Colorado Birthday Road Trip - Part 1

For David's sister Natasha's 40th birthday, we took her on a trip to Colorado! We love Colorado, and have spent quite a bit of time there hiking and exploring. We planned out perhaps an overly ambitious 4-day clockwise route around the center of the state that would hit two national parks and a number of other attractions. We left Atlanta on a rainy Thursday morning. Natasha flew from New Orleans, and we met in the Denver airport. Luckily there were no problems with our flights and we quickly got our rental car.

Our first stop was Torchy's on the southside of Denver. Torchy's is a growing chain, but the original location opened in Austin in 2006, and the San Antonio locations were a favorite of Natasha's when she lived there, and we first went to one in 2013 in Dallas. After lunch we drove south to Colorado Springs, where we met Paul's Colleague Mary and her family at Goat Patch Brewing, then checked in to AirBnB in Old Colorado City, a neighborhood on the west side of Colorado Springs.

The first touristy thing we did was visit Garden of the Gods, to hike around a bit and take in the views. On a Thursday evening in summer, this place was fairly crowded, but we didn't have any trouble parking or getting away from the crowds a bit.

Dinner that evening was a take away salad for Tasha at Mother Muffs. Unfortunately, it was karaoke night, which we silently suffered through while they were putting her food together. Paul got a piece of pizza from Slice 420 across the street, followed by some ice cream at Colorado City Creamery. Old Colorado City is a quirky and interesting neighborhood with lots of restaurants, shops and a little park. We'd recommend checking the place out if you're in the area.

Lunch time!

Someone's happy with the appetizer sampler!

A beer at Goat Patch.

Paul and Mary at the brewery.

Our AirBnB was basement level, but it was really nice.

Garden of the Gods.

David admiring the rocks.

Paul and Natasha being too cool for school.

Old Colorado City was cute.

The next morning (Friday) Paul woke up early (thanks, time zones!) and walked to coffee at Jives Coffee Lounge, then we had breakfast at La Baguette. Both were cute, and Old Colorado City is a nice area for local cafes and restaurants. We wish we had a bit more time here, but we had a long day ahead of us on our trek towards Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park on the west side of the State (with planned stops along the way).

A cinnamon roll at La Baguette.

David enjoying breakfast on a cool sunny morning.

Views of Old Colorado City.

It's a nice neighborhood, reminiscent of some in Atlanta.

Our first stop of the day was at Pike's Peak. You now need a timed entry permit (a common theme in Colorado). We considered taking the cog railway up to the top of the mountain from near our AirBnB, but it was a bit expensive and would have taken longer. I think if we were spending another day in Colorado Springs it would have been the way to go, but we got places to be!

Pikes Peak is really cool. It's about an hour or two (depending on your pace and the traffic) drive from Colorado Springs straight to the top of a 14,000+ foot tall mountain. This late in the season there was no snow, which made it, and most of the mountains in Colorado, look a bit bare. I think we prefer coming to Colorado earlier in the summer or late spring to get the most idyllic views of the Rockies. Overall, the drive was great and there were wonderful views, especially from the top. It was quite crowded since it was a lovely summer day.

On the way back down, we stopped by Santa's Workshop, a small amusement park right at the foot of Pike's Peak. They have one roller coaster that Paul was eager to add to his collection. Paul paid for the wristband and was told the ride was open, but upon reaching the ride at the far back of the park we learned it was closed for a few hours due to some maintenance problem. All due credit to North Pole for giving Paul a refund on his wristband on our way out! The park itself was cute, and a nice park for children.

Driving to the top is not for those afraid of heights.

Almost at the top!

The cog railway.

We do love pictures of trains.

I mean, it is pretty cool. How European of Colorado Springs!

David gives Pike's Peak two thumbs up... despite almost fainting from altitude.

Proof we went to the top of Pike's Peak!

North Pole would probably be more idyllic in winter, but it was still pretty cute.

Stupid broken roller coaster.

Continuing our drive westward, we stopped in Buena Vista (recommended by two of our colleagues) for lunch at a place called House Rock Kitchen. Unfortunately, half the menu was unavailable but they did have pretty massive salads and grain bowls that turned into two meals. The town was pretty cute, just east of a major set of university-named 14,000 foot tall mountains. The area was very geared towards outdoor tourism and would probably be another fun place to visit for a couple days if we had more time.

Downtown Buena Vista.

Lunch at House Rock Kitchen in Buena Vista. A lot of avocados were harmed in the making of this travel blog.

After lunch we continued our drive, arriving at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park in the late afternoon. This is a more off-the-beaten-path national park, with 308,000 visitors in 2021 (by comparison, Rocky Mountain National Park had 4.43 million visitors). This park is admittedly one noted - the only reason to visit is for the view of the canyon. But that one note is spectacular. There are amazing views down into the 2,000 foot deep canyon, and we didn't have any crowds to deal with. The canyon is called the black canyon because it is narrow and steep, so some parts receive only 33 minutes of sunlight a day. We drove along the dead-end road visiting viewpoints along the way. Our favorite spot was the painted wall overlook. We lingered there for a while enjoying the views and the distance sounds of the river.

Leaving the park, we drove to Montrose where we checked in to the Mine Cart Motel. This was an interesting little motel that had been updated and modernized, and is a relatively affordable option in the area. We had dinner at Tacos 2 Day across the street.

We had a lot of amazing views while driving across the state.

Some cool pinnacles alongside a lake.

We made it!

Thumbs up for Black Canyon of the Gunnison.

View from the first viewpoint. 

Glimpses of the river below.

One side of the canyon is much steeper than the other.

A little lizard friend.

There were some cool plants as well.

The best view was at painted wall overlook.

Painted wall is the tallest sheer cliff in Colorado, at 2,250 feet.

There are also views in the park of surrounding mountains.

The term "pack lightly" is thrown around a lot these days...

Pauls' birria tacos from Tacos 2 Day.

That wrapped up our first two days in Colorado. From there we'd be heading north, and then turning back east to finish up in Rocky Mountain National Park.