My friends and I have made a habit out of doing a fun, nature-filled road trip every Memorial Day weekend. This year’s Memorial Day weekend trip was to explore Colorado. I’ve always loved Colorado for what it offered in the winter (for my snowboarding fix), but I have never truly explored this area in the summer time. This was my opportunity to get to know Colorado more for what is is known for – the great outdoors, without the “distraction” of ski resort hopping.
To avoid the crowds, we left San Francisco early Saturday morning and spent 4 solid days driving around Colorado in a “figure 8” shape and flew back Tuesday night. We maximized our weekend as much as possible and only had to take one day of vacation on Tuesday. A high level overview of our itinerary is as follows:
Day 1: Flew into Denver early morning and drove west towards Aspen, stopping by the village at Vail Ski Resort and Hanging Lake (Glenwood Canyon) along the way. We stayed overnight in Aspen, next to the ski lifts. 😛
Hanging Lake, Glenwood Canyon
Day 2: After watching sunrise at Maroon Bells near Aspen, we drove towards Frisco, stopping by The Grottos (part of Devil’s Punchbowl), Independence Pass, and Leadville (the highest town in the US). We stayed overnight in Frisco.
The gang at Independence Pass
Day 3: We spent the day drive to Rocky Mountain National Park and watched sunset in the park. We stayed overnight in Estes Park, next to the park entrance.
The Grottos
Day 4: We spent most of the day hiking around Rocky Mountain National Park. After a full day of adventures, we grabbed dinner in Boulder and had to say good bye!
Cub Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park
For more specifics on our activities on each day, read on! Start with “Road Trip Around Colorado – Day 1“