We Had A Long, FUN Weekend in Colorado!   Some highlights from this trip were:

The Rocky Mountain National Park

Hiking St. Mary’s Glacier

A Concert at Red Rocks Amphitheatre

Experiencing Casa Bonita

Buffalo Bill Cody’s Grave

The Stanley Hotel

Hammond's Candies Factory Tour

Eating at Casa Bonita, Tocabe, Blue Pan Pizza, The Sink, & Maria Empanada And More!

Finally, all of those moving pieces lined up the first weekend of May 2026. Rock band Puscifer, who we saw the year before at a show in Huntsville, was playing Red Rocks on Sunday, May 3rd. My son had his last final the Friday of that weekend freeing him up. I was able to snag concert tickets, a Casa Bonita reservation, and some flights via Southwest and it was time to flesh out the rest of the trip with some more “scenic” attractions! More on that later…

On Friday, May 1st my son took his last final exam and we loaded up everything from his dorm room and drive the hour ride home to begin his summer vacation. He quickly packed his suitcase for the trip, and the next morning we left for the airport at 4am. After a short layover in Dallas, we arrived at the Denver airport. We had been there once before in 2016 on a long layover coming back from Hawaii. I remember looking out the windows and seeing the snow covered mountains and wanting to comeback and seeing that up close and not just out of a window. So here we were ten years later with a three and a half day plan!

Since our Casa Bonita reservation was at 8pm, we needed a small bite to eat to hold us over. After seeing a video on YouTube about Maria Empanada earlier in the year, we drove over to their Riverview location to try out these stuffed Argentinean pastries! They had a beautiful array of empanadas behind the glass countertop and a nice man that took the time to explain the history of the food, how they were made, and what the various ingredients were in each pastry. My wife chose one stuffed with mushroom, my son ham and cheese, and mine roasted corn and Cotija. We also each got a small Nutella and banana stuff desert empanada. These were AMAZING, and I could have downed several! But I knew I had a big meal coming on in a few hours, so these were the perfect size to hold us over until our late dinner.

Our next stop was Golden, Colorado just on the western outskirts of Denver. There our hotel was located. I stopped at a Barns & Nobles bookstore to pick up a paper map of the area JUST IN CASE we lost cell or data service while in the mountains! Luckily, I never needed that. We checked in to our hotel – a Comfort Inn: Pretty basic and economical as I had more expensive lodging plans for later in the trip. I chose this hotel in Golden because most of the things I wanted to see in that area were 15-20 minutes in either direction. Staying in Golden served me well! A funny thing was right by our hotel was a Sinclair Gas Station… and I got all excited because they had a Sinclair Dino out front, too! I got my photo with it. Where I am from and where I live, those are just as extinct as a real dinosaur! But apparently Sinclair is alive and well out there, as I saw several the next few days but only one other with a large green dinosaur out front! We drove through Golden sight seeing with a few stops to take photos. It is a really beautiful town, and I would like to stay there again to spend more time visiting in the future.

Sunday May 3rd: We woke up early and layered up our clothing and prepared for a hike. With day packs ready and hiking boots on, we drove 45 minutes to outside of Idaho Springs and parked at the trailhead of St. Mary’s Glacier. While not an actual glacier, it is a semi-permanent snow field that sits above a lake at about an elevation of 11,200 feet. The parking at the base was $20 and since it was before 7am, there was only two other cars there, one of which owners immediately appeared and left. So off we started up the trail. Before this, the highest hike I had ever done was to the top of Mount Mitchell in North Carolina, but I was a teen and the elevation here was nearly double. After going about 400-600 yards from the start of the trailhead it hit me, “WHOA”! Am I going to be able to do this? The altitude hit me like a wall as all of the sudden I was having a hard time breathing. I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to be “that guy” in front of my family! But within seconds my wife made the comment out loud… then my son. We all laughed because it hit us all at the same time, and nobody wanted to speak up! Where we live is about 800 feet above sea level and this was “altitude thing” was real! So we took a quick break, and took our time as we went up, and it worked out great! No issues, but I did notice in my videos after the hike that I was REALLY breathing and panting hard! We got to the beautiful lake and eventually went up the snow field. It was beautiful and peaceful, and one of the highlights of the trip for me. It was also a huge accomplishment for me as I’ve had three knee surgeries and had been having problems again leading up to the hike. In fact, I had just completed another stint of therapy just days before we left! With walking sticks in hand, I had NO knee issues on the trail or even the entire trip for that matter. So, St. Mary’s Glacier? If you can hike it, DO IT! It’s breathtaking in more ways than one!

After that hike we drove back to Golden and had lunch at Blue Pan Pizza, which I had also seen on a YouTube video. It’s a Detroit style pizza and they also had eggplant fries that I wanted to try. I don’t normally like eggplant, but these were really good. Crispy on the outside, soft on the inside and the pizza, particularly the buttery crust, was outstanding! Our next stop was visiting the grave of Buffalo Bill Cody. This one was a bit of a personal quest, as years ago I scanned negatives of my maternal grandparent’s trip to Colorado from 1946. While I couldn’t identify everyplace from their time there, I did know Buffalo Bill’s grave. I wanted to re-shoot the same photos 80 years later. The funny thing is while I took that photo and looked over the hill I saw a building that was ANOTHER one of their pictures that they took! So I was able to knock out two images that afternoon. After that we visited the Genesee Buffalo herd to get a glimpse of them off in the distance resting.

We took a quick nap back at the hotel room to recharge, then headed towards Denver for our Sunday evening dinner. We chose Tocabe (located at 3536 West 44th Avenue), which features food that is Native American based and sourced. We always like to try something new when we are away from home, and like the Empanadas from the day before Tocabe was going to give us something new. My wife and I both had Indian Tacos which were flat fry breads topped with vegan beans, cheese, sweet corn, mild tomatoes, and a seed mix that looked like sesame and pumpkin to me. A chipotle-like sauce was on the side. This was REALLY good, and I scarfed it down really quick. I didn’t think I was that hungry until I started eating it! Luckily, my son was able to get their last serving of Bison Ribs with a berry barbecue sauce, green chile stew, and two fry biscuits. He said they were amazing and the three of us had these fry bread nuggets that reminded me of a hot powdered donut hole. They were so fresh and dangerously tasty! Tocabe does not disappoint if you want something that seems a bit familiar – but isn’t!

The concert, Puscifer, is a hard to describe rock band mainly composed of guitarist Mat Mitchell, British vocalist Carina Round, and Tool and A Perfect Circle singer Maynard James Keenan – plus a touring bassist and drummer. Their music is a mix of heavy metal, industrial, and what I would call vintage electronica. It’s hard to label. We saw them last year on the Sessanta 2.0 Tour, and knew we wanted to see them again! Like Tool concerts, they have a strict no camera, video, or cell phone policy which forces audience to pay attention and be in the moment. At the end of the show, they announced and allow the last two songs to be recorded with your phones. It’s an odd experience these days seeing a show and not seeing a field of cell phones glowing in front of you all night! Red Rocks amphitheater sounded PHENOMINAL! I can see why it is such a coveted venue for bands, as it’s not just because of its natural beauty (it’s carved between two massive protruding rocks coming from the ground), but it just sounds darned good! Now that I know the venue better and what a great experience it can be I will be open to coming back for another show.

Our first visit in Estes Park was a quick stop at The Stanley Hotel, which is a huge hotel built in 1909 by the Stanley family of Stanley Steamer fame. Besides this historical connection, it is also famous for Stephen King checking in to write a book… and it becoming “The Shining”! They offer a tour of the hotel, but knowing we were going to be limited on time because of the incoming snow, we just looked around the lobby, gift shop, and outside grounds. There is a lot of construction going on at the hotel complex right now, with all kinds of outdoor working areas and construction equipment being used. I don’t know what all is going on, but it seemed large enough for maybe new hotel wings and re-done grounds areas? But even with our short stay, the hotel is impressive looking and they have a beautiful lobby with an original Stanley steam powered automobile sitting inside… with a REDRUM vanity plate mounted on the front!

We headed to a local Safeway grocery store to pickup some picnic supplies to eat in the Rocky Mountain National Park. I found it quite humorous at the pandemonium going on inside the store as people were flooding in buying milk and break… just like what happens in the South when there is the talk of snow! One dude had about six gallons of milk in his cart! Well, maybe he had 9 kids? Still, freaking out about a storm might just be a universal response, and not one that is just made fun of about southern people.  Storm or no storm, we managed to get some fresh baked croissants from the bakery, some pimento cheese spread, potato chips, and little chocolate donuts (the breakfast of champions) to eat in the mountains.

As we headed up to the park, we pulled of at what was SUPPOSED to be our lodging that night. The lady at the desk was nice, and we explained the situation after she got off of the phone with someone else voicing the same concerns. She was still going by what she had heard hours and hours earlier with the weather, but the forecast was turning for the worst. It was literally an or so before we would have checked in but we told her we would not be and would head back to Denver that night because we had a flight to catch the next day. While it was tempting to be snowed in a gorgeous mountain town, my wife and I had work to get back to! We breathed a defeated sigh as we drove by this cute cottage on a small stream that we should have been staying at as we headed back up the mountain. Oh well, our decision proved to be the right one as I hastily made a new hotel reservation at a La Quinta Inn close to Denver’s airport.

After a nice picnic, the next few hours were spent by us moseying along routes 7, 34, & 36 and various branching roads and side stops. We saw some mule deer, but mostly elk EVERYWHERE! We saw elk in large groups, pairs, single… simply all over the place and at all distances! The changes in temperature were vast as our rental car climbed up the mountains and I watched the dashboard’s thermometer plummet. Our ears did the expected clogging and popping, too! As various elevations were met, we would be met with mixed clouds, then some light rain, then snow that looked like little tiny snow balls rather than flakes, then back to sleet and rain. Honestly, over the past few days I think we saw about every type of weather! I guess it proved right to have a variety of clothing layers and jacket choices because certain attire was needed fast. Most of the time my fleece jacket was ok, but I’m glad I had a rain coat to throw over it for the snow and rain to help keep it dry.  

The journey through the park for us started at the Fall River Visitor Center, the Alluvial Fan, then down towards Glacier Basin, then back to Beaver Meadows Visitor Center and then Estes Park. We took our time and were in the park 2.5 – 3 hours. Obviously that was just touching the tip of this massive mountain range, but time was not on our side. We parked at a free parking area and walked around the charming streets of Estes Park visiting the shops and bought some coffees and snacks. Estes Park in some way reminded me of Gatlinburg, TN BEFORE it was completely overrun by places like Ripley’s and cookie-cutter t-shirt shops. However, I can see Estes Park might be headed in that same direction! The same thing has happened to Helen, Georgia, too. When you start seeing the SAME THING in every store as you walk, you might have a problem coming. Maybe I am wrong, but that is just how I see it. Having unique mom & pop owned shops and eating places are imperative! Not knowing what is inside each door as you are walking in is what keeps people coming back.

Tuesday May 5th: Day four we woke up without a plan for the first time. We thought we were going to be spending more time around Estes Park and the mountains, but here we were minutes from the airport and it really raining! Our intuitions were right to get out of Estes Park though, as they were already at 15” of the white stuff and by the next 24 hours they would have up to 28” in some parts of the area. That would have been quite the experience, but we needed to get home! But, we had several hours to kill in rainy Denver. We ate our hotel breakfast late, and then drove a few miles down the road to Stanley Marketplace. From what I’ve read, there isn’t a connection with this place to the Stanley family in Estes Park. Robert Stanley is apparently not in the same family of the Steamer fame, but was a naval aviator veteran, test pilot, inventor, and manufacturer. He was the first American to fly a jet aircraft. At Stanley Aircraft he invented and manufactured ejection seats for fighter planes and bombers. The former 140,000 square foot manufacturing facility now home to the Stanley Market, which houses many restaurants, small mom and pop shops, and other small businesses. After walking around for awhile and eating some crepes, we figured out our next moves as it was raining harder, getting colder, and we still needed to kill a few hours before returning our rental car and getting to the airport.

It was finally time to get the rental car back the airport so off we went. The rain was getting bad and turning into sleet. I was relived once I handed the keys over because my responsibilities were done in this worsening weather! Now I was just hopeful we didn’t have flight delays or issues! And that did happen… but just a one hour delay. By the time the hour of our flight came it was just coming down HARD with snow and nearly whiting out the widows looking out at the terminal. But we boarded the Southwest flight, they de-iced the plane, off we went, and OUT I went! I woke up as we neared our home airport and by 12:45am I was in my own bed. What a trip! Denver and the surrounding areas were very good to us. All of the people we talked to were friendly, there were a plethora of activities both indoors and out, and the food was fantastic at every turn! And the great thing is there are still a lot of things left to come back to and do more of, which will most likely happen in the future. I realize there are so many other museums and points of interests that we skipped, as well as countless other natural wonders to see. But we packed in a full three and a half days and we did all that we could do and didn’t feel like we wasted a minute of time.

We will be back! Comments? Questions? Email me at [email protected]