Looking to spend a few days at a resort in Colorado (not more than 2 1/2 hours drive from Denver) with lots of organized summer activities for our young children. Any ideas?

Depends on what your mean by organized? Keystone, 90 min from Denver has lot of activities for kids. Depending on ages though parents are required to attend most of them. You cannot just drop them off, except of course at day care. Last summer my twin nephews came out, age 6. A partial list of things we did at Keystone...Pony Rides, paddles boat rides, ski lift up for a hike on 7/11, attended an outdoor play especially for kids, arts and crafts hour for kids, star gazing tour, out door story telling, biking, free outdoor concert at Lake Dillon. This year they are adding outdoor movies for families. If your kids are older they could go golf, horseback ride, mtn bike, rafting all available onsite or though the resort. Again if they are older the free shuttle runs throughout the resort giving all some freedom from the car.

I do know that they have summer "camps" that you could just have kids attend though there is nothing about it on the web site. You would need to call and get details.

Many of the activities come with the "Adventure Passport" free if your book though Keystone , about 40.00 if you find a better deal though an owner (typically much, much less about 75-100 for a 2 bedroom a night is average) you really only need one passport per family as your probably not going on the pony ride and kids will not go to the wine tasting. We only buy one each season, works fine for us. Our nephews are very excited to come back and visit this summer, asking almost daily when they are coming out!

Durango Mountain Resort has a good kids program. While DMR came up with the program for guests, they offer it to local children as well. Both my children (then 10 and 12) went for a week or two in 2002, and my son (11) attended for a few days in 2003. There was hiking, mountain biking, swimming, the Alpine slide, etc. The only caveat from me is that there was only one major activity per day. It wasn't like they could choose what they wanted to do each day. I liked the laid-back, positive attitude of the leaders.

There is a Club Med in Crested Butte that has a great kids ski program. Don't know what they offer for summer and it's more than 2 1/2 hours from Denver, but you could fly in to Gunnison instead of Denver. Vail has a kids program that operates daily in the summer (check vailnet).

YMCA of the Rockies has great family programs. One in located in Estes Park and the other in the Winter Park area. They both have a craft cabin with all kinds of activities (you do have to stay with your kids), day programs for the kids for a fee (I think you can leave your kids and go hiking, etc.), night programs for the family, pool, mini golf, climbing wall, etc. Neither facility is fancy but my kids loved it.

I agree YMCA of the Rockies in Estes Park would be great for you.

Durango and Crested Butte are much further than 2.5 hours from Denver, but Snow Mountain Ranch (YMCA of the Rockies) is just north of Winter Park, so would be 2 - 2.5 hours' drive from Denver. We have spent a lot of time there with our kids and it's a great place. They have family cabins and dorm-type rooms, very "down-home" (nothing fancy). Unbelievable scenery, great hiking and bike trails, indoor and outdoor miniature golf, indoor roller skating rink, indoor rock-climbing wall, indoor basketball/volleyball, mountain bikes to rent, crafts cabin, etc. It's a wonderful family-oriented place. Lots to do inside, in case of rain. Personally, I prefer it to the Estes Park Y-- I just like its ambiance more. And from Snow Mountain, it's an easy day-trip to Grand Lake, about 45 minutes' drive. Grand Lake is an impressive, large natural alpine lake, with a cute little town and shops. The Grand Lake Lodge has a spectacular restaurant, with unbeatable views from its porch, overlooking the lake. It's an authentic log lodge that's very nice. (You could look into staying there, too.) You can rent motorboats on Lake Granby and Grand Lake, which is a lot of fun. You could also drive towards Winter Park to Fraser, and catch a river raft trip there. Try Red Hawk outfitters. There's tons to do for kids, and it's a beautifully scenic area. Two theaters-- one in Winter Park and one in Granby. Take the kids for pizza at Hernando's in Winter Park-- it's the best.