Colorado Travel Answers

That's a loop of about 2500 miles so I'd recommend that you concentrate on just a few places. The weather in Sept will still be warm to hot and I don't think there will be significant snow yet. A possible trip (although rushed) would be 1 Arrive 2 Albuquerque to Colorado Springs 380 miles 3 Visit the Garden of the Gods the AFA etc. 4 Colorado Springs to Mesa Verde 340 miles 5 Visit Mesa Verde 6 Mesa Verde to Canyonlands NP in Utah and possible visiting other parks in Utah 7-8 at least 2 days for that 9 Utah to the Grand Canyon 329 miles 10 at least a day to see the Grand Canyon 11-12 Grand Canyon thru Arizona to Phoenix or Tuscan and then to Fort Bliss and Carlsbad 13 a day in Carlsbad. 14 Return to Albuquerque 277 miles If you were going to cut something out, I'd cut out Carlsbad although you are so close to it, it seems a shame not to go.

Landing in Albuquerque, NM and driving counterclockwise through Colorado, Utah and Arizona then returning to Albuquerque. First: If your husband is 65, he can buy a National Park Pass that will get you both into all these places for free. I’m not sure of the cost any more but we paid10 for ours a few years ago and they are good for life. Just don’t lose it. To see: Don’t miss Santa Fe, NM and Taos, NM. Be sure to visit the Taos Indian Pueblo. On the way from Santa Fe to Taos, if you want a side trip, have lunch at Rancho de Chimayo in Chimayo. Directions at their web site: ranchodechimayo.com/index.ht... Then drive to Durango, Colorado and take a ride on their steam engine train. I know you have those in New Hampshire, but this one comes with the Rocky Mountains. From Durango, a real must-see is Mesa Verde National Park. http://www.nps.gov/meve/index.htm Did you want to visit Pike’s Peak, Colorado Springs and Denver? I’d be tempted to drive up to Denver and continue through Boulder and into Rocky Mountain National Park. Then up to Roosevelt National Forest and through Steamboat Springs over to the Dinosaur National Monument. All right, from Dinosaur Natl. Monument you head into Utah. Go through Vernal over to Salt Lake City since I expect you will want to see that too. Take time to visit the Mormon Temple in the city. They offer guided tours and it is fascinating. You’ll head south toward Arizona, but in Utah there is plenty to see. The state is incredibly beautiful. Particularly outstanding are Bryce Canyon National Park, Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument and Zion National Park. In Arizona, the top of everyone’s must-see list is the Grand Canyon, also a free (with the pass) National Park. In the West that Park Pass really pays for itself. I highly recommend a visit to Flagstaff. It’s in the mountains so cooler than much of Arizona and very green and pretty. Then head back to Albuquerque on I40. On the way you can visit the Acoma Indian Pueblo for a completely different mesa-top pueblo experience. There is also Petroglyph National Park if you enjoy Native American petroglyphs. I believe you said September so you should be aware that winter can start early out here. We have had road closings in September in the mountains, so have an alternative plan . . . or enjoy the snow. Check the weather on your tv news because the storms are nearly always well predicted. For most of the trip it won’t be a problems, but the Denver area can get snow nearly any time of year. We ran into snow in August in the Roosevelt Natl. Forest one year. Ditto in Steamboat Springs. It wasn’t bad and didn’t affect our trip except we didn’t camp in the snow; we drove on for a while. If you need to cut some of this, I’d cut the Pike’s Peak/Denver/Salt Lake City section. Just go from Durango, CO over to Grand Staircase Escalanate Natl. Park and do it, Bryce and Zion before heading down to Arizona. That would take care of most weather problems too. ;^) The whole area is gorgeous so you should have a grand trip. You do not need an SUV. We drive our compact car all over the west and have never had a problem. Of course we don’t do off-roading . . . Have fun.

All great places. It looks like you've been to Denver so maybe not that one? My comment right now regarding Colorado Springs/Garden of the Gods is that it's uncertain what that area is going to look like in the aftermath of the Waldo Canyon Fire; currently raging and has engulfed over 15,000 acres with no sign of being contained. I might go north from Albuquerque to Santa Fe (my favorite U.S. little city) and take in Taos and Chimayo as Sally has suggested. We also love Bandelier National Monument in the area but it too is recovering from a devastating fire last year. The Tsankawi unit was undamaged and is wonderful, though. "Bandelier National Monument" - Bandelier National Monument by goodfish Form there I'd go up to Mesa Verde and Durango, and then over the mountains on the Million Dollar Highway through Silverton and Ourey, make a stop in Montrose to see Black Canyon of the Gunnison, and then up to Grand Junction. Then head west to Moab: Arches and the easily-visited Island in the Sky unit of Canyonlands National Park is there. If you decide you want to do this, I have a nice scenic route into town from the freeway I can recommend. From there you could go straight south to Monument Valley and and cut west to the Grand Canyon, and the to back to Albuquerque via 40 from Flagstaff.

I can only speak for Colorado as I visited it for two week with my boyfriend as he used to live there before moving to Italy. I really enjoyed Garden of the Gods, The Million Dollar highway with the spectacular view over the mountains, I suggest a stop in Silverton at the Handlebar food and Saloon http://www.handlebarsfoodandsaloon.com/ to try the Rocky Mountain's oysters (better you check first what is it all about LOL), Black Canyon, Durango and Mesa Verde. In Durango I liked the dinner and the cow boy music show at Bar D Chuckwagon http://www.bardchuckwagon.com/, it is, of course, a tourist thing but they cooked good food and the music was good and a lot of fun. We camped in Mesa Verde (along with other small places up in the mountains) and it was very convenient for the visit of the site. Having more time in Colorado I would also go back to Cripple Creek to visit the Molly Kathleen mine and the nearby village of Viktor where I had a sandwich in the best bar of all trip. Happy travel

Since you are starting/ending your trip in Albuquerque, I would suggest a ride up the tram to the peak of Sandia mountain, it's spectacular.- Adult ticket is20, there is a restaurant on the top, or you can take a leisurely walk along the crest of the mountain. September is a great time of year in the Southwest, very pleasant weather typically, warm days and cool nights. Make sure you bring a jacket, it's typically 20 degrees cooler at the top of the mountain. If you are not planning on hiking, I would visit around sunset,

Sounds like a fun trip! I'm in Utah and it will still be in the high 80s in Southern Utah and low 80s if you go more north of that. Grand Canyon would be perfect for this trip and Utah has some great National Parks from Zions to Moab to Canyonlands. Zions is beautiful but there is a lot of hiking, Moab might be out of the way depending on your route, but it's so great because many arches in Arches National Park are off the main road so you can drive from one arch to another and do minimal walking.

I'm thinking more that Zion and Bryce will be out of the way if the OP wants to do parts of Colorado. I'd add another week for those. I guess it depends on how much time a person wants to spend IN the car and how much time they want to spend OUT of it?