Weekend trips from Denver--sightseeing/ quaint small towns? (Colorado Springs, Fort Collins: house, restaurants)

[Renton13]

As stated in an earlier thread, we're likely moving there from NYC with our four little kids. Here, we have a lot of seaside/beach or Hudson Valley or Berkshires towns that are less than a three hour/four drive and fun for a long weekend or a week-long getaway. Good restaurants, kid activities, the arts, etc.

I know the seaside stuff is out, but where do folks out there go to get away from the city?

[maciesmom]

Depending on where your starting point is most of these will be within 4 hours:

Steamboat Springs Tourism: Best of Steamboat Springs, CO - TripAdvisor

Salida Tourism: Best of Salida, CO - TripAdvisor

Visit Glenwood Springs, Colorado

Estes Park Lodging, Restaurants, Events and Things to Do

Visit Cheyenne, Wyoming



5-7 hours will get you a bit further to Santa Fe, Taos, Durango, Ouray, Pagosa Springs, Moab, Black Canyon...

http://www.nps.gov/blca/index.htm

http://www.ouraycolorado.com/

http://www.utah.com/moab/

http://www.visitpagosasprings.com/

[bluescreen73]

If you really want good sightseeing you'll have to get your hiking legs under you. Took a trip up Arapaho Pass near Nederland on Friday. It was 3.5 miles (each way) and almost 2000' of vertical gain, but the view from the top was amazing. Just my opinion. YMMV. :-)

[mic111]

All good suggestions above.

You can pretend your at the beach at Great Sand Dunes National Park. :-)

It's past the peak for the season but sometimes you can float in it.

Medano Creek - Great Sand Dunes National Park & Preserve (U.S. National Park Service)

Most of the resort ski towns have tons of summer activities. For example Breckenridge:
Breckenridge Summer Activities | Breckenridge.com
Keystone:
Keystone Summer Activities | KeystoneResort.com

I would imagine that most of what you will find is less populated than what you are used to. Without leaving the metro area you will find alot of festivals and child friendly events in all the surrounding towns. Along the front range you can visit Colorado Springs, Longmont, Boulder, and Fort Collins.

Just on the outside edge of your 4 hour limit is Fort Robinson State Park. Awesome place to take kids where most of the activities are ala carte so very affordable vs. something like a dude ranch. Horse rides, pony rides, stage coach rides, tubing, kayaking, swimming, cook outs, plays, etc. are all available for a small fee.
http://outdoornebraska.ne.gov/parks/...Visitors15.pdf
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractio..._Nebraska.html

If you have the $s a dude ranch can be a great time. I've been to this one a few times and it was alot of fun.
http://www.lostvalleyranch.com/

[Neditate]

Maciesmom and Mic111 listed most of the places I would suggest.
There's a lot to do with the kiddos in Colorado Springs: Things to do in Colorado Springs
We prefer staying in Manitou Springs. Manitou Springs, Colorado | Things to Do, Attractions, Events & Activities
Royal Gorge: Home

[TigerLily24]

Georgetown is beautiful and the kids might enjoy the train ride.

Colorado Tourism, Historic Railroad, Scenic Train Rides | Georgetown Loop Railroad

[JrzDefector]

Salida is AMAZING. Such a fun place. Great food, scenery, activities, etc.

Georgetown and Idaho Springs are both great little towns and much closer to Denver.

[step33]

I second Glenwood Springs and most of the ski towns for good summer getaways.

For Glenwood, bring the bikes and pedal around a bit. Depending on kids age, the pool is a lot of fun. I'd just VRBO a house somewhere on the north side of the river and relax for a few days. We also had a lot of fun at the Adventure Park up on top - did the cave tours and all that stuff but the alpine coaster was a BIG hit with my kids. They loved that. (Way more fun than the standard alpine slide).