5alive

Hi, everyone,
I posted last a while back as we first planned our trip and thanks for all the advice so far. I have some final itinerary questions I could use your help on. First, the itinerary as it stands.

We are staying in Colorado Springs the entire time, in part because of the Democratic convention and in part because this is also a trip to see family. There will be my family of 5 (kids ages 12/10/8) and my brother.

TUES-- PM Arrive Denver, head to CSprings
WED--Garden of the Gods, Rock Ledge Ranch, horse riding?
Hopefully Woodland Park Dinosaur Museum or maybe Cheyenne Zoo
THURS--Breckenridge, Country Boy Mine, short hike?
FRI--Pike's Peak Cog train (already reserved) in morning; tour with staff member at Air Force Academy in afternoon
SAT--Fishing with an uncle. He has a boat and we're leaving details to him. If it falls through: US Olympic Center, Zoo, Cave of the Winds or Old Colorado City.

So my questions:
1. I was all set to arrange a ride at the Academy Riding Stables by Garden of the Gods; some unfavorable trip reports at TA. Any thoughts?

2. Breckenridge--the map engines are encouraging us to go US24 to Hwy 9 to get to Breckenridge at 106 miles. On a previous post, Kate said that route was about 1.5 hours; the map machines are telling me 2 hours and 22 minutes....thoughts? Also would it be better to come home by the freeways, especially if it's getting dark when we leave? The map machine is thinking that is 2 hours/48 minutes... My brother thought if we went through Denver we could see the Red Rock ampitheatre...

3. Not sure how early we'll get going to Breckenridge, but what would be the best short hike (2 miles?) nearby. We looked at a couple of websites and where a little overwhelmed.

Thanks for your help!

fmpden

24/9 is the best route to Breck but it is a solid two and a half hours and probably more for you since you are are accustom to driving mountain roads. You could use I-25/C470/I-70 -- would be an easier drive but closer to three hours if not more. AND depending on time of day, much more. The stretch of I-25 between Castlerock and C=470 is terrible during rush hour and C-470 approaching I-70 in the AM is very bad. And the reverse is true in the PM.

Don't know of any good TWO mile hikes around Breck. Just do any of the trail heads for twenty minutes out and back.

For all of the travel time, I am not sure the Breck is worth it. Just go west of CS into the mountans for an hour.

boom_boom

I second Fmpden's suggestions. Did the 24/9 route in July and it was more than 2 hours and I do a lot of mountain driving. While Breckenridge is nice, I'd skip it with your time constraints.

5alive

Thanks for the thoughts. We are used to driving mountain roads, albeit not in Colorado. Is the route scenic?

Given that the map engines are backing you up, I'm believing your estimates. Somehow I came up with different advice from Colorado people in my prior post "Colorado in late August": http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...1&tid=35140884

Ironically, I had decided against RMNP because people said it was farther than Breckenridge.

One advantage to Breckenridge was that the Country Boy Mine sounded appealing. Our kids know about mining from some games they do and it would be neat to tour the real thing. The town sounded neat to me.

I will see if I can find something similar closer to Colorado Springs, but we may still go for Breckenridge. My in-laws keep telling me canon city but it didn't get such good recs on this board.

furledleader

The Mollie Kathleen Mine tour in the town of Cripple Creek is much closer to Colorado Springs.

http://www.cripple-creek.co.us/MollieKathleenMine.aspx

fmpden

Saliva, only one post from a former Colorado Springs resident suggested an hour and half to Breck. And RMNP is further than Breck. So that is true. I am not familiar with the Country Boy Mine and, in fact, have not heard of it in the nearly 30 years we have lived here. Missed it somehow.

The mine on the Georgetown Railroad loop is one of the more interesting mines that I have been to. You could catch that on you return.

5alive

Saliva! Okay fmpden, that is a really funny change to my screen name As an aside it's actually the number 5 & alive, sort of tongue in cheek. On the first trip I posted to Fodors, I was hoping to make it back with all 5 of us alive.

The poster you mentioned currently lives in Boulder, had lived in Csprings, and appeared to be a longtime Coloradan; another person commended her on her solution; and several more people posted with no one contesting her statement. Due diligence would require that I should have mapped it out sooner to begin with, so in the end it's my mistake.

It is good to know the country boy mine is not a destination for residents. It is in all the guidebooks and on TA.

I will check into your ideas. I had also seen Cripple Creek early on, but not thought of it seriously since I found Breckenridge.

fmpden

5alive, I missed that. I have had two detached retinas in one eye. So between that and the floaters I have trouble focusing on small print and have trouble with i and l, a and e, etc. There often is a fairly amount of misinformation from time to time. But if you correct it you might be considered rude. As a Denver resident I have only driven that road once but I think it could be driven in that time if every thing clicked and you didn't look around much.

Will have to look into this County Boy mine. I am not even sure where it is.

But there are things that some locals like that don't make the guide books.

Have fun.