A Week in Colorado: The Best of Both Worlds

I love Colorado for many of the same reasons that I love living in Alaska. Whether you are looking for outdoor adventure or hoping to spend some time in a vibrant city, Colorado has them both! Here’s how we spent a week in Denver, Vail, Boulder, and Rocky Mountain National Park during the summer of 2022.

DAY 1: Vail

Westside Cafe, Vail Farmer’s Market & Art Show, Colorado Snowsports Museum, Bob’s Bar

Originally we were supposed to start our trip in Rocky Mountain National Park, but my brother called and asked that we switch up our itinerary. He had a surprise waiting for us: my parents had flown out to Vail to crash our trip! After picking up our rental vehicle at Union Station in Denver, we flew out to Vail to stay with them for a few days.

We’re a big breakfast kind of family, so our first day in Vail started with a visit to the Westside Cafe. The food was great, and the space was really cute! It was the perfect way to fuel up before heading out to explore more of Vail.

While most people probably know Vail for its ski resort, there is so much more to explore. Vail Village itself includes a fun series of shops and restaurants for visitors, many of which are styled after ski chateaus and European villages. June through October the villages hosts a farmer’s and art market that is fabulous! It’s only from 9:30-3:30, and only on Sundays, but we loved it and I would highly recommend checking it out!

Once we had our fill of snacks and shopping, we stopped in at the Colorado Snowsports Museum. Open from 10-6 everyday, it offers a little glimpse into the history skiing, snowboarding, and the development of the surrounding accessibility and consequent tourism. It was a fun little gem that I wasn’t expecting, and I feel like it probably gets overlooked by a lot of visitors. That being said, I’d totally recommend a visit.

Our last stop of the day was Bob’s Bar. The Stanley Cup finals were on, and we figured what better excuse to do as the locals do! The atmosphere was great (and the Avalanche ended up beating the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1, in case you didn’t know!).

DAY 2: Piney River Ranch

Day two we let my brother play tour guide and went on a little day trip up to Piney River Ranch. It took us about 45 minutes of windy, dirt mountain roads to get to the ranch from Vail, and we were excited to explore this little slice of mountain paradise. The ranch buildings sit along Piney Lake, and if you wanted to make your visit into more than a day trip they have tents and cabins available. We spent most of the day hiking the trail along the lake before enjoying a late lunch at the ranch’s restaurant. After enjoying our beautiful, sunny day it was back to Vail for our last night of card games and family time.

DAY 3: On The Road Again

The Little Diner, Frisco, Berthoud Pass & the Continental Divide, Green Ridge Campground

We started our morning with one final family breakfast at The Little Diner, then it was time to hit the road! We made a quick stop in Frisco to snag some last minute camping essentials from REI, then it was a pretty uneventful yet stunning day of driving through the mountains. The one other stop we made was for lunch in Berthoud Pass, which sits along the Continental Divide. It was a gorgeous stop for a little pit stop before we continued on to Green Ridge Campground, our final destination for the night. We rented a Toyota Tacoma with a rooftop camper through Outdoorsy, and it was the perfect adventure rig for this trip!

DAY 4: Rocky Mountain National Park, Part 1

Kawuneeche Visitor Center, Coyote Valley Trail, Holzwarth Historic District, Alpine Visitor Center, Glacier Basin

Our trip into Rocky Mountain National Park took us through the tiny town of Grand Lake to our first two stops: the Kawuneeche Visitor Center and the Holzwarth Historic District. We did a quick little hike along the Coyote Valley Trail before wandering through the cabins at the Holzwarth Historic District. The cabins were super fun to poke around, and we even had a moose stop by to say hi! Both of these sites were pretty easily accessible, with a well-maintained trail and little to no elevation gain.

The rest of our day took us along the Trail Ridge Road, which was breathtaking. Our next stop was at the Alpine Visitor Center, which is the highest facility of its kind in the National Park Service. There was a short hike right next to the visitor center that led up to a viewpoint, with lots of tiny alpine flowers marked alongside the trail. After our hike we tackled the rest of Trail Ridge Road, ultimately ending our day in that national park’s Glacier Basin Campground.

DAY 5: Boulder

Chautauqua Loop Trail, Panorama Point & Lost Gulch Lookout, Pearl St. Pedestrian Mall

We had planned to explore the eastern half of Rocky Mountain on our second day, but the forecast was looking pretty miserable, so we switched up our itinerary (yet again) and headed into Boulder. It took us about an hour from Glacier Basin, and we immediately made our way to the Flatirons. The view just from the parking lot of the Flatirons was beautiful, but since we had planned to hike anyway we headed along the Chautauqua Loop Trail. We enjoyed the trail even though a few areas were closed, though if you’re looking for the best view of the Flatirons themselves, I stand by my initial statement that the best view is from the parking lot…

The rest of our time in Boulder was spent downtown, wandering Pearl St. and the Pedestrian Mall. There were tons of awesome restaurants and shops, and definitely felt like we had made the right call when it came to a city day versus slogging through an eleven mile hike in the rain!

After our time in town we drove up Flagstaff Road for a few last glimpses of the surrounding area, before making our way back to the campground. Two of our favorite spots were Panorama Point & Lost Gulch Lookout. They offered great glimpses out over Boulder and the surrounding area before we headed back to our campground for the night.

DAY 6: Rocky Mountain National Park, Take Two

Hike, Hike, & Hike Some More

Our second full day of adventuring in Rocky Mountain National Park was the biggest outdoor adventure of our trip. We packed up camp and headed down the road to the Bear Lake Area’s Glacier Gorge Trailhead. From there we hiked just over nine miles, mixing and matching trails to visit Alberta Falls, Mills Lake, Jewel Lake, Lake Haiyaha, Dream Lake, Nymph Lake, and Bear Lake before making our way back to the parking area. As someone who dreads out-and-back routes, this was maybe the most beautiful loop hike I have ever concocted! The alpine lakes were all beautiful in their own way, the weather was wonderful, and I would 100% suggest this route for anyone looking to get a lot of bang for their buck while hiking through the park. It took us just over five hours to complete the hike, but we also are notorious for snack breaks and taking lots of pictures!

The hike was a great grand finale to our visit, and after some serious post-hike snacks in the parking lot, we waved good-bye to Rocky Mountain National Park and headed toward Standley Lake Regional Park, where we had reserved a “glamping” site for the evening.

After being at Glacier Basin our glamping experience was a pretty funny transition. The large canvas tent we reserved was set up on a wooden platform and included cot inside. There was an outdoor shower that we were pretty excited for, but it was quite honestly a pain (you had to continually hit the button every few minutes to get the water to stay on). We had planned to maybe hit up the paddle board and kayak rentals to enjoy some time on the water, but after our long hike decided to just head to dinner. Some cocktails and a big juicy burger at Lot One was the perfect way to end our day.

DAY 7: Denver

Our last day in Colorado was spent at Denver’s Cherry Creek Arts Fest. We returned our rental car, then grabbed some scooters and headed that way thanks to a recommendation from our Outdoorsy renter’s suggestion. We had no idea it was even going on until he mentioned it! The festival was great, with lots of art and vendors to check out. We even found a farmer’s market on the way to grab some awesome food.

After absolutely roasting in the heat for the day we headed to to the Dairy Block and grabbed drinks at Deviation Distilling. There was a Colorado Rockies baseball game going on just a few streets away, and the city was buzzing with people. After enjoying a little bit of the nightlife we headed to Clocktower Cabaret. If you’ve never been to a cabaret show, I can’t recommend one enough. Clocktower Cabaret was wonderful, and the show that we went to was patriotically Fourth of July themed and hilarious. It was a super fun end to a wonderful trip!