Colorado trip with my pops

My dad is driving out here so we can do some touristing out in southern Utah and northern Arizona.

After about a week of that, we are coming back to ABQ to rest a bit, then we'll be heading all the way to NY.  We'll be driving two cars, one with 4WD and decent tires, one roadster.

He has never set foot in Colorado before (except the airport perhaps) so we'd like to see some of the must see stuff.  He doesn't ski, and he'll be limited to moderate hikes of not more than 3 or 4 miles.  I can't get a solid answer from him on how much time he wants to spend on this, but I think three days would be reasonable.

Just thinking of things I've seen in CO that I wouldn't want him to miss, I've come up with this:

-US 84 up to Pagosa Springs, then west to Durango.

-Million Dollar Highway

-50 then 65 to Grand Mesa and Lands End

-Up to I-70, then east through Glenwood Canyon (haven't done this in a while, remember it being beautiful)

-East through the Eisenhower Tunnel, then back over Loveland Pass to do it again.  I guess we could maybe skip the tunnel.

-Colorado 103 from Idaho Springs to El Rancho.  Don't think I've done this before, but saw some pics and it looked like a nice alternative to interstate.

-Maybe stash the car in Denver and go drive up Pike's Peak.

-Eastward to infinity...

Comments and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  You guys helped me out bigtime this year when I went cruisin' through Michigan and so on.  Thanks in advance.

If he's interested, while your on I-70 & East of the tunnel, there's  Look Out Mountain for the views, and you could cruise through the Buffalo Bill Cody museum.   And there are some cool dinosaur excavations throughout the state.

If your in Southren Colorado by Alamosa, the Sand Dunes Natonal Monument is always worth the stop!

More interesting roads typically open up on Memorial Day weekend.  When is he driving here?

1- drive up the highest paved road in N. America - Mt. Evans.  If he doesn't like exposed narrow mtn roads with no guard rails and parts of the road have fallen down the mountain, it might not be a good choice.  My father freaked out on me the other summer and I had to turn around before we reached the summit.  (I drove real, real, slow too).  He did the same thing going up Rollins Pass.

2.  Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mtn Natl Park.  Highest continuous paved road in N. America.  Nice, scenic, not a scary road, has guard rails.

3) Independence Pass - beyond gorgeous.  It can be scary in some spots - my old boyfriend freaked out on me in several spots.  There is also the ghost town at the top of the pass.

We should be in CO right around Memorial Day.

The Mt. Evans route appears to be right off 103...awesome.  Maybe I won't need to drive down to Colorado Springs.

Need to look into the rest of the suggestions this evening.  Thanks for the help so far folks!

Quote:

Originally Posted by daysailer1 

More interesting roads typically open up on Memorial Day weekend.  When is he driving here?

 

1- drive up the highest paved road in N. America - Mt. Evans.  If he doesn't like exposed narrow mtn roads with no guard rails and parts of the road have fallen down the mountain, it might not be a good choice.  My father freaked out on me the other summer and I had to turn around before we reached the summit.  (I drove real, real, slow too).  He did the same thing going up Rollins Pass.

 

2.  Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mtn Natl Park.  Highest continuous paved road in N. America.  Nice, scenic, not a scary road, has guard rails.

 

3) Independence Pass - beyond gorgeous.  It can be scary in some spots - my old boyfriend freaked out on me in several spots.  There is also the ghost town at the top of the pass.

Was it because you took them up there on one of these?

Last summer, we drove West on I-70 from Vail, through Glenwood Canyon, up to Aspen for happy hour/early dinner, then came back over Independence Pass (hitting the summit pretty close to sunset).

I love driving through Glenwood Canyon (which I have now done several times), but thought Independence Pass was spectacular.  Also enjoyed watching some of the local kids in the skate park in Aspen.

Quote:

Originally Posted by crgildart 

 

Was it because you took them up there on one of these?

Naw, I left Fred at home on those trips.  He only has a 150cc engine. 

One trip I drove my dad's big pickup truck.  The trip with the boyfriend,..well,.....that's when I still had my zippy little sports car.   It loved to be zippy on Independence Pass.  I tried to ignore the screaming for the most part.  I miss that car. 

What zippy little car was it?  You've got me curious. :)

OK, so I've added Independence Pass, which seems to add around 150-200 miles in total,  not exact because Google Maps is puking when I try to put a via point there.

Thanks for this, now I've got plenty to do the next few times I see CO in the summer.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Garrett 

What zippy little car was it?  You've got me curious. :)

This is exactly what Pookie looked like.  1978 VW Scirocco

Neat.  A buddy of mine had a later model in high school.  Really fun car.

If you do the Million Dollar Highway, be sure to stop outside of Silverton at the ghost town of Animas Forks.

The skiing on Independence Pass should still be really good. Your dad could drive a couple of shuttles. Plus there's a rumor that Aspen Mountain might be open on Memorial weekend.

Quote:

Originally Posted by daysailer1 

 

 

This is exactly what Pookie looked like.  1978 VW Scirocco

LOL!  I had an 1981 V-8 Firebird when I did my first Colorado and NM ski trips in the mod 80s.  It did surprisingly well with chains on.  I eventually got an 82 Scirocco and drove that from 90 thru 1998.  It was green.   I believe that was the last year made in Germany.  I drove that car all over the country and it never let me down. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by SHREDHEAD 

The skiing on Independence Pass should still be really good. Your dad could drive a couple of shuttles. Plus there's a rumor that Aspen Mountain might be open on Memorial weekend.

Thought about this a bit, but I figure I made him wait around for me skiing more than enough for a lifetime when I was a kid.

Quote:

Originally Posted by crgildart 

 I drove that car all over the country and it never let me down. 

Mine did fairly well too.  It only left me stranded a few times.  Once on Hwy 54  five miles west of Chapel Hill and another time south-bound on 15/501 at the Durham city limits.  It ate its engine that time and I had to replace it.  I guess it hated Chapel Hill.  I moved to Colorado and put well over another 130,000 on it.  No problems in Colorado.  When I sold it, it had somewhere around 250,000-300,000 miles on it.  It still had plenty of umph under the hood.

My odometer quit at 130,000 but I drove it for years after that, probably another 100K at least.  It ran fine when I traded it in, but had no A/C  Everything else was spot on.