Colorado Summer: best ...
 

Hot Springs
Scenic town
Kids activity
Red rock experience
Nature experience
Restaurant
Two hour drive

Hot Springs:

Tie for best between Pagosa Springs and Glenwood Springs. Pagosa is a series of about 20 individual pools situated along the San Juan River in downtown Pagosa Springs. A couple of the pools extend into the river. The pools vary in size from 4 person to about 15 person and vary in their temperature.
Glenwood Springs on the other hand is billed as the world's largest hot springs pool. It's where Doc Holiday went to try to cure his tuberculosis, and eventually died and was buried (in the graveyard above town, not in the spring). There are 2 pools here, one large "hot" pool and one HUGE swimming pool that mixes the hot spring water with a little cooler water to make it more temperate.
I am also somewhat partial to the hot springs in the town of Hot Sulphur Springs. The layout is similar to Pagosa with a series of many smaller pools overlooking the Colorado River. A drawback (or a plus, depending upon how you look at it) to Hot Sulphur Springs is that they confine children under the age of 16 to the lower 2 or 3 pools, reserving the remainder of the more scenic pools as adults only - and they strictly enforce the rule.
There is also an adequate hot springs in the town of Ouray, north of Durango and Silverton. It's design is similar to pools at Glenwood, but on a smaller scale.

Scenic town:

Telluride, hands down.

I don't know about a two hour drive. But my vote for most scenic drive would be the Million Dollar Highway out of Ouray.

Kid's activity:

This is hard. In your other post you mentioned fishing, which is a good activity for kids......when they're catching fish. When they're not, it can be a drag....for them and for you. Just north of Ouray and the town of Ridgeway is the Ridgeway Reservoir. It is a State Park area with campgrounds and a marina that rents boats and pontoon boats. The reservoir can fish well at times. Below the dam that creates the reservoir there is catch & release fishing in the Uncompagre River as well as several catch and keep ponds that are stocked by the Division of Wildlife.

A secret spot that I'll tell only you about. It's a little out of the way, but if you find yourself with some time to spare near the town of Placerville (just northwest of Telluride), look for a gravel forest service road that leads up to Woods Lake. The lake is situated in a beautiful spot on the edge of the Lizard Head Wilderness, and it is filled with willing Brook Trout that usually will eagerly take a small silver spoon, or Mepps spinner.

The Animas River that runs through Durango is a great trout stream, but has some restrictions regarding the type of bait you can use in some areas, and can be technically challenging if you're not used to fishing mountain rivers.

Swimming is usually another good kid activity, and for that you're probably best off going to one the hot springs areas like Glenwood Springs or Ouray.

There is a great water park in the Denver suburb of Federal Heights called "Water World" that is listed as one of the ten best water parks in the U.S. by the Travel Channel.

You could also look into rafting one of the rivers in the area you will be visiting (the Dolores River comes to mind). You can usually find a rafting company that offers trips of varying degrees of "thrill" on different stretches of the same river.

Colorado is a fairly large state. If you narrow down what you are looking for, you might get some answers that might pertain to where you are looking to visit. IMHO

Debi

Red Rock experience:

Not sure what you mean by this, but let me suggest 2 places. The first is Colorado National Monument, just west of the city of Grand Junction. The second is a scenic drive along Colorado Hwy 141 between the town of Nucla (northwest of Telluride), and the town of Whitewater (just south of Grand Junction) that is referred to as the Unaweep/Tabeguache Scenic Byway. Check out the website at www.gorp.com/gorp/activity/byway/co_unawe.htm for a short description of this drive, OR www.gorp.com/gorp/activity/byway/co/iti_una.htm for a mile by mile description of the byway.

Nature experience:

A hike along the Colorado River on the western side of Rocky Mountain National Park. You will usually spot elk, and maybe even a moose or two.

Hot springs: Glenwood and Ouray

Scenic town: Ouray, Telluride, Crested Butte, Lake City

Kids activity: Water World (Denver); white water rafting (Arkansas); alpine coaster (Glenwood); alpine slides (Breckenrigde, outside Durango, etc); mountain scooter/Diggler (Copper Mnt)

Two hour drive: Cinnamon Pass, Lake City to Silverton, via ghost town of Animas Forks

Two Hour Drive:

Agree - Cinnamon Pass, but I'd spend more than just 2 hours doing it.

2nd place: Million dollar highway between Silverton and Ouray, then for the heck of it, continue up to Ridgeway and catch Hwy 62 west to the top of Dallas Divide.

3rd place: Trail Ridge Road through Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park.

Restaurant:

So many places, and you only have 9 days.

Start with The Ore House (147 E. College Dr., Durango)