Destination: Denver

[volmanbill]

I just booked a last minute trip to Denver next weekend. Have always wanted to go, but wasn't planning on it and seriously have no idea what we're doing. We're planning on Raiders vs Broncos Sunday, otherwise no plans from Thursday till Monday. We don't even have accommodations yet. Any great fall view suggestions?

We're foodies, love the outdoors and are open to unique ideas. A round of golf is a possibility too.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Ideas?

Thanks!

 

[Volosaurus rex]

I would consider the Buckhorn Exchange an absolute must stop for dinner; here is their menu (http://www.buckhorn.com/suppermenu.php). The place has incredible atmosphere and, as you can see, they feature a diverse array of exotic cuisine. They have been in business continuously since 1893. Here is the link to an overview of their colorful history as an eating establishment: http://www.buckhorn.com/history.php.

 

[Volosaurus rex]

Your timing is excellent in terms of fall foliage viewing conditions. If you had more time at your disposal, Rocky Mountain National Park would be an absolute must-see. However, I would highly recommend a mid-week visit to the park. Since it is so close to Denver, Fort Collins, Boulder and other Front Range communities, RMNP and other Front Range destinations receive very heavy weekend visitation from locals, particularly this time of year. If you do go, definitely spend some time in Estes Park. For lodging and dining there, see http://www.rmnp.com/RMNP-EstesPark.HTML.

Here is the link to the NPS website for RMNP: https://www.nps.gov/romo/index.htm. Your timing will coincide with the fall rut for elk. Given how compressed your planning phase is, I would call the main number and specifically request their advice regarding the best time (typically toward dusk) and locations within the park to view elk. The bugling challenge of a bull elk is one of the signature sounds of wilderness and, once you have heard it, you will never mistake it for anything else.

For another highly informative website on RMNP, see http://www.rmnp.com/.

 

[ReadCT]

I can help with that.

Denver area Vols viewing party is upstairs at Tavern Platt Park, 1475 S Pearl St, Denver, CO 80210. Remember we are mountain time & kickoff here at 1:30p.

Rockies are in town and fighting for a playoff spot. Coors Field is worth it even when they suck.

Go to Red Rocks even if you never heard of who is playing. It is by far the best outdoor amphitheater/music venue in the world.

Food, not in order, just what I consider Denver's best:
--Sushi Den, 1487 S Pearl St, Denver, CO 80210
It is indeed next door to Tavern Platt Park. They have two price points, regular frozen stuff and fresh never frozen flown in daily. Worth the splurge for the upgrade.

--To the Wind Bistro, 3333 E Colfax Ave, Denver, CO 80206
Tiny place, hard to find. No reservations; call ahead & they will call you back when a table is ready. Menu is basically what is in season, organic, & grown within 100 miles of Denver. Unless you are on a date to propose sit at the bar and talk to owner/chef Royce.

--Potager, 1109 Ogden St. Denver, CO 80218
Denver's first farm-to-table restaurant. Same as above but bigger/louder.

--Work & Class, 2500 Larimer St., Denver, CO 80205
My fav. restaurant in Denver. Owner Tony runs a hopping space. Menu is American small plates with Mexican influence. No reservations. So worth the wait.

--Linger, 2030 W 30th Ave. Denver, CO 80211
Brunch. Get up on their rooftop deck to enjoy the views of the skyline, the Rockies, and hot hungover 20-somethings.

--Williams & Graham, 3160 Tejon St, Denver, CO 80211
This is where the 20-somethings got hungover. Very cool authentic 1920s speakeasy. Enter behind a hidden door in a fake corner bookstore. Worth the wait.

--Old Major, 3316 Tejon St, Denver, CO 80211
Minimalist decor. Upscale, well constructed food and cocktails. This is where I take the MRS for anniversaries or when I need to say "sorry."

--Peaks Lounge, 650 15th St, Denver, CO 80202
Sunset drinks a this bar on 27th floor of the downtown Hyatt Regency are hard to beat.

You are one week too early for the Great American Beer Festival 2017. So check out one of our many many micro breweries.

Recreational marijuana is legal here so check out a dispensary even if you do not partake as it is a hoot the first time.

 

[Volosaurus rex]

As this webpage (http://estes-park.com/peak-peak-scenic-byway) illustrates, the Peak-to-Peak Highway is, in and of itself, a very nice drive and affords excellent fall foliage viewing opportunities. The Peak-to-Peak Highway "begins as CO Highway 7 in Estes Park, passes Lily Mountain and Twin Sisters, then turns south just past Allenspark on CO Highway 72, goes to Nederland where it continues south on CO Highway 119, through Blackhawk, through Clear Creek Canyon and down to I-70."

The Indian Peaks Wilderness is readily accessible from this highway and the Brainard Lake Recreation Area (https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/arp/recarea/?recid=28182), which serves as the gateway to this area, is a really nice place to stop at for lunch. No dining facilities are actually present at Brainard Lake, however.

Even if you don't go deep into RMNP, the Peak-to-Peak Highway provides access to the Longs Peak area of the park. Longs Peak is the one peak in RMNP that eclipses 14,000 ft. in elevation.

 

[Volosaurus rex]

This website is very helpful for navigational purposes and planning road trips: http://www.milebymile.com/.

Specific pages for roads in the portion of the Colorado Rockies most accessible to Denver, Boulder and Fort Collins are as follows:

Cache la Poudre-North Park Scenic and Historic Byway: http://www.milebymile.com/main/highway-2725.html

Peak to Peak Scenic and Historic Byway: http://www.milebymile.com/main/highway-2736.html

Trail Ridge Road/Beaver Meadow Road: http://www.milebymile.com/main/highway-2743.html

 

[volmanbill]

Thanks for the suggestions. I have a lot of homework to do! I don't typically travel last minute so I'm not used to flying blind, so to speak.

Question on Broncos tickets... better to buy ahead, or is scalping a reasonable option?

 

[ReadCT]

Question on Broncos tickets... better to buy ahead, or is scalping a reasonable option?

Broncos tix are always a hard get. Oakland is Denver's biggest rival and they bring a lot of fans to town.

My guess would be $200/each to get in the stadium, $450 each for club or lower bowl. Never scalped day of so cannot say.

 

[Volosaurus rex]

If you would like a bit more solitude on a road trip, I will give you a couple more suggestions. These would be best done as a two-day excursion, but the Aspen Alley area and Snowy Range Scenic Byway, both of which are in the extreme southern tier of Wyoming, would be very pretty this time of year. The Snowy Range Road tops out just shy of 11,000 feet. Compared to the Trail Ridge Road, which is, indeed, magnificent, the Snowy Range Road (http://visitlaramie.org/brochure-snowy-range-scenic-byway/) receives very little traffic.

Aspen Alley, located on the Deep Creek Road off Wyoming Highway 70 (the Battle Highway), west of the Continental Divide between Baggs and Encampment, is a veritable cathedral in the fall; this tall, stately grove of aspen look like they were laid out with ruler-like precision by the Creator. See https://www.travelwyoming.com/article/wyomings-fall-colors-road-trip and http://saratogachamber.info/play-here/things-to-do/scenic-byways/.

 

[TnMountaineer]

If you would like a bit more solitude on a road trip, I will give you a couple more suggestions. These would be best done as a two-day excursion, but the Aspen Alley area and Snowy Range Scenic Byway, both of which are in the extreme southern tier of Wyoming, would be very pretty this time of year. The Snowy Range Road tops out just shy of 11,000 feet. Compared to the Trail Ridge Road, which is, indeed, magnificent, the Snowy Range Road (http://visitlaramie.org/brochure-snowy-range-scenic-byway/) receives very little traffic.
Y
Aspen Alley, located on the Deep Creek Road off Wyoming Highway 70 (the Battle Highway), west of the Continental Divide between Baggs and Encampment, is a veritable cathedral in the fall; this tall, stately grove of aspen look like they were laid out with ruler-like precision by the Creator. See https://www.travelwyoming.com/article/wyomings-fall-colors-road-trip and http://saratogachamber.info/play-here/things-to-do/scenic-byways/.

Ohhhhhh, the Snowy Range!

If you can hike up Medicine Bow Peak. It's beautiful


Thoughts on going into Breckinridge?

 

[NEVolFan]

My crib... Nachos. Peyton.

 

[Volosaurus rex]

Ohhhhhh, the Snowy Range!

If you can hike up Medicine Bow Peak. It's beautiful


Thoughts on going into Breckinridge?

I can’t comment knowledgably about Breckenridge proper, but that reminded me of the extremely rugged Gore Range, which could be circumnavigated in a day’s trip from Denver. The Gores are located north of I-70 in north-central Colorado. The Gore Range (elevation approximately 12,000 ft) “runs for approximately 60 miles (100 km) northwest-to-southeast, through western Grand and Summit counties, and eastern Routt and Eagle counties. They form the southern extension of the Park Range, extending southward from Rabbit Ears Pass (U.S. Highway 40) to the Eagle River near Vail. The northern section of the range north of Gore Pass is somewhat lower than the southern section, along the western side of the valley of the Blue River.

The ridges of the range are prominently visible on clear days from the summit of Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park approximately 50 miles (80 km) to the east. The range is traversed at its southern and southwestern lower flanks by Interstate 70 from Silverthorne to Vail.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gore_Range

We visited this area briefly last October. On the next trip to Colorado, it is an area to which I would like to devote more time. For photos of the Gore Range, see http://www.summitpost.org/gore-range/170958 and http://www.mountainphotography.com/gallery/gore-range/.

Incidentally, the Gore Range is another area that receives little visitation. It is so rugged that virtually no trails actually cross the range, but terminate, instead, at high alpine lakes. Excellent fall foliage, however. The appropriately named Eagles Nest Wilderness is the centerpiece of the Gore Range.

Probably the only portions of the Colorado Rockies that rival the Gore Range in terms of rugged, craggy peaks are the Maroon Bells, located near Aspen, and the magnificent San Juan Range, particularly the Sneffels sub-range, in southwestern Colorado. James Kay, one of the foremost landscape photographers in the country, said that, if he had to pick only one location in the Rocky Mountain West for fall foliage photography, it would be the area within a 15- to 20-mile radius of Telluride. In short, the heart of the San Juans. For a photo that will make you salivate at the prospects of a Rocky Mountain fall, take a look at this image: http://www.mountainphotography.com/photo/sneffels-range-autumn/?gallery=bestsellers.

 

[DrRosenRosen]

My suggestions:

Crave Burgers is my favorite burger there. So good.

It's a nice little drive up to New Belgium's brewery in Fort Collins. Their tours are pretty good and they have a nice bar on site. You can book a tour on their website. And I've found middle of the week it's pretty easy to get in a tour even without reservations.

Good Chemistry is probably the best dispensary I've been to in the city if you need some mary jane.

Lots of airbnbs around there. I've stayed in a few and all were nice folks and great spots.

 

[Volosaurus rex]

Since you mentioned Fort Collins, the Cache la Poudre-North Park Scenic and Historic Byway, which begins there, is another pretty but lightly trafficked road that could be included as part of a loop that traverses the Aspen Alley and Snowy Range areas before returning to Fort Collins via I-25 south. Depending on the time of day, Fort Collins is almost exactly an hour north of Denver via I-25, so factor that into planning, should you wish to try this route. It probably would make for a more comfortable two-day drive than a long single-day trip.

 

[Volosaurus rex]

If you want to consider destinations in the Colorado Springs area, which is about 70 miles south of Denver, the Air Force Academy is, of course, located there. The Garden of the Gods is very pretty, particularly at sunrise or sunset, but it is heavily visited. See http://www.gardenofgods.com/. The Pikes Peak Cog Railway is also quite popular and for good reason; it affords a commanding view of the Front Range and far out onto the plains from the 14,115-foot summit of Pikes Peak. See http://www.cograilway.com/pikes-peak.asp. Indeed, it is the view that inspired the lyrics for America the Beautiful. I don’t know how great the walk-up demand would be this time of year for the Cog Railway. Needless to say, it would be quite cool, if not downright cold, up there, so dress warmly. If you choose to ride the Cog Railway, build in as much time as you possibly can to acclimate to the altitude before going up that high. Depending on the altitude at which you live and your cardiorespiratory condition, flying into Denver and going to the summit of Pikes Peak the next day could be a recipe for extreme altitude sickness.

 

[Biopsyman]

Check out a Rookies game...

 

[g8terh8ter_eric]

I'll be there this weekend too! Looking forward to it.

 

[volmanbill]

Rex, Read, DrRosen, thanks for all your suggestions. I think I've got a good weekend set up. I found an Air B&B within walking distance of Mile High. Plan on an Estes Park drive/day on Friday, hitting up Tavern Platt Park for the game Saturday, Raiders/Broncos on Sunday with Old Major, Satchel's, Work and Class and Buckhorn fit in at various times. Throw in some local sightseeing and I'll need a vacation when I get back.

If any of you are coming Saturday, let me know and I'll thank you properly!

 

[volmanbill]

What an amazing weekend.

 

[g8terh8ter_eric]

What an amazing weekend.

I didn't get to go far enough from the hotel. Enjoyed the Lone Tree area though.

 

[ReadCT]

Glad you all enjoyed your visits and happy we could help. Denver really is a great little city.

 

[kev20]

--Linger, 2030 W 30th Ave. Denver, CO 80211
Brunch. Get up on their rooftop deck to enjoy the views of the skyline, the Rockies, and hot hungover 20-somethings.

Love Linger!! And Little Man, downstairs.