Definately! When I was going through tech school at Lackland in the `60's, the standing bet was if you could have a single drink in every bar on Colfax, you won the base pass lottery!
Damn, you guys drove all the way from San Antonio to Denver to party?? I love me some Denver, but not that much!
Go west from denver and north through winter park to grand lake and hike to the falls. Then drive through rocky mountain natl park to estes park. Have dinner at the greenbriar. Drive to the top of mt evans and go back through evergreen, stop at the roadside cafe for breakfast/lunch. Garden of the gods by col springs is awesome. The sangre de cristo range just above crestone is amazing also. If you wanna get way out go to gunnison, crested butte then up to marble. The public trail there is closed but I think they do mine tours. Breckenridge is a fun town and the brewery is a must. Also oskar blues, left hand, avery are all great breweries. Boulder ducati is also awesome and the guys there are really nice.
Lowry, Lackland, it all runs together after awhile. I'm just about the youngest person that could be stationed at both. And I'm old!
Go to Casa Bonita on West Colfax...maybe Cartman will be there. Actually Eddies Cordial Lounge right next door on the west side serves a better burrito. East Colfax close to downtown is a toilet full of druggies and whores...not to be overlooked.
Gunnison has nice roads for MC. The train ride from Durango to Silverton and back is worth it if you have all day and like old trains.
You can get very reasonable room rates in Vail in the summertime, and ride the ski lift to the summit. Incredible views (bring a jacket, it's a LOT colder up top). Vail is a nice little town that basically shuts down in the summer, but the places that are open are very hospitable.
Damn! I wanna go. My wife and I generally go to Colorado every year and last year's trip to Maui got in the way of Colorado. This year is to St. Thomas so another year is going away before hitting Colorado again. Dammit, I wanna go to Colorado. (Can you tell that I'm jealous?) Depending on how much time you spend in the state I would say this; From Pike's Peak area, to West to Gunnison. From there head South to Lake City. Spend a couple of days there, rent a Jeep, (about 350.00 for a whole day) and do the Alpine loop. It's a great half day trip over Cinnamon pass, visit Animas Forks (Old silver mining area) then around the loop back East over Engineer Pass and back to Lake City. (You start out going South from Lk City to Lake San Christobal onto the loop. There is a wealth of history, and several dozen gold mines in the whole area. A lot of the loop is made up of shelf roads with cliffs on one side and a ton of space on the other. (Don't fall off) By the way, how does your wife like high places? And you? Parts of it are white knuckle driving at it's best and remember that vehicles coming down a slope have the right of way. There are turnout's all along the roads so there are no problems letting people go by. From Lake City go South to South Fork (hwy 160) then West to Durango where hwy 550 goes North toward Montrose. (It's about 125 miles from Lake City to Durango.) Hwy 550 is called the "million dollar highway" because the base material used to build the hwy are the tailings from a lot of the gold mines in the area. Hwy 550 North is a beautiful trip all the way through Silverton to Ouray. This is some of the most beautiful country in the US. While in Durango you might spend a night or so and visit Mesa Verde cliff dwellings. (Located an hour or so West of Durango.) These are perfect examples of how the native Americans lived about 1100 years ago and the structures are in pretty good shape. Very interesting history. Although it's far to late to make a long story short I will say this. Every time we go up there we see something new and exciting and we've been up in that area a lot of times. :up::up::up:
LOL, earlier last year my wife and I went into Utah for a few days. We stayed at this neat little motel in Blanding Utah which was owned by a descendent of the Anasazi people. He very carefully informed us that the name "Anasazi" was a term that they do not care for now. The proper term is "ancient Puebloans." Remember that or be chastised severely.
Just damn! I keep remembering more and more neat and cool places in Co. Going over the Divide heading East into Aspen is a really good trip. Dropping down into Aspen and then continuing West into Snowmass will show you some of the neatest little restaurants in Colorado. You cannot drive into the center of downtown. You have to park in parking areas and then walk into downtown. We had breakfast there in a really neat cozy cafe (can't remember the name) where they served real 100% Kona coffee. Damn that was good. As you can see from all the responses and suggestions from a ton of smart travelers Colorado is a very popular and beautiful place to visit. If you spent a month there you would still have to go back several times to see everything. The really interesting part of it is that when you've seen it all you can start all over again and have just as much fun as you did the first time.
This is Black Bear Pass which links Ouray and Telluride (one way). That's Telluride there in the valley ~5000 feet below the pass. I'm not particularly afraid of heights but that pass scared me. I wouldn't try that in a rental. This is Boreas Pass which runs from Como to Breckinridge. Any box on four wheels can do it and the view is awesome. Don't be afraid to go offroad because it really is rewarding. Just do a little research beforehand.
EDIT: You didn't post what time of year you're going. That'll dramatically affect your choices. Since you mentioned a nix on rafting, I assume early summer. THIS!!! Makes for a good first day trip. Stay on Colorado Springs for the first coupla days, do this place on day 1 and Pikes on day 2. Then head to Summit County (Breckenridge) or Eagle County (Vail) for a day or two. Having lived just outside of Breck for ~8 years, I agree with this suggestion. Also near Breck, the Eisenhower Tunnel is a pretty damned amazing piece of engineering, if that kinda thing interests you... then head back west over Loveland pass, and ski A-Basin. Don't worry if you're a first-timer... that's where I broke my cherry. If you decide to stay more than a couple days in Breck/Dillon/Frisco area, I have a contact in the lodging industry there. Let me know.
Just snowboarded A-basin on Sunday. The elevation can keep it open into July. That said, without much time to acclimate, it can be a bit hard to breathe at the top of the lift. The state is one of the few states that is on the possible move list for both me and my wife.
