How's our timeframe look?
 

Love this site. Already posted to "are we nuts for driving....". For our 25th wedding anniversary we giving ourselves this trip.
Here's our itinerary, if you're familiar with CO please comment.
*Depart 9/3 from Wilmington, DE to Estes Park by 9/6 and check out Estes that afternoon and evening.(Can we get there sooner?)
* 9/7 Visit Boulder ( I lived there 30 years ago, mostly want to see Flatirons)then tour Red Rocks then back to Estes for night
* 9/8 Rocky Mtn. Natl Park to Glenwood Springs (Can we make it to Montrose to overnight?)
*9/9 Visit Black Canyon of the Gunnison then depart to visit Telluride (maybe for lunch time) and arrive in Cortez for overnight
*9/10 Mesa Verde (do we need more than one day here?)
*9/11 Drive to Durango for Silverton railroad and overnight in Durango
*9/12 Depart Durango to Canon City for Royal Gorge Bridge (is there time to ride the railroad?)
* 9/13 Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame, Pike's Peak, Garden of the Gods. Overnight in Pueblo
*9/14 Depart via Lamar to Amarillo
*9/18 Arrive in Wilmington
Whew! Are we killing ourselves here? Is it LOTS of driving to visit places for a couple hours at a time? Any suggestions for more centralized overnighting? THANKS! It's coming up soon and I'm down to tweaking schedules.
Denise

take the 3 nights to drive out. no point in arriving tired and cranky. skip boulder. you will not appreciate how it has grown, and red rocks is really only fun when there is a show. spend your time in rmn park that day. start getting used to the altitude. estes to montrose will be a long haul. you will not have time for more than lunch in glenwood but the only other thing to do is sit in the pools and you wanna do that for hours if your going to do it! be sure to take rte133 south through carbondale to montrose.
here is when i would change the plan. skip mesa verde and cortez. stay in telluride overnight. explore the area. it is beautiful and a fun town. and on the 13th why not stay in woodland park or maybe florence/coal creek (i think you can gamble there now) instead of icky pueblo. its much prettier for you last night in colo.

Thanks Virginia. I'm glad to hear about Pueblo, I kinda thought it was sad to spend the night there after all the beauty we'll have seen. I'll check out the towns you mentioned.
I've heard that about Boulder too, that it's all built up and loaded with "old druggie hippies."
I just thought my husband would like to see Red Rocks. We've seen concerts on tv played there and I've seen it, saw Joni Mitchell there, God I'm dating myself; if we decide to go there is it better to tack it on from the end? Like from Canon City?
I've always wanted to see the cliff dwellings at Mesa, Cortez doesn't interest me that much, just Mesa Verde. Would it be better to stay somewhere else? Like Telluride or would Durango or Silverton be better for access to the railroad? Or is Ouray (or somewhere else) close enough to use as a home base for everything down around the San Juan? Thanks very much, this is helping a lot.
Denise

denise - one of my favorite shows ever was bette midler at red rocks when she was in her mermaid phase. that was a while back too. i'd still skip it but it is def faster to get to going up I25 from colo springs. i'm guessing by the time you get to the end of your trip it will seem too far to go.
perhaps you could spend one night in telluride and drive rte145 south to mesa verde the next am. after you have seen the dwellings it would be a about and hour to durango. i've just checked the train schedule and you will leave durango at 8:15 or 9am. you will want to be in durango and not need to drive in from anywhere too far away. and it gets back at 5:30/6:15 so you may want to spend that night as well.
ouray is even further north than telluride.
you have designed a long journey through some nice places often made more beautiful by lingering, but i am sure you will enjoy this once in a lifetime anniv. cruise...

you should check out the colorado trip report currently posted just below your thread. they traveled to mesa verde and other places you are thinking about.

Thanks again.. The "report" was a big help too.
I think we're definitely not going to stay in Pueblo. We're still talking about everything else but it's great info. I'll keep you posted and I'll be sure to post OUR report when we get back. Denise

With the price of gas I would fly to Denver (or Colorado Springs--might be cheaper) and rent a car. I have driven to Denver many times from NC. It will take you 3 days as you have outlined.
I don't agree about Mesa Verde--and yes, you need 2 days at least.
If you rent a car, look on Hotwire for the price. It will give you the taxes--yo don't have to accept their bid. Then bid on Priceline, knowing that the taxes will be added on. The last time I rented a car in Denver for a week it was about $500 for a minivan, as I recall.
I am assuming there is a Red Rocks in Boulder--surely you aren't talking about the Red Rocks in Morrison and going back to Estes Park.
The drive through RMNP is beautiful and I suppose getting to Glenwood Springs by night is doable.
Do your circuit--it has been a long time since we did all that.
Return to Denver/CO Springs and fly home.

Thanks Gretchen. We thought about flying but my husband has never been further west than Pittsburgh and he really wants to drive the country. So we're driving out, we're not doing Pike's Peak and probably not Red Rocks either (unless we dicide to tack it on the end)which we probably won't. Thanks for all the info.

After your drive from the East Coast, I think you should do the following, going straight to Colorado Springs:

Day 1: Colorado Springs (Pikes Peak, Garden of the Gods, Olympic Training Center, BTW: the Rodeo Hall of Fame is closed indefinitely), drive to Estes Park for overnight.

Day 2: Tour RMNP & drive to Montrose for overnight.

Day 3: Tour Black Canyon, Million $ Highway, Ouray, through Durango (skip for now), & to Cortez for overnight.

Day 4: Mesa Verde -- get there by 8am for tour tickets to the Ruins. Keep in mind that it is 45 minutes from Cortez to the Visitor Center; Tour 1 Mesa (Chapin has 2 tour only ruins: Cliff Palace & Balcony House); you can do Spruce Tree, Far View, & Chapin Museum on your own; drive to Durango for overnight.

Day 5: Durango/Silverton Railroad & head for home maybe stopping at a hot spring site to relax before the drive --I think there is one in Ouray?

Good luck & have fun. Happy Anniversary!

Just got latest edition of Adventurer magazine. It has an article about Telluride and the things going on in September, like the film festival and the Imogene Pass Marathon.
We were planning on staying in Ouray during our trip and making reservations from the road.
We're going to be there right around the marathon - does this event effect room availability in Ouray?

FWIW, when we went a few years ago we weren't able to get a room in Telluride because of a big music festival. Had no trouble getting a room in Ouray, tho' we did book at least a couple of months ahead.