Epic 9-Day Road Trip Through Colorado's Best Mountain Towns & Rocky Mountain National Park

Welcome to Colorado. In this video we're doing a road trip through the great state of Colorado. Over the next nine days we'll work our way through the Rockies by vehicle, train, gondola, horse, and zipline. Everything is high in Colorado. We'll visit the highest city in the country, drive the highest road in the country, and play at the highest theme park in the country. We'll see several great mountain towns, fairy tale towns, and ghost towns. And speaking of ghosts, we'll even see a haunted hotel. Hi, we're Matt and Cheryl and we write travel guides for the West. Thanks for joining us. And if you like this road trip, stick around to the end and we'll show you how you can pull this trip off for yourself. Our first stop is Glenwood Springs, Colorado. Glenwood is located in a spectacular valley at the confluence of the famous Colorado River and the less famous Roaring Fork River. The Roaring Fork leads to Aspen, which we will visit after Glenwood Springs. Aspen is much more famous than Glenwood, but Glenwood is much more fun than Aspen. We stayed in a little Swiss-inspired hotel, one of several similar styles, in this charming small city of about 10,000 people. The city is full of flowers and we enjoyed walking along the river and hanging out downtown. First up is the thing that Glenwood Springs is the most famous for, the Glenwood Hot Springs Pool. It's actually the world's largest hot springs pool. American prospectors arrived during the gold rush era. The mining turned out to be fool's gold, but one early prospector found something that turned out to be much more profitable, hot springs. Before modern medicine, people with ailments sought out any treatment they could and hot springs became a huge source of treatment and the turn of the century is known as the golden age of mineral spas. Glenwood Springs capitalized on the trend and built itself the Spa of the Rockies. Today, its claim to fame is that it's the largest hot spring pool in the world. The big pool is 400 feet long and 100 feet wide and is nice for soakers, swimmers, and jumpers. And we were happy to see that they've installed a new tubing area since the last time we visited. Next up is the very cool Glenwood Springs Caverns. Check out this insane theme park on top of a mountain. This is Glenwood Caverns, which sits at an altitude of 7,100 feet. It's relatively new, having only opened in about 2003. Their slogan is America's only mountaintop theme park. What I like about the Glenwood Springs Caverns is that you get a lot of fun Colorado experiences with one ticket. You get to ride the gondola, you get to ride the mountain coaster, you get to go on a cave. So that's pretty cool. You get to do all three of those things. I only pay for one thing. This cool amusement park started off with just a cave that they were giving tours of and they've expanded to add lots of roller coasters. In fact, it is the world's tallest amusement park. This insane ride was my favorite. It's named Defiance, which was originally the name of the city. The city was later named Glenwood Springs by a man who was from Glenwood, Iowa. This is an alpine coaster, which means it's hooked to rails, unlike the alpine slides, which are death traps. This was the first alpine coaster in the United States and it goes 3,400 feet down the mountain with incredible views before towing you back to the top. Oh, so fun. That was a long one. This park is really one of the coolest parks we've ever been to. There's something for everyone from the fun trolls, the silly little Easter eggs you'll find as you walk through the park, this crazy contraption for kids to scramble through, and the reason this park was established, the caverns. There are two cave tours here and they are really impressive. This is called the King's Row because the formations look like chess pieces, which also glow in the dark. A very cool phenomenon. But the highlight of this park is the giant canyon swing. This ride was rated by USA Today as the ninth best thrill ride in the country. It reaches speeds up to 50 miles per hour and swings out over the canyon where you can stare 1,300 feet straight down. Oh man, that's intense. This park is one of the reasons Glenwood Springs was once named America's Most Fun Town. We once spent an entire week vacationing here, hiking, biking, and river rafting. If you like playing outdoors, this is as good a family vacation spot as it gets. One of our very favorite things to do in Glenwood Springs is the vaudeville show. We absolutely adore this show, which is the brainchild of the show's passionate owner, John Goss. He's brought back this once popular form of entertainment that used to feature stars like Mae West and Charlie Chaplin. The night begins with dinner with several yummy dishes prepared by different local restaurants. This show remains true to vaudeville, which has always been a variety show. The old saying was that if you don't like what you're seeing, wait five minutes until the next act. Vaudeville was once the most popular form of entertainment in America, but was replaced by radio and TV. Today, thanks to Goss, it's been thriving in Glenwood Springs for the last 14 years. Okay, up next we're going to Maroon Bells, a park down here at a ski resort called Aspen Highlands. Hop on that shuttle and we'll take us up to Maroon Bells. Maroon Bells is a gorgeous mountain range and a perfect name for these purple peaks that look like bells. These peaks are over 14,000 feet in elevation, called 14ers here in Colorado. There are 58 such peaks in the state and all of them are bullseyes for hikers and rock climbers who try to check them all off if possible. This is a memorial here to people who've died trying to rock climb the bells. It's saying the deadly bells because it's deceiving. I guess there's a lot of rock climbers, even expert rock climbers, who stumbled to their death up there. It's the same flaky mudstone that gives them their purple color that also makes them so dangerous to climb. This valley is so heavenly. Look at how clear this water is. Oh man, that is some pure now we're going to a place where the beer flows like wine and the women instinctively flock like the salmon of Capistrano. A little place called Aspen. Aspen is like a little mountain utopia. It's probably the cleanest, greenest, and wealthiest place we've ever visited. Aspen has more uber wealthy people per capita than any other city in America. The average home here is around 20 million dollars. There's a place on the edge of town called Billionaire Mountain where people with names like Walton and Bezos live. There are two names to know about when you visit Aspen. The first is Jerome Wheeler, an early mining investor who basically built the town. This was his home and this is the Wheeler Opera House which he built. This was his hotel, the Hotel Jerome, and its story parallels with Aspen's. It was built during the early mining boom days but nearly went bust during the city's quiet phase. But after the ski industry took hold here, the town and the hotel started booming again. The Hotel Jerome was updated and now costs over two thousand dollars per night to stay here. Two thousand dollars a night? You've got to be kidding me! Now of course that is too rich for our blood but we did give ourselves a little higher end experience. We went in their little cafe and we tried some of their very fancy and delicious pastries. They were actually getting ready to close and throw their pastries in the garbage so they just gave them to us for free. Hey, if the rich want to give us free stuff, we'll take it. Honestly, this chocolate pistachio thing was insanely good. During World War II, the 10th Mountain Division was training near here, near Aspen, just across the mountain actually, at a place called Camp Hell. They trained there for World War II to go fight in the Alps. When they got home, they liked the area so much they came back here and started setting up some ski areas. So it's really pretty interesting that Aspen has its roots of skiing at World War II. Something else to know about Aspen is it is a fancy dog town. You don't see any mutts around here. These are like purebred expensive dogs and they're super welcome everywhere. Like at Maroon Bells, dogs are okay on the trail. You see dogs in the Hotel Jerome, in Louis Vuitton, like dogs are welcome everywhere. There's little dog bowls and it's just a fancy place, fancy dogs. The other name to know here is John Denver. So John Denver lived here in Aspen. Of course, he's famous for the Rocky Mountain High, all of his love of the Rocky Mountains and all of his country music and all that. He died in the 90s in a plane crash and the city of Aspen kind of got together and said we need to do something to memorialize him. So they created this John Denver Sanctuary and it is gorgeous. It's just this outdoor park with a bunch of boulders and wildflowers. There's also a lot of rocks here with text on it from either his quotes or lyrics from his songs. I don't think I've seen one weed in the gardens. I don't think I've seen one piece of trash. I don't think I've seen one unhappy person and so we kind of feel like we've invaded this little perfect utopia that they have going on here in Aspen, Colorado. We don't really feel exactly Aspen material, but I have to say that for this being an upscale town, people have been super nice. So Matt and I kind of joked that we were Aspen's charity cases today and we're very grateful for the hospitality and kindness of the people of Aspen. Okay, now it's time to get that Rocky Mountain High by going for a scenic drive over a mountain pass that's over 12,000 feet in elevation. This is called Independence Pass, also known as the Top of the Rockies Scenic Byway. This road is about 32 miles long and takes about an hour and a half with some cool stops like this gorgeous cascade. This is the Roaring Fork River, the same river we saw flowing through Aspen and Glenwood Springs. The first gold discovered in the Roaring Fork Valley was right here on July 4, 1879. A new town was formed in the gold rush which they named Independence in honor of the day gold was found. Later, as the mine started to fade, the town shrunk to about 100 people. One winter, the town had a particularly harsh snowstorm and the people were snowed in. That's when they tore side planks off of their cabins, attached them to their feet, and skied out of this valley down into Aspen, never to return again. We stopped at this cool little ghost town, Independence Ghost Town, that is in an amazing gorgeous valley here. That's always a good rule of thumb is to stop at ghost towns really for the scenery. They are located in some really scenic spots. It's just so scenic, so beautiful, and so remote. Independence Pass climbs to over 12,000 feet. Several of the peaks you see here are 14ers. This includes Mount Elbert, the tallest peak in Colorado, and the second tallest in the lower 48 states. This area is literally the top of the Rockies. From here, we can see the tree line below us indicating we are in tundra territory. We're heading east to Leadville, Colorado, but originally miners went west from Leadville in search of gold. Once they found it in that little ghost town of Independence, they created a road over this mountain pass, which we get to enjoy today. The descent passes through more beautiful scenery, as well as the small town of Twin Lakes, Colorado, named for the two beautiful lakes nearby. We're ending our drive in the highest city in the United States, Leadville, Colorado. We just finished the amazing Independence drive from Aspen into Leadville, and it was fantastic. We are famished, and we are so excited. We found this little local place our hotel recommended. It's called Tennessee Pass, and look at this amazing salad I just got. I am excited. Leadville sits at more than 10,000 feet above sea level, making it the highest city in the United States. I'm used to high elevation, and I still felt the thin air a little just walking around the town. Leadville's main street is a remnant of its heyday when it was the richest city in Colorado. It's a collection of vintage old west buildings. It was once visited by some famous western characters like Doc Holiday, Poker Alice, and the unsinkable Molly Brown. The Silver Dollar Saloon was established in 1879 and is the second oldest bar in Colorado. Its really cool western interior was once the scene of some really rowdy behavior, like when Doc Holiday shot someone across the street. If only these walls could talk. The Tabor Opera House is a testament to how much money mining brought into this community in the early days. Like most of the other Colorado towns we're visiting on this trip, the mines eventually ran out and the town declined. A lot of the other Colorado mining towns were later converted to ski towns. Leadville never really made that transition and has struggled to keep its residence over the years. Today it's trying to survive by luring tourists to learn about its mining past, which I learned about at the National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum. They also offer mining tours as well as a wonderful biking trail that leads by several mining shafts with interpretive displays. But we've opted instead for a different cool adventure. Right behind me is the Top of the Rockies zipline tour. So excited. Go on several of these zip lines down the canyon. I cannot wait. This is awesome. This is an incredible course. The truck took us to the top and we'll spend the next two hours working our way down the mountain by way of six zip lines interspersed with short walks. Each line has a name and each offers wonderful views of the mountains, gorges, and rivers. Hey girl. Hey. Hey. Eleven? Eleven. I just don't know which one's this. Grandma's house. Why? Over the river and through the woods. The honeymooner. Okay, final run here. Going down on the steepest one yet. We just finished this and it was so much fun. I was surprised at how long these zip lines are and it was really fun because a lot of them are double zip lines so you can have a partner and go at the same time and race. I felt like the guides were wonderful. They were funny. They were super professional. We're ending our third day in the most unique of Colorado mountain towns, Vail. Unlike the other towns in this video, Vail skipped the mining phase and was created as a ski town out of thin air in the 1960s. It was the vision of a few of those World War II vets in the 10th Mountain Ski Division and it was an instant success. Its fairytale look borrowed from the Bavarian villages of the Alps where the soldiers had fought as well as Disneyland. It's just a delight walking through the charming village. We also enjoyed seeing the memorial to the 10th Mountain Division skiers. The free shuttle system makes it easy to get around. Here's something a little strange. President Gerald Ford and First Lady Betty Ford had a home in Vail and they were a big part of the community. Betty loved gardening and the community loved Betty so much that they created the Betty Ford Alpine Garden in her honor. Its size is impressive and beauty unmatched. We made a little stop here at the Betty Ford Gardens here in Vail, Colorado and oh my gosh this is absolutely amazing. This is my new favorite botanical garden. I've decided that we have mountain towns in Colorado all wrong. I used to think about these towns as these rich snobby places but they're actually amazing places to go that anyone can the only freeway through the Colorado Rockies. It was so difficult building a road through these mountains that this was one of the last stretches of interstate in the entire country to be completed. I-70 stretches from Baltimore, Maryland to Utah. I've actually been to both ends of this road. This is an incredible section going through the Red Rock of Utah. The Colorado Mountain section is just as scenic and was the most difficult stretch to build. It's considered an engineering marvel. These are the Eisenhower Tunnels. They are over a mile long and named after Dwight D. Eisenhower who pushed for the creation of the U.S. interstate system. Before we move on to more mountain towns, train rides, and scenic drives, let's pause a moment to honor a movie that was filmed in this area, Dumb and Dumber. I expected the Rocky Mountains to be a little rockier than this. The road trip we're on is basically a Dumb and Dumber road trip. We live in Utah, close to where the airport scene, the big gulp scene, and the muck cut jump scene were filmed. We stopped in Aspen where they went in the movie to give Mary Swanson her briefcase back. And where Jim Carrey uttered the line, However, none of the movie was actually filmed in Aspen. The tongue scene and the epic snowball scene were filmed near Frisco which is a gorgeous area. We stayed here on our trip and went kayaking on the lake and loved it. We will also visit the location of the hotel scenes which I cannot wait to show you. But first, we're visiting the city that stood in for Aspen in the movie, Breckenridge. Starting at the visitor center in Breck as it is often called, we learned about the town's mining history. The largest gold nugget in Colorado's history was found here known as Tom's Baby. It weighed 11 pounds. And we also learned about how the early pioneers lived. This quick little exhibit is something I think is actually interesting. This is like what the installation and the outside of the house looked like. It has what they used for their chinking, their dobbing. They had newspaper for installation. This is the insides of the walls of an old school house. Of course, there's a section dedicated to its conversion to a ski town as well as a memorial to the 10th Mountain Division. The Riverwalk is a really nice and beautiful place to hang out. One of the best things about Breckenridge is that it has a free and robust trolley system to get you anywhere you want to go in town. We're going to see Breck's most famous attraction now. This big troll in the trees is named Isaac Heartstone. He's the creation of Thomas Dambo who builds trolls out of recycled material all over the world. Dambo is from the Netherlands and was once a rapper. But he changed his creative energy to focus on making public art out of garbage. He hopes to help people see that garbage doesn't have to be discarded. We visited another troll in Jackson Hole and they're just fun creations that sort of blend in with nature. Each of these towns has its own vibe. For us, Breckenridge was least interesting and we found their slogan, Be Like Breck, a tad pompous. But admittedly, we didn't give it as much time and we do look forward to returning. Georgetown is much smaller but more charming. It sits in a cozy little valley with a lake, a great overlook, and several nice Victorian homes dating back to its heyday. Every summer they offer a historic homes tour event. Downtown is only about one block but it's nice just to walk through some of the shops. Easily the biggest draw to visit Georgetown is the Georgetown Loop Railroad. We're in line for the train right now. These are the tickets. You gotta have these to get on the train. We got these ahead of time but picked them up at Willco just a minute ago. I'm excited and I'm a little scared because we've been on a train that's derailed before and when we were watching the train come in it stopped on the bridge and it like made me a little worried. You'd think this would be a recreation of an old mining train but nope, this train was a tourist train from the beginning and it was one of Colorado's very first visitor attractions. It was built in 1884 to allow Denver visitors to get an easy glimpse of the Rockies. It shut down during World War II and was demolished but with the help of donors, the Colorado Historical Society brought it back in the 1980s and even rebuilt the famous Devil's Gate Bridge. The train travels right along I-70 but most of the ride is below the freeway making it feel like an old-time train ride through remote and beautiful scenery as well as some recreated historical relics. It isn't until the end of the line that we finally see the cars. It makes a 15 minute stop at the end of the line where we can check out some fairly uninteresting exhibits as well as buy some souvenirs. While we're doing this, the train engine moves from the front to the back so it can pull us back the same way we came. This makes the loop in the name a little deceiving. The loop it makes is actually just a way of climbing the steep canyon. On the way back you have an option to get off and go for a mining tour but we skipped that option. The total ride only takes about an hour. It's a short but very pleasant ride with the breezy mountain air on our faces. All that's left is the final crossing of the bridge hoping it doesn't stop or derail. I really can't believe how many cool things we've done on this road trip and this next one might just outdo them all. We're driving on the highest road in North America. This road goes to the top of a mountain peak that when we drove it was named Mount Evans. A few months later it was renamed Mount Blue Sky. It requires a reservation and an entry fee to drive it. The road leads along a ridge with a gradual incline for a significant portion of the drive. This provides panoramic views and tundra landscape. Summit Lake is a wonderful stop along the drive. It costs a few bucks to park here but it's worth it. The walk to the lake among the tundra is hard to describe but it just feels so cool being among this field at the top of a mountain. I just cannot put into words how fascinating this area is. I was not expecting to see a glacier up here and it's just fascinating to see all this snow and ice and oh such beautiful and unique landscape. I am loving this. Another short walk provides a viewpoint of more gorgeous lakes. From here the drive gets more intense as it makes the final ascent up Mount Blue Sky via several narrow switchbacks. Oh my gosh I love this drive so much it is so fantastic and now we just found mountain goats. All right look at these cool guys just hanging out with us. What's up guys how you doing? We've reached the top where we find a strange little building known as the Castle in the Sky. This was once a restaurant but burned down in the 1970s. The castle is now ruled by mountain goats. From here we can see the ridge we drove on which is really cool to see it in perspective. We can also see Denver far in the distance. The sign in the parking lot says we're at the summit but the actual summit is a short hike up the hill which Cheryl did with our older boys. The altitude does affect a lot of people up here. I was surprised that when I tried to film Cheryl she was a little out of it. I cannot talk Matt. We live at 4,500 feet and this is still three times as high. It's so crazy how when you're up this high everything below including the mountains looks kind of flat. Oh my goodness I'm pretty sure I will never see anything like this again. I hope you've enjoyed watching it too. We're finishing out our day by driving to Rocky Mountain National Park. The drive takes us through some really cool little mountain towns like Black Hawk and Central. It also passes through a town called Netherland. We loved stopping at the Netherland Carousel of Happiness. This carousel is a true treasure. The skeleton of the carousel was purchased by a Vietnam vet with a vision. He spent the next 26 years carving the animals for the carousel. He had never carved before but found comfort in doing so after the war. It was opened in 2010 with a memorial to recognize the service of fallen veterans. The animals are a menagerie of intricately carved creatures. The fine details are a testament that these are a labor of love. This isn't just any old carousel. The cool thing is that guy has had a documentary made about him and his story and everything in there on that carousel again handcrafted by this guy and just tons of little creations all over the place. Really quite a remarkable creation and a really cool story in this little town in Netherland. Right next to the Carousel of Happiness is this cute little train car restaurant that makes these delicious mini donuts. We got the cinnamon sugar kind but they had some other ones. They have some lunch food too but we thought we would take a little snack before we head into Estes Park. Those are good. Before we finish our day in Estes Park we're doing a short walk that will whet our appetite for Rocky Mountain National Park. As you drive around Colorado you're gonna see things named Columbine. You're gonna see flower symbols and what they're talking about is this beautiful Colorado Columbine. I've noticed them on our hikes this last week and they really are a gorgeous flower. I can see why they pay so much tribute to this flower on a lot of their signage in Colorado. We can't wait to explore the park more starting tomorrow. But first let's give a little introduction to Estes Park which is our home base for the next few days. Estes Park was created before the National Park. The residents of Estes lobbied hard to turn their backyard into a national park which they wanted to call Estes National Park. So this town has had a long and proud connection to Rocky Mountain National Park. We're riding the trolley downtown to shop and eat. We're on Elkhorn Avenue right now. This is the main shopping center or district for Estes Park so there's a lot of t-shirt shops, restaurants, ice cream stores. This is the original taffy shop. This place has been in business for over 80 years and they still use the original taffy pulling method which even if you don't get taffy you should just stop and watch it. It's mesmerizing. But Matt and I went in and we bought a few different kinds of taffy. We've got salted caramel, raspberry lemonade, blueberry, and cotton candy. And I have to say this is not the yucky taffy they throw at you at a parade. This is the yummy stuff and it's been owned by like two families over the last 80 years. These cute brothers are in there selling it. I would highly recommend checking out the taffy shop. They stop traffic in all directions so that people can cross the street. Only time this is legal that we're Let's see if we can eat this thing. Oh man. Rocky Mountain National Park is one of the most visited national parks in the country. It's easily accessible from a major city, Denver, and although it doesn't have the highest peaks in Colorado, there's just something more magical about it. Rocky Mountain is really a hiker's dream. There are scenic drives and plenty of easy walks for non-hikers, but if you like to hike you'll love this park. Or maybe I should say parks because the valleys and meadows around here are called parks as in Estes Park. This is Moraine Park. This is Horseshoe Park. The term came from early French fur trappers and I just love that it has stuck around. These big u-shaped valleys are evidence they were carved by glaciers as is the jagged and imposing Hallett Peak. We were so fortunate to see some wonderful places this year like the Utah National Parks, Yellowstone, and the Canadian Rockies and these views right here are among my most treasured memories. This is Rocky Mountain National Park. Ready for a little tingle up your spine? You can go visit the actual Stanley Hotel. This is where Stephen King came up with the idea for The Shining and even though I'm not a horror movie fan and I really don't believe in the paranormal, this hotel is spooky. Now for about 10 bucks you can just park here and walk around the lobby a little bit, but we paid for a tour and they actually offer a few different types of tours. They have a shining tour, they have a night tour, they even have like a seance reader guy. So if you really want to get spooked out you can come check out the Stanley Hotel. It was a good time. So Stephen King stayed in room 217 and that's right there. You can go get your picture taken right outside of this room and actually people can stay in room 217 and she told us some interesting stories about room 217 on the tour. Did we see ghosts on the tour? We saw pictures of ghosts and she told us to be looking in mirrors because they like to show up in the mirrors. The real star of the show is actually Dumb and Dumber. I mean none of the movie The Shining was filmed here at the Stanley Hotel. Dumb and Dumber though was filmed here. This is so cool. So these, there's a lot going on right now, these are the stairs that they pull up to in their ridiculous overpriced outfits. In the movie they're supposed to be in Aspen, Colorado but they're actually here in Estes Park. They pull up here and they start handing out the money like crazy. Now today they have actually blocked off the driveway here and they've created a hedge maze that has to do with The Shining because everybody when they come they want to know about the hedge maze. We're inside the Stanley Hotel now and it is really cool in here. It's a beautiful hotel. These are the stairs where Jim Carrey races Mary up the stairs. Of course he falls, he grabs her ankles. In the movie the interior here is a lot whiter and she said that the hotel was white in here but then Stephen King came. Long story but he didn't really like the movie actually and so when he got the rights to his own story and movie back he came here to do a mini series and he said no we need to paint these dark. So they've actually painted all the wood in here dark since Dumb and Dumber was filmed. This is the bar where Jim Carrey says and I don't care right here behind me and then over here is the sign man walks on the moon. No way! And then he runs out the bar here. We landed on the moon! Okay now let's get back into the National Park. Before this was a National Park a dam was constructed in this valley within today's park boundaries. The 95 foot high dam held fine for 79 years but in 1982 it broke. Water from the reservoir came crashing down into this valley where it turned Fall River into a roaring river crashing into and through Estes Park causing millions of dollars in damage and the loss of several lives. Today we can see the 500 foot wide alluvial fan that was created from the flood. We're now entering the old Fall River Road, a scenic drive that will take us to the top of the mountains. The narrow dirt road is one way only. I loved this because it gently rises through this valley providing a number of different looks. This stop looks back at a beautiful meadow before we really start the climb. Some stretches ride through the forest and others provide views of the canyon walls with towering cascades. Welcome to the old Fall River Road. This was the original road that got tourists to the top of Rocky Mountain National Park. The road received a lot of damage in the 1950s and they thought about just ending it all together. It was dormant for like 15 years. There was enough demand to bring this road back because it's such a beautiful scenic drive. I loved driving Fall River Road but honestly this next experience was probably my favorite in Rocky Mountain National Park. I'm standing here at National Park Gateway Stables. They are located right on the edge of Rocky Mountain National Park. At the recommendation of one of our viewers, Old Ranger, I took my son for a horseback ride. Truth be told I have a goal to go horseback riding in every national park I can. My ride through the hoodoos of Bryce Canyon will be really tough to beat but this was very close. Okay I gotta see this guy. Rebel? Sweet. Hey Rebel. It was a rainy day and the company gave us the option to cancel it with a full refund but my son and I were really looking forward to it so we bumped it back to the last ride of the day hoping the skies would clear. The stables are outside the park but the ride goes into the park. We got a kick out of our guide who had a very difficult horse. Others in our group had never been before and they also had trouble controlling their horses. Pro tip, don't ever let your horse eat grass. What's up? I was proud of my son and how well he did on the ride. Basically we climbed up the valley alongside Fall River before circling back once we got to the top. It was near the top that the sun finally broke through and it was exceptionally beautiful the rest of the way. Just a fantastic ride through incredible scenery. During the ride it cleared up and it just got really really beautiful. It was a fantastic experience. I rode Rebel, my son behind the camera rode Gambler and we had a great time. The ride was really beautiful. The sun came out and it was just fantastic. We finished off our day at Antonio's in Estes Park where we ate the biggest pizza we've ever seen. Whoa baby. Now it's time for the premier experience in Rocky Mountain National Park, driving the Trail Ridge Road. This road was constructed to replace the old Fall River Road as the main route from the east side to the west side of the park. It connects Estes Park to Grand Lake. It's over 40 miles long and takes two hours to drive plus time for stops. Our first stop is Hidden Valley. There was once a ski resort here but now it's home to the Junior Ranger Headquarters. They gave us a fun little scavenger hunt packet to explore the nature trail with. We found the tundra and the tree line up on the mountains with the binoculars. We use this to look at all the colors in a rock. We felt the trees and the bark. The Trail Ridge Road is different than the old Fall River Road in that it climbs the mountain quickly then rides high on the ridge for several miles. Like the Mount Blue Sky Road we're up here among the tundra. Rocky Mountain thunderstorms blow in quickly and we found ourselves in a crazy hail storm. So we took refuge in the Alpine Visitor Center, the highest visitor center in the National Park System. We actually drove this road in two parts. We drove the second half after doing the old Fall River Road which explains the gorgeous blue skies on the way down the west side where we saw more pristine lakes, green valleys, and wildlife. This side also had some cool historic cabins to wander through, a remnant of the old west days before this was protected as a park. The Trail Ridge Road is an unforgettable drive but of the many scenic drives we did on this trip which one was our favorite? I'll answer that in a moment but first if you want to do a Colorado road trip like this here are five tips to pull it off. First, the most common way to do this is probably from Rocky Mountain National Park to Glenwood Springs. From there you've got a few options. One, return to Denver. Two, continue all the way to Las Vegas seeing the five Utah National Parks on the way. This road trip combines some of the best mountains and desert scenery in the country. Three, go to the closest airport in Salt Lake City. And four, make a loop through Southern Colorado back to Denver with more incredible mountain scenery like the Million Dollar Highway in the San Juan Mountains. Next, if you're coming from a lower altitude, which means pretty much everyone, you'll notice the lack of oxygen. This is a minor inconvenience to the vast majority of visitors but try to take it easy and lay off the alcohol for the first few days as you acclimate. Some people do get altitude sickness in the form of headaches or throwing up. Third, let's talk about when to visit and for how long. Try to visit between July and September. At this high of elevation not all roads are cleared by June and hiking trails can be muddy. We did this road trip in nine days not counting travel days to get there and home. You can shave off a few days if needed but just remember that a lot of the scenic drives are slow going. Fourth, each mountain town has similar mountain activities such as train rides, gondolas, mining tours, horseback rides, biking, rafting, and ATV. This makes it easy to get awesome variety on your trip but it's a little difficult to decide which ones you should do. Therefore, fifth, consider picking up our guides for this trip so you can visit Colorado with confidence. They're simple to follow and they give you a plan to see the best of each mountain town including walking tours and restaurant recommendations and the scenic drives in between the towns as well. You can do the same road trip we just did with some customization for you of course. We provide tips for saving money and which of the many activities to choose from. To get the digital downloads visit wereintherockies.com and you can have them in your email inbox in just a few minutes. So back to our question, which scenic drive was our favorite? For that answer you should check out our video on the five best scenic drives in Colorado. Thank you for watching and until next time, Go West Jump Traveler!