[Guest]

Hello all I m wanting to vacation in Colorado. We live in SE Kansas. We are renting a travel trailer, and are wanting to go somewhere, within about a days drive. My wife wants to stop in Dodge City as well thus thinking that Colorado would be another great stop. We also have 2 kids ages 7 and 16 months. Anyhow what I would like is some places to go that would be fun for the whole fam. My 7 year old boy has wanted to go to the mountains forever. And as he says that is where the dinosaurs were. Anyhow any help would be appreciated.

 

[SusanF]

My sisters and I LOVE Estes Park for the family...lots to do around town in addition to Rocky Mountain National Park.
________
Aerovette

 

[achiro]

Ralph, my boy is also 7 and loves dinosaurs. We went to the Denver natural history museum a few years ago and he really loved it. If you are in that area, it would be a great stop. I also agree on Estes Park. Driving through the mountains and the national park, you will see lots of wildlife.
Have fun

 

[westksbowhunter]

Estes Park is great. Your kids would love staying at Jelly Stone. Also drive down to Canon City. Lots to do there. We have taken our kids to out there for the last 5 years. You maybe disappointed in Dodge City. I live an hour north of there and hate it. You will know what I mean once you get there. However you could show the kids how devestating a tornado is on the way to Dodge.

 

[A_Fever]

I'll jump on the Estes Park band wagon. Nice drive up the canyon. There is a glass shop at the top of the hill, if you catch the guy making something kids usually think it is pretty cool. If you have time Rocky Mt. National Park is also pretty spectacular, althought they may still have a good amount of snow.

 

[MooseGooser]

Southeast Kansas!! The Goosers' got relatives in the town of Cherryvale...
Great country there! too may chiggars for me... :shock:
To vacation in Colorado - and want to entertain yourself with dinosaurs - the best place in the Western US is "Dinosaur Natl Monument" in extreme Northwest Colorado - really cool country, Butch Cassidy and the Kids hideouts are there. The main lodge that includes the dig is really something to see. It is however, a good 5 hour drive from Denver area.

Dinosaurs in the Denver area - there is a small site that includes a nature walk along a shale hogback (foothill mountains) it is basically an informational hike with display boards along the way...the name of this place is "Dinosaur Ridge." in Morrison, Colorado Most of the nature walk is actually on a pedestrian way along a road. ((but, still worth your time))
You could do this 'pit stop' on the way to Estes Park...

You have picked a good year to visit as we've had a lot of snow this Winter and rain this Spring - the mountains are absolutely beautiful!!

I tend to avoid the I-70 corridor - west of Denver. This includes the towns of Dillion, Vail, Glenwood Springs. However, Glenwood Springs is an interesting town with much to do and see there - that the family will enjoy...the drive thru Glenwood Canyon itself (I-70) is spectacular if you've never seen it... I will caution you however, that traffic along this highway can be extreme on the Summer weekends.

I agree - Estes Park thru "The Big Thompson Canyon" is a good destination...but, the must see while in Estes - is the drive thru Rocky Mountain National Park over Trail Ridge Road into the town of Grandby.
:wink: Touristy - but, gorgeous!!!!!!!
Feel free to email this 53 year old Colorado Native for my favorite haunts... GOOSER!

 

[zoomngoldens]

Another cool dinosaur site in southeast Colorado is Picketwire Canyon. There are something like 1300 dinosaur tracks along the Purgatoire River. The site is in the Comanche National Grasslands located south of LaJunta (which is on Hwy 50 heading to Kansas). Take Hwy 350 south from LaJunta heading towards Trinidad. It gets super hot there in the summer, but if you're planning your trip for sometime soon it may be okay. The USFS does car tours if you have a 4x4 or you can hike to the canyon.

 

[achiro]

Southeast Kansas!! The Goosers' got relatives in the town of Cherryvale...

I spent a lot of time there growing up. My great grandparents lived there most of their life and my grandparents had a home there for several years. Lots of good memories in that place for me.

 

[MooseGooser]

The Coat's owned the doughnut shop in Cherryvale for years! She, my aunt, is known all through the U.S. for her bread baking. (man its like cake to me)
Great country! Nice people!

Ralph!

Picketwire WOULD be a good stop along the way(US 50) to visit Soutwestrn Colorado (Mesa Verde and the San Juans) from Kansas! I sent you a E-Mail! privatly! There's too many Hillbillys on this board to give away my secret spots! :lol:

Gooser

 

[Illinois Bob]

We toured around Colorado a couple of years ago and are returning to Estes Park this fall.Estes was our favorite place but there is so much to see all over Colorado that we were like kids in a candy store.Any of these would be fun for kids:The Steam train from Durango to Silverton.Ride the outdoor cattle cars not the passenger cars.-Mesa Verde,climbing around the cliff houses,-Pikes Peak cog train was fun,Hiking just about anywhere.We didn't like Aspen because it seemed a little too snobby but hiking at Maroon Bells is great.There is great places all over that state but Estes Park is where we picked to go back to to spend some time.It has just about everything to do there.If you can time it in the fall you have to go see the elk rut.Awesome.This is a video of a bull we watched chasing other bulls from his harem.Give it a minute to download and play it loud.
http://s161.photobucket.com/albums/t231/trackerlab/?action=view&current=MVI_3355.flv

 

[Losthwy]

Agree with Bob there is so much to offer here in the summer. It really depends on what you like to do to where you go. You can choose from fly fishing anything from float trips to alpine beaver ponds, rafting the Colorado or Arkansas, train trips, back packing, hiking, kayaking, wildlife viewing, and so forth. There are several national parks and they are all very different from one another example.

 

[Illinois Bob]

Side note: Where I live is at an earpopping 922' above sea level.The fiirst few days hiking in the mountains a did notice a slight dizziness.I'm not sure if it was from the slightly higher elevations that are found in Colorado or the Durango Wheat Beer that I was drinking.On our next trip I plan to expirement again with several beers to determine the source of this dizziness.