Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase through a link on this page, I may get a commission, at no cost to you. Any recommendations that I make are for products or services I have personally used and highly recommend.

Tootsie’s Bottom Line

Estes Park

• Stanley Hotel: inspiration for The Shining-no filming here-Stephen King and wife were guests and he had a nightmare that inspired the movie. Worth a stop more because it’s an amazing hotel and the setting is breathtaking, association with “The Shining” makes it more interesting.
• Rocky Mountain National Park-drive Trail Ridge Rd and visit Sprague Lake, look closely when driving-lots of wildlife can be seen grazing, resting, etc.

Colorado Springs:

• Garden of the Gods: go for sunrise-this was a last minute change to our itinerary; it was breathtaking
• Black Bear Diner: incredible breakfast-good, fresh food served by great and friendly staff

Red Rocks/Copper Mountain

• Red Rocks Amphitheater-worth a stop-very cool place to see concert/movie-easy access
• Copper Mountain-tube or ski here-make reservations in advance-enjoy driving through the small towns-Frisco and Breckenridge

Vail

• Must try skiing or snowboarding in this world famous resort
• Villages are nice and easy walks

Itinerary:

We traveled to Denver for a long weekend, using a great, discounted fare from Atlanta. COVID restrictions were easing a bit, but things were tighter in Colorado, meaning masks everywhere. Landing in Denver, we used a downtown hotel as base camp for a couple of days. We arrived on a Wednesday night and stayed two nights at the Element Hotel in downtown Denver. The hotel had two queen size beds and a pull out sofa that gave us plenty of room for four. The next morning we were up early for a full day of sightseeing. I was anxious to see what Denver and the surrounding area had to offer us.

Estes Park, CO

I’ve wanted to go to Colorado since reading the Magic Tree House book, Ghost Town at Sundown. My family loves the beach, but my allegiance has always been torn. I love the beach and all it has to offer, but I also love to snowboard and have enjoyed trips to the Adirondack and Green Mountains.

Estes Park is known as the “gateway to the Rockies”. A small town near multiple entrances to Rocky Mountain National park, it has shopping, restaurants, and galleries along the town’s river walk. You can make a full day here and in the park. The drive from Denver is about 65 miles but took us a couple of hours mainly because there were so many places to stop and look at the incredible mountains. Probably not the best picture of us, but the sun was blinding.

Listening

My mom likes to listen to podcasts that are set in areas that we visit.  On this trip, we were listening to a series produced by Tenderfoot TV, “Up & Vanished-Season 2”, a series set in Crestone, CO about a missing person’s case, Kristal Reisinger. Kristal has been missing since July 13, 2016.  These series are amazing and hopefully, they’ll help solve some crimes!

On our way to the park, we’d make a quick stop at the Stanley Hotel which was made world famous by the horror movie, “The Shining”. We watched it the night before in our hotel room! The hotel was around long before the Shining was filmed and is worth the time even if it’s only a short visit, as it was in our case. The Stanley Hotel opened its’ doors in 1909. One summer in the area caused inventor Freelan Oscar Stanley to fall in love and not only vow to return but to share this beautiful area with others.

When it opened, the Stanley Hotel rivaled any of the finest resorts in the North East and was equipped with telephones, electricity, private bathrooms and servants. Stanley also helped the town grow to support his guests. A one night stay by Stephen King inspired his best seller, The Shining, which was later made into a movie and TV mini-series. Stephen King and his wife, Tabitha, ended up at the hotel on the last night of the season due to bad weather. As the only guests in the hotel, their stay was a bit eerie and King had a nightmare. By checkout, he had largely planned what would become his third novel. The movie itself was filmed in a studio but the Stanley Hotel was the inspiration.

Rocky Mountain National Park

We used the primary entrance to Rocky Mountain which was a short drive from the Stanley Hotel. We used the Fall River entrance. The road is well paved and in early April, there was no snow on the lower portion of the road. We stayed on Trail Ridge Road as long as we could but the top portion was still closed due to weather. Fun fact,Trail Ridge Road is the highest paved road in the U.S. When forced to turn around, we drove through the park on Bear Lake Road. Along the way we saw elk and herds of deer, around every curve, another breathtaking view. We made our way to Sprague Lake where we parked and took a walk around the lake. The ice was beginning to melt on the lake and the setting was amazing. There is a small picnic area there as well.

Colorado Springs-Garden of the Gods

We planned to visit Garden of the Gods on Friday but our plans changed due to some last minute but valuable research. It was highly recommended that we be there for sunrise. With our base in Denver, this meant an EARLY start plus we needed to pack the car; we were changing hotels! We were on the road by 5:00 AM for the hour plus drive to Colorado Springs. We made our way to the overlook on Mesa Road. We waited here, along with a news crew, for the day to break and it was so worth it! Check the weather forecast-it was cold and windy. We were complaining a bit about the early start until the sun rose and lit up the rocks. It was worth the early alarm.

The park itself didn’t open until later so we feasted on breakfast at the Black Bear Diner after watching the sunrise! Our waitress was very friendly and the breakfast was big, homemade and delicious.

We returned to the park once it opened and went to the visitor’s center where we were given a detailed map and got a great overview of the park.  We parked across the street from the visitor’s center and walked a couple of short trails, but the wind was howling, and we had several more stops so we finished the park in the car-we did two loops around to make sure we got to see what we wanted.  Wish we had more time to spend here but we definitely weren’t dressed for the wind and cool morning temperatures.

 Red Rocks Park & Amphitheater

We were back in the car to start the trek to Frisco where we had afternoon reservations for tubing at Copper Mountain in Frisco, CO.  About halfway to Frisco, we saw signs for Red Rocks.  We were a little ahead of schedule so we took a detour to see the famous stadium and it was worth the stop; I would love to see anyone perform here. Very cool venue!  Red Rocks is a well known amphitheater. What I didn’t know is it is “the only naturally-occurring, acoustically perfect amphitheater in the world”.  

Tubing-Copper Mountain

From Red Rocks, we finished the second half of the trip to Copper Mountain.  Tubing was great!  The lanes were well maintained and fast. Surprised us, but masks were required even for outdoor activities.  Great “lift” to bring people and tubes to the top of the hill and max out the number of runs you get.  Had a great time here and so glad we made this a stop!  Final stop Vail, following a half hour drive.  We did a driving tour of Frisco and Breckenridge-both great towns that would have been nice to spend a little more time in. 

Vail

Arrived in Vail in late evening and was surprised to find that the restaurants were closed-hotel thought it was a combination of COVID and the season ending.  We stayed at the Vail Marriott Mountain Resort & Spa; it was about to undergo a major renovation right after we left and is now The Hythe.  The resort, setting and staff were amazing!  The heated pools and hot tubs outside were great and we were able to make s’mores at outside firepits.  My mom and sister used the services at the spa-my mom had a massage and sister had a facial.  They both said they loved it!

Vail is SMALL and research makes it sound bigger and more confusing than needed. The town of Vail and those with the foresight to recognize that this breathtaking area had so much potential, have created their own oasis. Vail Village and Lionshead are two similar alpine hamlets comprised of hotels, restaurants, and shops. The shopping consists of ski/outdoor shops, clothing, jewelry, and souvenirs shops. The two areas are about one mile apart and have some overlap in stores. The streets are cobblestone; this is an alpine getaway in every sense of the word. We stayed in Lionshead, closest to the Eagle Bahn Gondola.  We were signed up for lessons and equipment rentals as part of a package with Vail Sports.  It was a dream to just stroll over to the mountain and start the day (make time in advance to get reservations though).  No parking lots, shuttles or dragging all of the heavy equipment around.  The lessons gave some instruction, an overview of the mountain and ski package for the day. Package included the lesson, equipment rental and lift ticket. During the afternoon, we were free to ski wherever we wanted at the resort. Definitely spring skiing conditions. We met up for lunch at Garfinkel’s which was your typical American food-burgers, wings, salads.  We ended up ordering room service both nights because we got out of our room too late and missed the restaurants.  We did enjoy walking around the small villages in the evening.  This is a special place and I’m so glad we went, but if you’re not doing something active, I think you’ll get bored pretty quickly.

Denver-Union Station

Last but not least, we had time to visit one landmark in Denver, Union Station. As you’d imagine with a name like Union Station, this was a hub for train travel. First opened in 1880, it was the largest building in the West. Due to increased train travel, the building that had been rebuilt in 1894 following a fire, was torn down and its’ replacement opened in 1914. This time even bigger! By the 1950s when “Travel by Train” was added to the façade, train travel was already becoming antiquated. After decades of little or no use, it was purchased by the Union Station Alliance. Following a restoration, Union Station reopened in 2014. It is now the perfect blend of old and new. A hub for fine dining, shopping and home to the Crawford Hotel. Throughout the interior, there are nods to the past and you can’t help but feel like you’re stepping back in time when you walk through the doors. Make time for a stop here.

This was a fast and furious trip to the Denver area and I can’t wait to go back!