Information for visit (Aspen: best, reviews, rain)

[Gorges]

Originally Posted by Jordy920

Thanks for all the suggestions, I'm confused as to how to spend the last few days, I still have Thursday and Friday that I can use to see some nice areas in Colorado, Maroon Bells seems doable also, if anybody has any suggestions on things to see and do in a few days in other parts of the state,please suggest away, as long as we are back in Denver by early Saturday night, we have an early Sunday morning flight. Thanks.

Great sand dunes?

[otowi]

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, Air Force Academy, Denver Museum of Nature and Science, The Botanic Gardens in Denver, the Butterfly Pavilion, some ghost towns like St. Elmo, Leadville and the mining museum there, hiking up the Devil's Head Fire Tower off Rampart Range Road, Glenwood Springs and Glenwood Caverns, Hanging Lake, etc....

[Jordy920]

Thanks guys! I checked with my husbands Dr, he said he should be okay with altitude, he has heart issues, will also put in a call to his cardiologist, the one issue I am running into is that some of these hotel rooms want full payment for the stay upfront, I have no problem with giving them a credit card to hold the room, but full payment months in advance seems a bit much, we have traveled quite a bit in the United States, and never encountered this before.

[mic111]

Jordy920,
Unfortunately your Dr. can't tell you if you will have trouble at altitude. I get the feeling you did not read the link I posted on your other thread. Here is an excerpt:
"Prevention The best way to prevent altitude sickness is to ascend to higher elevations slowly. For example, if you are driving to Estes Park from sea level, you may want to spend a night or two in Denver.
Once you arrive in Estes, you should plan on avoiding exertion for the first day or so. You should also wait until later in your trip to drive over Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park (which has a high point of 12,183 ft [3700 m]), or to climb any mountain peaks.
And, most importantly, you should drink lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of WATER! Drink water until you can drink no more! That alone can prevent altitude sickness.
Who Can Get It
Altitude sickness can affect anyone, even pets! No one can predict who will get altitude sick and who won’t. Physical fitness, age, and gender don’t make a bit of difference. Different people’s bodies just acclimatize at different rates. The faster you ascend to high altitude, the more likely you are to experience altitude sickness."

[Jordy920]

Thanks, we will drink lots of water, and we will not be hiking,so we will do what we can and see what happens.

[mtngigi]

Originally Posted by Jordy920

Thanks for all the suggestions, I'm confused as to how to spend the last few days, I still have Thursday and Friday that I can use to see some nice areas in Colorado, Maroon Bells seems doable also, if anybody has any suggestions on things to see and do in a few days in other parts of the state,please suggest away, as long as we are back in Denver by early Saturday night, we have an early Sunday morning flight. Thanks.

Just FYI, with Maroon Bells you're looking at a close to 5 hour drive (one way), not taking into account all the times you'll want to stop to ooh and ahh. If you're talking about going from the Springs. From Denver it will be a shorter drive. You might want to save that one for another trip.

There are many great drives and interesting places closer in. Other suggestions (the first three all down and around the Buena Vista vicinity:

Leadville: Leadville, Colorado, Twin Lakes, lodging, mountain recreation, real estate, vacation travel

Cottonwood Pass: September will mean the Aspen will be turning. Cottonwood Pass is a beautiful little cruise. You could top that drive off (if you don't do the loop) with a soak at Cottonwood Hot Springs, if you like that sort of thing.

St. Elmo: St Elmo Colorado - Haunted Colorado Ghost Town

The Great Sand Dunes National Monument is lots of fun:https://www.nps.gov/grsa/index.htm

Bishops Castle is a very interesting and entertaining oddity, but it too is a beautiful drive: Bishop Castle :: Official Site

There's lots of good info on the CVB's site (and you can order a visitors guide, too): http://www.visitcos.com/

[mtngigi]

Sorry if I repeated suggestions already made ... I didn't read everyone's posts.

Leadville's altitude could be problematic (so could Cripple Creek for that matter).

[Jordy920]

At this point I think we will do Maroon Bells, via Independance Pass from Colorado Springs,just taking all day Thursday to get there, we will have all day Friday to do whatever. Does anybody have any suggestions for motels around the Maroon Bells area? I'm finding that most places want full payment up front, we have done extensive travel, and that is the first time I've encountered this policy, I don't mind giving my credit card number to hold the room, then paying cash upon arrival, but I'm leery about being charged fully upfront. Thanks all.

[mtngigi]

Originally Posted by Jordy920

At this point I think we will do Maroon Bells, via Independance Pass from Colorado Springs,just taking all day Thursday to get there, we will have all day Friday to do whatever. Does anybody have any suggestions for motels around the Maroon Bells area? I'm finding that most places want full payment up front, we have done extensive travel, and that is the first time I've encountered this policy, I don't mind giving my credit card number to hold the room, then paying cash upon arrival, but I'm leery about being charged fully upfront. Thanks all.

I'm not sure why you're getting requests to pay in full, but there must be other options out there ... it's a new one on me, too.

If you have AAA, that can be a good resource.

[Jordy920]

We do have AAA, and have been in touch with them, but most of it I can do on my own. I was almost ready to book at a Best Western in Estes Park, but they wanted $323 up front for a two night reservation, I checked reviews out on Trip Advisor, very glad I did as while there are a lot of good reviews there are some bad ones about the management, I ended up booking at the Comfort Inn, the lady was very nice and helpful, and best of all all I needed was my credit card to hold the room, paying cash upon arrival. I also booked 3 nights in Colorado Springs with just a credit card holding the room, Aspen hotels also wanted payment up front, so I will still need some suggestions for there.