewed. It is at the New Belgian Brewing Co. near Old Town. There are a ton of microbrews here.

 

[bobbysamd]

Colorful Colorado

Boulder area - Pearl Street Mall....great outdoor place to spend an afternoon and a variety of good restaurants, shops, activities for a family . . . . .

Denver - The whole area by the Rockies stadium has been renovated the past decade....lots of good restaurants and brewaries in that part of town. Rockies tickets are easy to get. If you have kids, there's a six flags amusment park right in that area as well.

An hr's drive west will take you to Idaho Springs, home of the best pizza place in colorado - Beau Jo's. They also have places up and down the front range, but the one in the mountains is the best! www.beaujos.com

Colorado springs - if you go, visit the US Air Force Academy....it's awesome and a great afternoon trip. Also, Garden of the Gods is quite impressive as well.

I second all these points. You can find Beau Jo's in Denver, also. The name of the Six Flags amusement park is Elitch's. It moved from the north side of Denver several years ago.

In Idaho Springs, there is the Buffalo Bar and Grill. It serves a great buffalo burger. Delicious and better for you than beef.

Plenty of good barbecue in Denver. If you take the Colorado Springs trip and come back to Denver, you can go to Bennett's, on Arapahoe Road about a mile from APA. There is a Brothers' Barbecue off I-25. We ate at the Brothers' on South Monaco at Leetsdale once - really dunno why we haven't gone back - and it was superlative.

Finally, if you go to Colorado Springs, drive about thirty minutes south on I-25 to Pueblo. There used to be a great open-air aircraft museum at PUB. I don't remember all the airplanes, but I do remember the C-119 there. I am sure it was the variant with the single jet engine on the pylon on top.

Enjoy your trip here!