Quote:
|
Originally Posted by redman12
Oh dear, your car will be a beater.
|
God forbid you actually drive the damn thing...
I'd suggest a trip up the Peak-to-Peak scenic byway in Colorado. It's a wonderful historic and beautiful trip. It starts in in Black Hawk/Central City where you can partake in some gambling in a mountain town originally known as the "richest square mile on earth" during the silver and gold boom.
Another thing I'd hit is to take the road to Idaho Springs towards Mount Evans off of I-70. It's the highest paved road in North America reaching 14,258 feet above sea level.
Naturally, you should stop at the Cherry Cricket in Cherry Creek (Denver) for what's generally considered to be the best burger joint in Denver. As an aside, the trademark for "Cheeseburger" was awarded to a Denverite named Louis Ballast. Cherry Creek is also great area for some very high end shopping.
From there, you can cruise down Colfax Avenue - the nation's longest continuous street in America.
If you cruise up I-70 and over the Continental Divide (as opposed to going over Monarch Pass and into Winter Park) you'll pass through the Eisenhower tunnel which at 1 mile long is also the highest auto tunnel in the world.
If you decide to take the back way into Aspen, you'll pass through Leadville, the highest incorporated city in the U.S. By the way, I've seen it snow in Leadville in July...
If you're coming up I-25 from the south, you might want to check out the Great Sand Dunes National Monument out of Alamosa. It's really quite amazing and the closest to the Sahara that many of us will ever get.
While you're down and around that area, you might also want to take a drive up Pike's Peak. Obviously, this is the same road travelled every year by many of the world's best racers in the Pikes Peak Hill Climb. This is also the mountain which inspired Katherine Bates to write "America the Beautiful".
On your way out of Colorado towards California, you can swing through Glenwood Springs which is the world's largest natural hot spring. It's also where the infamous Doc Holiday succumbed to tuburculosis.
I've probably skipped hundreds of other places I've taken visitors to this amazing state. But, the above is a great start. Hell, I wouldn't even bother going to California since they all just move here anyway....