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Then drive east to Idaho Springs and take the gravel road to Central City. When the road forks, don't worry; they all go to Central, one of Colorado's fabled old boom towns. From there drop into Blackhawk, then east to the airport.
I recommend driving quickly through Denver. The once proud Queen City of the Plains has little to offer these days.
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I'm astounded at this outlook on a relocation investigation trip with limited time to explore WYOMING that you come out as a booster for a COLORADO tour ... and, at that, a number of places which are remote from Riverton or Torrington, which is where the OP is looking at residing. Cental City/Blackhawk is the site of old mining towns which have been redeveloped as Colorado's gaming towns. Tacky, cheap, crappy restaurants, and little to focus on their storied mining history with all the latest gaming tourism. One goes to these places to spend time in casino's anymore, if that's your pleasure. When first built out/redeveloped when Colorado voted in gaming casino's, the places made money. In more recent years, the gaming industry has lost a lot of market share and the anticpated boom town economy hasn't proved out for a number of major casino operations. It's had to get a lot more bare bones, lower class than was originally planned. A day excusion on the gambler's tour bus from the front range towns of Colorado is what the place has become.
Georgetown still retains it's mining heritage and the loop railroad is worth the ride ... but not as an alternative to a tour through Wyoming's features of local interest to the OP in a time limited discovery tour of Wyoming residency. I find some of the mining focused old shops in town to be of interest, but again ... there's a time and place for this when I'm already down in Colorado.
Surely you could come up with WYOMING places of interest to tour through which also have history and scenery to explore?
As well, in view of how highly you've repeatedly spoken of the virtues of Cody, for your casual dismissal of Denver, well ... it's simply wrong and unjustified. Denver has more museums, places of interest, entertainments, shows, cultural events, local color, and a long western history which is hardly matched by any but a few attractions in Wyoming. For those who are into pro or major league sports, well ... Denver's the reqional hub for those events. Concert venues? Live Music? It's where Wyoming folk head to for many events. As well, Denver has month's worth of excellent restaurants which cannot be found in Wyoming ... ranging to almost any cuisine that one can think of, from any continent/region of the world ... even the little neighborhood joints, breakfast/lunch diners put anything in Cody to shame (along with the numerous quality mexican restaurants in Denver). Suffice to say that for many Wyoming residents, heading south to Fort Collins and frequently to Denver for activities, shopping, medical treatment, and other similar purposes is a justifiable and not uncommon event. I even head to Ft Collins routinely for my livestock feed because the mills there offer a better product/price than I can get in Wyoming ... even the mark-up on Ft Collins feed per bag in Cheyenne is enough to pay for my fuel and a nice meal at JeJu (or similar) in Ft Collins and still leave me with the better part of $100 in my pocket. The Cheyenne feed stores aren't listening .... and Torrington doesn't give me any better price breaks.
Estes Park is a major tourist destination during the summer months. It certainly has it's charms, but I'll take the more laid-back Black Hills region of Wyoming (and into SD) anyday over Estes if it's a matter of only a couple hours to Wyoming's Black Hills from Torrington rather than a longer trip to the hustling of Estes Park.
Ah, by the way ... I've had more than several stays at the Stanley in Estes Park, thankfully on a company expense account. To say that the stay there was a disappointment is an understatement. I've posted about those experiences here on C-D, and found similar experiences posted on the usual travel sites on-line. The Stanley was an historic top-notch hotel many years ago, but it's nowhere near that type of place except for the architecture now (much like the Hotel Del Coronado, where I've had similarly terrible hotel stays in the original hotel building). On two of the trips, it sucked ... and one of the times I was there, they were booked out for some major events and stuck me in a closet. Refused to move me into a regular room, claimed no vacancies that week; I checked out and went down the road to a dumpy motel that had better accomodations. The next trip back to Estes, I got a cabin on the outskirts of town and it was comfortable, if pricey. Had to be up there repeatedly on business over a 5 year period, so I got to see a lot more of Estes than I care to. My wife shows at the Wool Market and stays at the KOA ... where even a "kabin" affords better accomodations than I got at the Stanley. I finally got her and her girlfriends to rent a larger cabin in town now where they can split the cost and have more room and better accomodations than the Stanley for a fraction of the price ... plus they get to cook in rather then have to dine out for every meal (saves a lot of money when you're there on business). I've had two friends hold their daughter's big deal event weddings at the Stanley, and it's been a disappointment to both families when it came to accomodations, although the venue was pretty nice. One of them just about had a heart attack when they told him they had a $45 per plate serving fee for the wedding cake which the family was providing with a hundred guests expected. That was on top of the (IIRC) $100/person wedding dinner which was pretty mundane, nothing special but for the fact it was a wedding dinner in one of their fancy dining rooms.
I certainly agree that Colorado has many worthwhile vista's and destinations, and much to see as a tourist and to rely upon as a regional resource for things that aren't as readily available (if at all) in Wyoming. I'm still a landlord in Colorado ski resort areas and I have business interests and friends there, so Colorado is very important to me and I like much of it.
But the trip you've proposed represents little savings in time or distance for the OP to spend her time over checking out more of Wyoming and the places that might be local to her residency and employment.
I'm posting for the benefit of the OP. She'll be on vacation. Why shouldn't see what's virtually on her way back to the airport rather than drive through long stretches of nothing of great interest? I want her to have a great vacation regardless of location. Besides, why shouldn't she see two states instead of just one? It's a vacation at least in part.
Central City and environs is full of old mines and mining activity. It's fun to poke around those places. If all you've noticed is gambling you're not looking.
Rocky Mountain National Park has incredible scenery; Grand Teton is a small town city park in comparison. Only Yellowstone with its vast and varied thermal features is on the same level or higher.
A couple of other points. First, I've stayed at the Stanley and received excellent treatment. Also, I've offered advice that takes the OP's schedule and location into consideration. The concentration of scenic and historical attractions in northern and central Colorado is far denser than anyplace in Wyoming except for Yellowstone.
Denver has a few nice museums. It was once one of the most pleasant cities in the country. But why would someone from back east come out here for food or concerts? Denver's become just another second-rate big city although I guess the street gangs consider it to be fabulous.
One glance at Denver's teeming masses provides a clear message that it's no place for me. The massive population of Denver and its suburbs have turned a once great conservative state into a liberal hellhole. But Colorado has the best scenery and the most interesting history; mining is responsible for the latter. I've been a member of the Colorado Historical Society for forty-five years but that's about old Colorado, a place I love that sadly no longer exists.
Hi guys, that's what I'll do. I'll be in Denver at 10am Saturday the 31st and plan to drive to a ranch in Slavery WY, just over the CO boarder. They told me approximately a 5 hr drive. Hopefully I'll find a Wal-Mart along the way.
Obviously you are not allowing enough time, so when you get to Slavery, just start looking for a place to rent or buy. Over the next 20+ years you'll have just enough time to see most of the sites in Wyoming.
I'm posting for the benefit of the OP. She'll be on vacation. Why shouldn't see what's virtually on her way back to the airport rather than drive through long stretches of nothing of great interest? I want her to have a great vacation regardless of location. Besides, why shouldn't she see two states instead of just one? It's a vacation at least in part.
I think the OP made it clear that this trip is focused on relocation to Wyoming, not a recreational trip in the tourist sense. Going to Colorado from Torrington has it's share of stretches of "nothing of great interest", too, while going from Torrington to the Black Hills region allows her to see what Wyoming has to offer her if she's living in the area.
Central City and environs is full of old mines and mining activity. It's fun to poke around those places. If all you've noticed is gambling you're not looking.
"full of old mine and mining activity" in the area isn't what you posted; you suggested Central City as the destination. I've been up in that area since the 1960's ... my next door neighbors family where I grew up were investors in over 20 mines in the area. I recall them getting their quarterly share checks for some of their mines ... and them laughing about the 1/20 of 1/17 of 1/5 of 1/2 of some of ownership share they had that gave them a check for $1.07 in a mine that year. As it was, Black Hawk was one of the first areas of Colorado that I camped out in ... one of my college roomates family owned mining interests up there and we used to head up there from Boulder for cheap weekends to get outside to hike and "poke around". Several years later, my friend was a victim of a mine collapse up there, he'd climbed into one of the open mines and fallen through some old timbers ... he did survive. Suffice to say that I've spent a lot of time in that area as well as Idaho Springs, where another friend bought 100% of an old gold mine claim up there and proceeded to work it in his retirement as a hobby mine. In the 10 years I knew he worked it, he might have captured most of his expenses ... only to have another mining claim reactivated adjacent to his property which turned out to have the apex under his house and into his mine, giving them senior rights. In due course, he lost his house to the other mine ... this was all about a mile from the dump there.
But what presents to the casual tourist on a limited time in the area is the glitz of the gaming redevelopment of the two towns. Otherwise, they're rather gritty places and there's not much there today ... which is why they were chosen as the sites to develop in Colorado for the gaming industry. Relatively cheap commercial land in old run-down districts with reasonably good access from the front range population centers, good for day trips to the mountains.
Rocky Mountain National Park has incredible scenery; Grand Teton is a small town city park in comparison. Only Yellowstone with its vast and varied thermal features is on the same level or higher.
RMNP certainly has incredible scenery ... but I'll still take the Black Hills as their equal given the limited time frame that the OP has for their Wyoming discovery trip. And there's no Devil's Tower in RMNP, either, or a Mt Rushmore. There's a sizable mining district in the Black Hills area, too.
A couple of other points. First, I've stayed at the Stanley and received excellent treatment. Also, I've offered advice that takes the OP's schedule and location into consideration. The concentration of scenic and historical attractions in northern and central Colorado is far denser than anyplace in Wyoming except for Yellowstone.
You may have had excellent treatment at the Stanley. I wasn't there. But I do know that the hotel went through a lot of financial distress in recent decades and offered a very poor level of service and accomodations for many years. At least, that was my experience there as well as several friends with sizable groups at the place.
As far as scenic and historical attractions, Wyoming has a long and storied history in the region and certainly can match Colorado's appeal. In the time frame that the OP has, she'll not run out of places and scenery of interest in checking out places closer to where she may be relocating.
Denver has a few nice museums. It was once one of the most pleasant cities in the country. But why would someone from back east come out here for food or concerts?
Because Denver does has a large number of very good restaurants, that's why.
Apparently you've not been to world famous Red Rocks or some of the other concert venues in the Denver area.
FWIW ... a SO of mine for awhile was the former Ms. Fey ... I'm all too well familiar with the concert promotion biz from that relationship, and some of my clients in the Denver area were also music act promoters in concert venues or their restaurants/bars. Denver is still on the map for major acts to perform.
Denver's become just another second-rate big city although I guess the street gangs consider it to be fabulous.
While every major city has gang activity these days ... even Casper and Cheyenne have an apparent problem ... It's not like it's there lurking on every street corner throughout the place. I've had more contact with wanna-be's in Casper than I've ever encountered gang activity in Denver.
One glance at Denver's teeming masses provides a clear message that it's no place for me.
Ah, finally a point we can agree on. After 35 years in the area, I voted with my feet, sold out my Denver real estate, closed up shop, my wife quit her job and we packed up for Wyoming where we've got our farm/ranch.
The massive population of Denver and its suburbs have turned a once great conservative state into a liberal hellhole. But Colorado has the best scenery and the most interesting history; mining is responsible for the latter.
While Wyoming didn't come into it's mining heyday with silver and gold, it's got coal, trona, and other extractive industry history. Maybe not as glamorous without "gold fever", it's still a long history of hard work and hard lives to make a buck.
I've been a member of the Colorado Historical Society for forty-five years but that's about old Colorado, a place I love that sadly no longer exists.
I've only got a 50 year association with Colorado ... and I, too, can recall a different place. When I first hit Boulder, it was still a little town with a University; my first off-campus apartment was $17.50/month. But much of the "old Colorado" still exists, just not on the Front Range nor in some of the resort towns. You don't have to look all that hard to find the old ways around the state ... similarities exist within Wyoming. You can find the old ways here, and you can find the new changes in places, too ... Laramie and Jackson come first to mind.
nevertheless, your proposed trip through Colorado for the OP doesn't show her much about where she'd be living, nor save her much time and distance over exploring the places closer to her prospective new home
It is so nice to hear everyone is wanting to be so helpful in my "Quest to the West" I do want to stay in state of WY though for my road trips. I am flying into Denver because the airfare and car rental was cheaper, but I am excited to see WYOMING. I'm sure if or when I move out there I will evenually venture out to see other places. I need to check out the areas around where my employment will be. Thank you all for your in put
Hi again everyone, I'm down to my last week......I'm trying to decide what to pack. I went on line to check WY weather and it looks pretty nice! I'm hoping to not over pack as I always do. Will I need a coat? or will sweat shirts and flannels be enough?
You probably won't need a coat, but if you have a lightweight windbreaker I'd toss it in. Gortex or similar would be good if you have it, good for wind and rain.
I don't have a Goretex but I'll try to bring something suitable. I must say, "wind" comes up and awful lot when talking about Wyoming. I am very excited, I have a lot to get use to, the elevation, the remoteness, and the WIND!
I don't have a Goretex but I'll try to bring something suitable. I must say, "wind" comes up and awful lot when talking about Wyoming. I am very excited, I have a lot to get use to, the elevation, the remoteness, and the WIND!
A lightweight "wind shirt" will probably be the most you might need as an outer layer for a trip at this time. I've been outdoors in the Rocky Mtn region for over 50 years and have yet to buy a piece of goretex clothing.
IMO, you'll do well with whatever outdoor clothing you have now for warm temps.
In the worst case scenario, if nasty weather is moving into the area you're at and you need outdoor raingear ... you will find suitable clothing readily available at very low cost in the major towns along your travels. I wouldn't buy or bring anything special in advance for your trip.
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Wow
I do want to stay in state of WY though for my road trips. I am flying into Denver because the airfare and car rental was cheaper, but I am excited to see WYOMING. I'm sure if or when I move out there I will evenually venture out to see other places. I need to check out the areas around where my employment will be. Thank you all for your in put 
