What about a trip to Colorado? The Happy State! Colorado is a wonderful place to visit during the year, but the landscaping is stunning in the Fall. The first stop should be Denver, a beautiful city with some of the most spectacular small towns surrounding it. Check out the downtown area and walk around the 16th street mall where many restaurants and pubs are located.
Then visit the Red Rocks Amphitheatre, which is an actual rock that was sculpted and converted into a super cool Amphitheatre with an excellent view and acoustic sound.
Another excellent place is the Garden of the Gods Park, with magnificent and huge rocks piles dotting the surreal landscape.
The city of Boulder and Golden are also worth checking it out; Golden is a small and very accessible town with scenic beauty. You can visit the Western Museum of Mining and Industry and Central City. While the population is small, it sure has plenty of casinos. Boulder is a college town with a great view of the Rocky Mountains.
The next cities I recommend are delightfully charming:
- Breckenridge, an enchanting historic mining town with Victorian buildings and mountain peaks.
- Vail, a city that gives you an authentic mountain vibe and has fascinating European architecture.
- Colorado Springs has the Rocky Mountain National Park, where the beauty and scenery are fantastic.
- Estes Park, where you can take a ghost tour of the Stanley Grand Heritage Hotel (though the Shining was not filmed there, Stephen King used that hotel as a reference for his book).
When I visited Colorado 2 years ago, the locals told me that Denver and Colorado Springs are the happiest cities in Colorado because the sun is always shining, bringing the best of people. I couldn’t agree more.
Cinthia M. Kettering
