i'm heading to the colorado springs/denver area in a few days... and i'm trying to plan everything for a 'must do' list...

here's what i have so far.... (not that i'll have time to do everything....but i like having lots of choices...)

garden of the gods
cog railway to top of pike's peak
manitou springs
denver art museum
denver aquarium
molly brown house and museum
cave of the winds
royal gorge bridge
frontiertown
ghost town museum
seven falls
cliff dwellings museum


do you have any other suggestions? is there anything i absolutely must see in this area???

Red Rocks
El Rancho
Buffalo Bill's grave
16th St. Mall (Denver)
Pearl St. Mall (Boulder)
Beau Jo's Pizza @ Idaho Springs
Chief Mountain
Mount Evans

thanks sketch!


red rocks WAS originally on my list.... but there's no good shows up there while i'm going to be around.... so, i'm not sure if i'm going to head up there or not. i know it's open during the day.... but, it's still on my 'maybe' list.

as for the others.... i'll look into them. THANK YOU!

oh, i'm also heading up to boulder one evening to see the ryan montbleau band. (i think.)

I was in Colorado Springs two weekends ago. Pike's Peak is probably the only must do. Manitou Springs is just okay. It's on the way back from Pike's Peak to Colorado Springs, so you might as well check it out. But I defintely would not go out of my way for it. We were going to do Cave of the Winds but we were short on time and it takes 45 minutes. People we were with went rafting near by and enjoyed it.

Go to the Suffering Bastard Saloon in Colorado Springs

If you're going to go all the way up to Boulder one day you should just go up early that day and keep going up to Rocky Mountain National Park.

You can drive through the entire park and it's a spectacular drive. Worth the time. I'd give yourself at a least a half day driving through it. You could probably drive from one end to the next in a couple hours but you'll want to stop and take in some of the views or walk out to some of the overlooks.

You can take a couple of routes back to Boulder for that evening for the show you're wanting to go to.

yes. estes is a fine place to stop.

wasn't there a thread on something like this a few months ago?

[EDIT: i guess that was just about boulder.]

don't forget to hit the hemp clothing outlet mall.

get out of the front range and get into the mountains.

ONLY 3 SHORT HOURS AWAY!!


http://www.popculturecorn.com/butter/is ... tobe1.html

Is that a coors slogan?

See what's playing at 32 Blue in Colorado Springs, although who knows... by now it might be gone. But if there's something good, go early and eat dinner cause the food is sweet.

But if you don't have to go to colorado springs, don't. There's better places to hang. Go to Keystone.

new belgium slogan acutally.



and this is actually the best advice in this thread so far.

it's not even that colorado springs is that bad, it's just that the rest of colorado is fucking cool as hell.

32 Blue closed.

bummer. that crab stuffed portabello was delicious. I'd get it every time i gigged there.

which i guess means that there's now absolutely no reason to go to colorado springs, unless you want to hang with very uptight republicans.

http://www.broadmoor.com/

Yeah, I lived in Colorado Springs for 5 years...it's a great place to live, since you're near so many other things, but aside from tripping down memory lane, I can't imagine why even I'd want to visit it, aside from doing another Pike's Peak hike, that sort of thing.

But if you're stuck there: I think Garden of the Gods is a must-see and Manitou is cute, but nothing spectacular. There were a couple cool brew pubs in "downtown" (by the Antlers hotel) that I would definitely hit up and if you like used books, the stores around Acacia Park (Four Corners, etc.) have a lot to offer. Not much in the way of exciting music stores to speak of, in that you won't find anything new at the few stores in the area. I used to really dig on the tex-mex at Jose Muldoon's (on Tejon st.), but my taste was kinda suspect back then... Still is probably!

If you can though, definitely head to Estes. That's one of my favorite places in the world, along with the Sangre de Christo range, which is probably just far enough away that'd take too long to drive to.

i'll see your broadmoor and raise you with the Shining hotel:

http://www.stanleyhotel.com/

Well, sure...

Also, the Republican/Conservative thing in Colorado Springs is largely found outside of the "downtown" area, particularly as you head out west to Academy blvd or north to DobsonLand. I'd say that nearly everyone I knew in the area south of Fillmore are less, uhh, Focused on the Family. Lots more new agey, bgala, green types in that area. But sure, get out towards the bases and megachurches...

oh yeah, they do have an airshow which is decent. so there's a little reason if you're into planes that go vroom.

GREAT IDEA! thanks.



really not my thing. but thanks for the suggestion.



heh. sweet!



well, i HAVE to go there. the purpose of this trip is a family reunion. and that's in colorado springs... and where the rest of my family is already staying. but i plan to venture around as much as i can.



thanks! i LOVE used book stores.... AND beer. so, i will check that out.






IS THAT REALLY IT? sweet! i must add this to my list.

they give ghost tours, if that's your thing.