Colorado was one of the states I was really looking forward to visiting when I started my road trip. I was a little worried about the weather before coming here. I was expecting snow but it was sunny the entire week I was there with highs in the 50s to 70s.

Denver

My first stop in Colorado is its capital, Denver. Denver is also known as the Mile High City because it has an elevation that is roughly one mile above sea level. I stayed in a cheap hotel right by the Belleview light rail station so I won’t have to drive to downtown and pay for parking. The fare to lower downtown (or LoDo) is $4 each way from that station. You can view the routes and schedule from http://www.rtd-denver.com.

Plenty of shops and restaurants to choose from in lower downtown. The busiest area appears to be the 16th Street Mall. Bus rides up and down this street is also free.

There are also plenty of outdoor Meetup groups in the Denver area and I attended one the day before Thanksgiving at Alderfer/Three Sisters Park. Really good hiking spot, the weather that day was perfect, and met some really nice people who gave me recommendations on what to visit both in Colorado and in other states!

Colorado Springs

I spent my Thanksgiving in Colorado Springs. I spent a good amount of my day at Garden of the Gods park, which someone recommended to me. Beautiful park and free admission! Hiked some of the trails here and then drove around the area enjoying the scenery. Weather that day again was perfect!

The following day I decided to check out Pike’s Peak by riding the Cog Railway. The Cog Railway ticket costs $34 per person for adults and $18.50 for children. The ride is only about 9 miles but it takes an hour to an hour and a half each way because the Cog Railway only goes about 5-10mph. It’s definitely good to experience once. It’s very cold at the top, I think it was around 12 °F when I was there (and some people were wearing shorts!). You can also drive or hike up there if you like.

Boulder

I first heard about Boulder from the book Do More Faster, which is about startups. TechStars, a startup incubator, 

started their program here. It’s a nice little college town surrounded by mountains. I checked out the downtown area the day I got there then went hiking at Chautauqua the following day before heading to Estes Park.

Rocky Mountain National Park

I stayed in Estes Park the night before and woke up early to go hiking at Rocky Mountain National Park. Beautiful views along the way on Trail Ridge Road, but unfortunately most of it was closed due to snow. I turned around and followed the sign to Bear Lake Trailhead. I parked at the Glacier Gorge Trailhead and started my hike there.

Some really nice views at some spots during the hike. I also passed a bunch of lakes but they were all frozen and covered with snow, so not much to see here. I also saw some people ice climbing as I was hiking up. Lots of people snowshoeing.

I spent pretty much my entire day here and was really tired when I got back to my hotel. Had a good night’s sleep :).