Best Rocky Mountain Trips

BEST ROCKY MOUNTAIN TRIPS

Supremely beautiful, rugged and wild and free, the Rockies seem invented for road trips: drifting down the byways of Colorado, Wyoming, Montana and Idaho and getting lost in the regions natural beat. Big blue skies stretch forever, and roads slip through alpine valleys, past windswept prairies, between lofty snowcapped peaks and into small towns where the old Wests heart still throbs.

Everything about the Rockies from the bears to the beers feels big, larger than life. Theres an adventure for each season waiting around every turn be it broncs and bulls at the Cody Nite Rodeo in summer or champagne powder skiing in Vail, Aspen or Sun Valley in winter guaranteeing youll never be bored.

The truth is, wherever in the Rockies you may wander, youre in for a hell of a good trip. Whether youre wandering the streets of big-city Denver, summiting a 14er or geyser gawking and big bear stalking in mighty Yellowstone, it doesnt take long to slip right into that sweet, pine-scented nirvana they call the Rocky Mountain high.

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The Rocky Mountain states have been rocking to their own tunes for decades now heck, Colorados official state song is John Denvers most famous anthem, Rocky Mountain High. The songs here come from genres as different as the mountains are from the prairie, but when played in combination, make the perfect Rockies road-trip soundtrack.

How to Save a Life, The Fray

A Mile High in Denver, Jimmy Buffett

I Can Still Make Cheyenne, George Strait

Half Moon Rising, Yonder Mountain String Band

Rocky Mountain Music, Eddie Rabbitt

Idaho, Train

Wild Montana Skies, John Denver

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TRIP 1

WHY GO Sitting at exactly 5280ft, this city has sunshine, culture and 300 blue-sky days of cosmopolitan attitude. Get to know the cow-gone-to-pot town in a whole new light with more medical-marijuana dispensaries than Starbucks, the Mile High Citys nickname has taken on a whole new meaning.

Start your weekend in the Mile High City off right, climbing to the 15th step of the domed State Capitol building. Engraved with the words one mile above sea level, the step is where Denvers official height measurement is taken the building sits on slightly higher ground than the rest of the city.

Designed by Elijah E Myers to resemble the national capitol building, the Colorado statehouse was constructed out of white granite in the 1890s. In 1908 it received a facelift: the original copper dome was replaced with one made from 200oz of real gold plating to commmerate the 1880s gold rush that built Denver. Make sure to wander inside Congress is in session between January and May and the public is welcome to sit in the impressive galleries and watch the debates on the floor. Even if youre not into politics, it is well worth wandering inside for nothing more than aesthetic purposes this is one of the most impressive state capitals weve seen; stained-glass windows and hand-painted murals tell the story of Colorado against a backdrop of rare multicolored marble and gold-plated bannisters. Sherlock Holmes types will want to inspect the interior carefully bizarre history lessons can be gleaned from obscurely placed plaques, while subtle graffiti, including an image resembling George Washington, covers portions of walls and floor, secretly etched into the soft stone over the years. (Dont try this yourself, you will be arrested.)

West of the capitol, around the green expanses of the civic-center park, is the citys most abstract attraction, the Denver Art Museum. Designed by Daniel Libeskind of World Trade Center memorial fame, the museums Frederic C Hamilton wing, its newest and most expensive, looks like the Sydney Opera House stuck inside a mammoth fan; at once mesmerizing and torturous. Love it or hate it, you cant not dig the museums permanent collections, all of which are top quality its Native American art collection is one of the countrys largest, featuring pieces from tribes across America.

After a morning of museum hopping, your stomach is probably growling. Luckily youre just a few blocks from Denvers most happening gourmet-eating strip, historic LoDo. Walk northwest on 14th St to hit Denvers original city center. Its home to blocks of tidy red-brick buildings dating back more than a century; once manufacturing warehouses, today theyve been converted into sidewalk cafs and big-city bistros, swanky lounges, retro furniture shops and designer boutiques. Turn right on Wynkoop St, at LoDos northern edge, and inhale the smell of frying meat and hops as you walk into the citys beloved homegrown tap house, the Wynkoop Brewing Company. The brainchild of city mayor John Hickenlooper (who was famous for his successful microbreweries long before he succeeded in politics, and is now running unopposed on the Democratic ticket for governor), it serves juicy burgers and award-winning microbrews in big and breezy environs. There are more than 20 billiard tables should you care to indulge in an aprs-lunch game.

Just across the street from the Wynkoop, Union Station is worth a peek. Constructed in 1881 to consolidate gold-rush traffic, the station once carried more than a million passengers a year. By 1954 service was decreased by half, and today only one Amtrak passenger train passes through Unions impressive arches each day.

Two blocks south of the brewery on Wynkoop is Denvers best literary shop, the well-loved Tattered Cover Bookstore. The massive store, covering all genres in varying degrees of detail, has an entire corner devoted to armchair travel, and plenty of overstuffed chairs to curl into. Want to write your story? The journal selection is fantastic, with creative and unique offerings for all tastes and ages.