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My wife and I will be spending a week in good 'ole Colorado for the first time. We're looking at mid-June. And we've decided that we'd like spend half of it in Denver (huge focus on experiencing the local food scene) and the other half exploring one of Colorado's national parks. Parks of interest include:
Now, I know a lot of these parks are spread out VERY far apart from each other. But we're just not sure how to best experience Denver, Red Rock Amphitheatre, AND your great outdoors. I know that we won't be able to see all of your national parks in such a small time window, but we're just trying to figure out the best way to experience Denver's food scene and your beautiful outdoors. I'm thinking that we should be splitting our stay between a hotel in Denver, then book a stay at an Inn closer to the national parks that we're interested in. Am I right in taking this approach? And what's the best way to travel between the cities and the national parks (ie. renting a car vs regional train system vs planes between areas)? And is there a better food scene in Colorado outside of Denver? Thank you in advance, Coloradans (and other experienced travelers)
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Apr 24, 2016 05:12
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| # ? Apr 25, 2024 10:23 |
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melon cat posted:My wife and I will be spending a week in good 'ole Colorado for the first time. We're looking at mid-June. And we've decided that we'd like spend half of it in Denver (huge focus on experiencing the local food scene) and the other half exploring one of Colorado's national parks. Parks of interest include: You can do a lot in day trips from denver, although maybe I'm just used to driving a lot living here. So I would mix up your "food scening" and outdoor experience. Go hike around and come back and get dinner somewhere new. If you want to do a lot of hiking and camping, you can spend as much time as you want in RMNP, its huge. Most visitors just do the drive through and around to grand lake, stopping at the scenic overlooks and maybe doing a little hiking, which is easily doable in a (long) day drive from denver. Like 10-12 hours. Do garden of the gods and drive up pikes peak in one day trip. Maybe 8-10 hours total. I've never been to mesa verde, thats not a day trip at all, that's some serious driving. There are plenty of closer in things as well - hiking chautaqua, mt sanitas, or flagstaff in boulder. Devils head or roxborough south west of denver. mt evans should be open soon, that drive is actually better than pike's peak, and the hiking trails are better. Plenty of stuff around idaho springs - I like st marys glacier, you can hike up a glacier and around the continental divide. You definitely need to rent a car, the only place a train can take you is winter park or glenwood springs. Which sounds like a cool way to get there, but I've never done it. Think you're kind of hosed w/o a car in either of those places after you get off the train. If you rent a jeep or suv with some towing capacity, you can rent some atvs and a trailer for a day and do some offroading around idaho springs. I'm actually kind of surprised the "food scene" is a big draw for a tourist, although i guess the restaurants are getting better. Denver is where its at, although boulder has a few good places. Personally whenever I try something thats supposed to be the new hotness, it always seems a bit overrated to me  What are you looking at?
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Apr 24, 2016 22:22
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Baddog posted:You can do a lot in day trips from denver, although maybe I'm just used to driving a lot living here. So I would mix up your "food scening" and outdoor experience. Go hike around and come back and get dinner somewhere new. Thanks a lot for all of this info! We'll definitely rent a car, then. And your proposed route/schedule looks like it'd be great to plan around. You also mentioned a lot of cool-sounding outdoors areas that I've never heard of- I'm really excited about that. We're visiting CO because everyone we know who has been there has amazing things to say about the outdoors activities and locals, there. But are there better cities/towns for food outside of Denver and Boulder? We're just big food nerds and like to explore the local food scenes, even if we need to drive out, for it. 
melon cat fucked around with this message at 22:50 on Apr 24, 2016 |
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Apr 24, 2016 22:47
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melon cat posted:Thanks a lot for all of this info! We'll definitely rent a car, then. And your proposed route/schedule looks like it'd be great to plan around. You also mentioned a lot of cool-sounding outdoors areas that I've never heard of- I'm really excited about that. Denver is where you want to be. I personally haven't tried many of the "top" places, I'm more of a (good) hole in the wall and good beer kinda guy. Euclid Hall is good. I thought Blackbelly in Boulder was overrated, but maybe I caught them on a bad night. Thats the top chef winner, hosea's spot, after he left jax. Lucilles and snooze just seem like you are overpaying for slightly elevated breakfast/brunch stuff, but they are good. Brasserie ten ten in boulder is pretty good. For ambience and kind of a unique experience, you should check out the boulder dushanbe teahouse. http://boulderteahouse.com/ I like getting a sub at half fast in boulder (ridiculous number of sandwiches, college spot), and throwing it in my bag for a lunch while hiking around there. 5280.com has lists of all the "top", "top new", and "top whatever" places, definitely seem to be a lot of new names. I'm a bit closer to boulder, so I guess I'm more up on the spots there. But Denver definitely has a bigger food scene. If you like beer at all, you should check out falling rock taphouse for awesome selections of everything local (and more) on draft. All kinds of really good breweries around. Beer is what the denver area does best. Taco Mex on colfax is my spot for cheap hole-in-the-wall tacos, get the stuff that they are cooking and serving up outside. al pastor is the best. Good horchata. Pho is really good and popular around here for some reason. Stay away from chinese, its pretty much the same as you get anywhere. We go to LA for good authentic chinese. Baddog fucked around with this message at 03:03 on Apr 25, 2016 |
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Apr 24, 2016 23:23
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This list always looks good, I haven't managed to get very far into it though, and the places I have are kinda mmmm ok. I guess I can be hard to please because I expect a lot when I pay up. http://denver.eater.com/maps/best-denver-restaurants-38 Sushi Den is on point for sure Blackbelly was a bit of a disappointment when we went The Post has good beer, but the food wasn't all that (I mean, yah, its good fried chicken, but its fried chicken?) Dae Gee is good, but my korean friends say seoul bbq on 104th is better (definitely seems more authentic, dae gee is white peoples korean bbq i guess).
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Apr 24, 2016 23:59
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| # ? Apr 25, 2024 10:23 |
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Holy crappers. Thanks a lot for all of this info. It's helping me out big time.
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Apr 26, 2016 17:01
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