Summer Park City Utah, Colorado Springs and Denver Summer 2016
 

Hello
Next summer (July) will mark our 17th wedding anniversary and we will make our way to the Midwest for the 1st time. Our 8 year old will be traveling with us.
We are by no means athletic - no rock climbers in this bunch - but we are adventurous.
Park City Utah will be our 1st stop and lodging is already setup but we will LOVE any input and ideas for day trips and things to do and places to see. We will be at Park City for 5 days.
Then we haven't decided if we fly or drive to CO - plane tickets for Frontier are yet not available for July.
We were planning to stay in CO Springs for 3-4 days and 4-5 days in Denver.
We are planning on using CO Springs as a connecting place to go to Pikes Peak and such and though staying near the airport
We saw on the site that it was an industrial/commercial location, and was wondering will it be safe at night?
Besides Pikes Peak, any other suggestions??
On to Denver... will it be better to stay downtown or in the outskirts of town? We have a car already rented.
Recommendations on sites to see, things to do and places to go will be appreciated.
Thanks in advance

From Park City you could make a log day trip to Moab and Arches NP. North of Moab is a place that I have seen dinosaur tracks in stone which I think an 8 year old would like.
I don't know here you're coming from but Utah and western Colorado are not considered to be the Midwest.
If you are not driving your own car, I would consider taking the Amtrak California Zephyr from SLC all the way to Denver and renting a car from there.
The Denver station is newly remodeled and is quite close to Coors Field if you would like to see a Rockies game.
The most beautiful and interesting scenery in daylight on any Amtrak route are the canyons along the Colorado River including the Glenwood Canyon east of Glenwood Springs.
If you don't go all the way to Moab and Arches, there is a nice prehistory museum in Price.

I live in Denver and I think you should consider spending the second part of your trip in Grand Teton NP and Yellowstone NP instead of Denver and Colorado Springs. That would be a great experience for your first trip out West and it is only about 4.5 - 5 hours (I think) from Salt Lake City.

I think the above rec for Grand Tetons/Yellowstone is quite good.
In any case, there is more to CO than Co Springs and Denver, and you really might rethink your choices there.
Rocky Mountain National Park would be a "do not miss". CO Springs is sort of a yawn compared to the mountains and other places you could choose.
Five days in Park City is a lot also.
Pike's Peak is a tall mountain. Up and down and you're done.
You could see a lot of what Tom is touting for the train by just driving from Park City to Denver.
There is the Four Corners area--and Mesa Verde--a true wonder of the world and its Anasazi civilization.

Hi lady

It might help with the recommendations if you say what tea of things you enjoy. Are you outdoor sports people? Photographers?

There are plenty of things to do to keep you very busy in and around Park City. Hiking, mountain biking, world class fly fishing, hot air ballooning, ATV tours, horseback riding, golf, art galleries, spas, excellent restaurants. In July you can head over to the Albion Basin at Alta and walk among the 235 different species of wild flowers that grow in carpets with the last snow high up on the peaks. Ride the Snowbird tram. Make sure to visit the Utah Olympic Park and see the facilities, the ski museum, and the Freestyle Aerialist show on the weekends. Amazing!

I would not recommend doing a day trip down to Moab. It's a 4.5 hour drive one way. The southern Utah parks are incredible, but do get very hot in the summer. Decide where you most want to go and then go there. Don't try to spread yourself too thin. Moab is worth at least 5 days just on its own. Summer can be a great time to do a whitewater raft trip. If I were to go down to Moab in the summer, you Can bet your you know what that I would be on the water!

Heading north to the Tetons and Yellowstone is another place I go for summer. A very good choice.

Regarding taking the train between SLC and Denver. Don't do it! I had to do it 35 years ago and the trip was supposed to take 9 hours. It took 16 hours! We didn't hit the most scenic part until long after dark. Nothing to see at that point. I haven't been on a train in the U.S. Since.

By all means, make you recommendations based on 35 year old experiences. Maybe the train scheduled changed and you go through the canyon in the day light. That is crazy.

As much as I love SLC mountains in the summer, I would take those 5 days and head to Yellowstone/the Tetons.

If you stay here, go to Timpanogos Cave--that is a great day adventure! You can take the chairlift to the top of many ski resorts and hike down. (or try mountain biking down--just pick the easier runs if you haven't done it before)

I wouldn't go south in the summer--too hot. And train travel in the west is iffy IMO--I would fly or drive!

If you check on my profile you can read about the train and rental car trip I took last March. I still drive (a lot) and I will fly if I have to get somewhere quickly.
I've only been riding Amtrak for 14 years.
I don't know why people consider train travel in the West "iffy". On my return trip on the SW Chief from Galesburg to LA, I had a good breakfast with Mark Murphy who is the Amtrak VP in charge of long distance routes.
Yes we arrived in LA late but still had about 15 minutes to make my connection to the northbound Coast Starlight.
The CZ (#6 eastbound) is scheduled in to Glenwood Springs at 12:04PM. It has been late, but never to the point where the trip through the Glenwood Canyon is in darkness.
Train #5 (westbound CZ) meets #6 somewhere about an hour or less east of the Glenwood Canyon.

Nice to hear from someone with relevant experiences and information. We rode the train once through the canyon. While the canyon is terrific the rest of the trip east to Denver is almost as impressive as the canyon. If you can plan it, do it.

Every so many years we pass through Colo Springs. Garden of the Gods is worth a drive and/or hike (more like a walk) through. Cave of the Winds has some corny dialogue but the cave is pretty neat. I personally wouldn't spend 3-4 days in colo springs, though.

As I count it, the OP has about 2 weeks for a trip in the great west. It has been nipped and tucked at and I think many agree that the allocation of days is not the ideal some of us might seek.
Even with a couple of days in Park City which seems to have been nailed down (maybe can be changed) and another 6-7 in the Tetons and Yellowstone, there could be more.
Even starting in Denver and driving to yellowstone through Colorado would be wondrous trip.

When we did the trip from SLC to Denver we departed the station at about 6 am. As I said by the time we got to the scenic part it was long past dark. We were supposed to get in to Denver in the late afternoon but didn't arrive until 10:30 pm.

Dont know why the train was so late as there was only one obvious delay. We had to wait quite a while for a freight train in Spanish Fork Canyon as the freight train seemed to take priority.

It was such a miserable trip that I have never looked into repeating it nor would I recommend it to others.

Others are e titled to their opinons. Everyone has their own.

I have driven and flown the route several times and really preferred both over the train.

I took the train from Idaho to Pittsburgh. Great except that we missed our connection in Chicago and had to stay over--with a large family group. I travel my train in Europe and up and down the east coast and it is much different. I know way too many people who had mishaps taking the train out west--too many variables I guess.