TRAVEL: Colorado Road Trip - Denver, Boulder, The Rocky Mountains and more!

Denver airport is quite unusual with its tentlike shape, but somehow manages to be home to thousands of passengers who pass through its terminals everyday. We were among these passengers after a nine hour flight from London, but didn't stay long - heading out of town towards Castle Rock for our first night.

There's not much going on in Castle Rock aside from an outlet mall, with our visit only as somewhere to stay the night before we continued on our journey. Our accommodation was a perfectly fine Holiday Inn which had a hearty breakfast in the morning including cinnamon rolls (yum) and freshly made pancakes.

Hopping into the car, we started driving bright and early, and I was throughly fascinated by the landscape, which stretched for miles and miles around with only the faraway mountains in the distance. The not densely populated parts of Colorado that we were passing through meant that people could have no neighbours for miles around - a concept I found strange coming from suburbia where you'd find it hard to find that kind of solitude.

Nevertheless, I kept myself entertained, crossing off all the fast food chains they have out here as we passed signs for each of them (and there are a lot!) and enjoying watching the US Airforce pilots training over the Colorado Springs base where they performed loop the loops and other heart-thumping tricks. Soon afterwards, we ran out of 'civilisation', so I continued passing the time by peering around to see if I could spot any wildlife, ranging from cattle and horses to deer and the more elusive bison.

After a few hours drive, we finally turned off of the interstate that had taken us pretty much all the way to the Great Sand Dunes National Park. Arriving at the entry gates, we groaned at the sign suggesting we'd have to pay $20 for entry, but thankfully this being off season, there was no one manning the booth, with a sign saying payment not needed today - what a nice surprise!

The dunes are pretty easy to spot as you drive along the straight road of the National Parks, with huge mounds of sand rising out of the distance, looking quite strange amongst the flat plains and the Rocky Mountains behind it. 

Parking the car, we took our first few steps on the sand, sinking quickly as the sand shifts so much which made it a difficult trek even to walk a few hundred metres. Added to this was the deceptive nature of the dunes, which looked much closer but actually took quite a while to get to.

However, once close, they were truly magnificent, and unlike anything you'd expect to find in this corner of the world. I spent some time climbing the smaller dunes, and watching other visitors slide down them on sand boards which looked like great fun. Unlike other destinations that you might find dunes though, it was quite cold on our visit, with wind chill making it feel even colder. 

Having had our fill of fun and freezing weather, it was then time to find something for lunch, and the spread out nature of the state meant that we really had to travel miles to find something, ending up driving 17 miles from the National Park to the nearby (ha) town of Alamosa. 

For somewhere not particularly 'on the map', Alamosa nonetheless had quite a lot going on, with a bustling high street with plenty of cars rolling through, even midway through a Tuesday afternoon, and an interesting train graveyard with carriages from decades past. 

Having done our recent (thanks TripAdvisor) we stopped at Roasts Coffee Company, a hip place linked to the brewery next door, with the two businesses split by huge brewing tanks in the middle of the room. The saying 'everything's bigger in the States' was proven by the size of the coffee cups we were served, and I also opted for a bowl of spinach artichoke dip, which I maintain to be one of the greatest culinary inventions ever made. 

Following the foray, we continued on our way soon passing into New Mexico (you can read about my adventures in New Mexico here), not returning to Colorado for a while.

It was late afternoon when we made it across the border from New Mexico over a week later, and the further we drove in, the more marked the changes in residences became. Whilst New Mexico was full of small adobe houses, here they became more what we were used to, and seemingly more prosperous than the parts of NW we'd visited, as the houses were all of ample size, some even mansion worthy.

Our destination was a request of mine, Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre. I'd seen videos of artists I love performing at this incredible venue, and put it on my bucket list as somewhere I absolutely needed to visit. The Amphitheatre sits directly between huge imposing and beautiful Red Rocks, and honestly I know of no more spectacular venue. No one was playing the night we arrived, so we had free rein of the park, without even needing to pay an admission fee.

We raced down to the Trading Post to pick up some merch (I'm sure you'll see me wearing it in photos from future blogs!) and then walked up through the amphitheatre. The amphitheatre is dog friendly, which was a great way to highlight the excellent acoustics of the venue, as each time a dog barked, you could hear it reverberating against the walls. What a special place to visit. I'd love to come back to see a concert there some day. 

As the sun set, we headed towards Denver for dinner at Acorn, a hipster restaurant housed in an old warehouse called The Source. The menu was a bit too pretentious for me, with the format being sharing platters but only stating the ingredients of the dishes, and not what they actually were. The food was decent, but we were told by the waiter we'd need to order lots, which meant the bill was pretty hefty. Probably not somewhere I would have chosen myself, but an experience nonetheless.

Thankfully we had other plans for dessert, and made our way into Downtown Denver to Voodoo Doughnut, made famous for its voodoo doll shaped donuts and round-the-block queues at its inaugural Portland destinations. Lucky for us, there was barely a queue here and so we sampled a collection of voodoo donuts, Oreo Peanut Butter, and the 'Memphis Mafia' - a hulking slab of a donut covered in PB & chocolate chips. 

We drove a further twenty minutes into Westminster to the Westin Hotel, a pleasant hotel with great views over the area. Breakfast was good, although not included unless you had status with the hotel chain; plus the service was pretty slow, so you wouldn't want to be in a rush. 

Filled up, we drove our way to Rocky Mountain National Park. Up here in the heights, the weather was a lot colder and the higher we climbed, the colder we got, eventually reaching minus temperatures complete with little flurries of snow. We did a few mini walks although you wouldn't want to be out in that weather for very long! However, the Park is home to the highest continuous paved road in the United States, and so we had a nice drive, checking out the herds of deer who had no problem standing at the side of the road as cars cruised by. 

We then drove down to Boulder, stopping the car to wander up and down the Main Street and glance at its lovely shops. Lunch was at Lindsay's Boulder Deli for a yummy soup and salad, somewhere I was pleased to stumble across as it was top notch. Boulder seemed like a nice place to live, and I liked gazing at the houses in suburbia and picturing a life for myself somewhere like this. 

Our next stop was the Centennial Trailhead leading up to Sanitas Mount for a quick walk, which turned out to be horrendously strenuous. Whilst the path started off paved, it soon turned into craggy rock you had to scramble up and down at constant risk of breaking an ankle - not my idea of a pleasant walk! We ended up at the end with members of our party injured with grazed head and pulled knee, needless to say we are not hardy hikers. However, the sense of achievement at finally making it to the top and admiring the view was undeniable, even if it meant an equally difficult trek down.

As the hike took longer than we'd expected, we raced off for dinner at Georgia Boys BBQ in Longmont, which had an excellent selection of barbecue options. Not much for vegetarians though, and I ended up getting the kids grilled cheese option, much to the amusement of my server who was expecting an under 12. However, for $5.50 for sandwich, chips and unlimited drinks refills, I couldn't have been happier. 

After our final night in the Westin, and indeed of our holiday, we started the day with another breakfast at the hotel before indulging in a bit of shopping at Target and Boot Barn for western wear before driving into Downtown, this time in the daylight. We parked the car near the main 16th Street Mall, took a little walk up to the State Capital building where an anti-Trump protest was taking place. There was a handy free bus that went up and down 16th Street which was useful to take us back to Union Station where we stopped for coffee and scones. 

We picked up the car and drove down to the river where we enjoyed a pleasant walk, passing plenty of dogs and happy strangers enjoying the early Spring sunshine. A lovely way to end our time in Colorado and New Mexico before hopping off to the airport for the long red eye flight home. If only we could have stayed longer...

Tips for visiting Colorado: Try rural and urban. Part of the beauty of Colorado is that it's so easy to move from absolute wilderness to big city, and I loved seeing both - indulging in the culture of the cities and towns and then heading out into the endless nothingness of the Parks and Forests. And then a personal tip from me, try a Voodoo Doughnut - you won't regret it! If you're in Denver for longer than we were, drop in a few days early with a photo of yourself, and they'll ice you a personalised voodoo for just a dollar extra!