Vacation spots in Colorado?

Travel Info
I want to take a trip with my wife to Colorado this summer and we were wondering where we should go....any ideas? We both like hiking but also like shopping....

Travel Tips

A few different choices, with some details to try to match them to your personal wishes. "Hiking" can mean a pleasant mile stroll, or an all day hike up a serious mountain. Shopping can be t-shirts or fine art.

Rocky Mountain National Park. Estes Park is the largest gateway town. Best hiking, varied and spectacular. Shopping is typical tourist town stuff. Very crowded in July/August.

Aspen. Very decent hiking. You can take a gondola to great hiking, cutting out the work to get high up. Fantastic shopping. Expensive. Enough people in summer, but not crowded.

Denver. Every kind of shopping imaginable. Take day trips into the mountains, lots of places to hike nearby. Rocky Mountain National Park is a 2 hour drive away. You could base in Denver, and spend a couple of days in Estes Park.

Those are my top three. The Dillon/Breckenridge area has spectacular hikes, but Rocky Mountain National Park is better for spectacular. Vail or Steamboat Springs have some of the Aspen qualities, but Aspen is better. Ditto Colorado Springs and Denver.

Go to a bookstore and get a Colorado hiking trails book for more ideas, or to see whats available near the above.

Others
Go to Estes Park. Beautiful. Rocky Mountain National Park is right there. And a great little brewery too.
Do you want out of the way, or busy (like the Estes Park suggestion - more people than Disneyland!)

How long a hike? Are you flying or driving . . . oh so many questions.

Southwestern Colorado or Central Colorado is beautiful and much less populated. Durango area, the Aspen-to-Crested Butte hike, around Telluride or Ouray . . . there are thousands and thousands of possibilities. There are always great summertime bargains at the ski areas.

There are many books about hiking in Colorado, including trail difficulties and so on. Check your local library. Just remember that you could be hiking at 8,000 to 10,000 feet.

Every small town you go to will have interesting shops. But save your major shopping for the city - Colorado is for scenery and nature. You want to get OUT of the crowded spots and into the back country if you can.

Plus, even the largest Colorado cities have limited shopping compared to Dallas, Chicago, New York, Atlanta, etc.
Rocky Mountain National Park (about an hour northwest of Denver) is FANTASTIC. You can camp in the park or stay in the adorable sm. town of Estes Park right next to it. The YMCA of the Rockies runs a wonderful resort just outside the park entrance...cabins, moderate lodging up to luxury accomodations. Lots of family and kid activities. Also, there are many guided hiking tours in the park. You need to make reservations at the YMCA facility prob. before March. Also many places to stay in Estes Park. Check out the YMCA for sure. I am a Colorado girl, have travelled quite a bit in the West, and Rocky Mtn. Nat'l Park is my favorite. They will send you brochures on request. See web site below.
ymcarockies.org click on Estes Park Center
Phone 970-586-3341
Hey, like your screename,

There are hiking guides, they tell you of different trails in the colorado rockies, and a lot of the hiking trails lead to olde pioneer cabins, and abandioned buildings and houses, you can actually go inside and look around. they are really cool.
Estes Park is in the mountians, so they have quite a few trailheads, but be VERY carefull, mountain lions are indigunus to colorado, and they are reintroducing the wolf, but Estes park is known for it's shops. It's nothing like the Chicago shops, but really quaint hippie shops. They have unique items that you won't find in a lot of bigger cities.
Centeral city, and Blackhawk are old mining towns that are now gambling towns, also in the mountians. Baby Doe has a lot of history in leadsville. The history is where you will have the most fun. Oh and the fable of the Stanly Hotel, is completely the works Steven King. It is not haunted in the least. But it is beautiful. In Leadsville, the Delaware Hotel is haunted. Go and see the Dliff Dwelings, and Sand dunes. We also have the Four Corners.
If its a road trip, I would suggest maybe Estes park, so you can see the mountains. If you want somewhere that isnt real packed with people, I would say go to Mesa Verde, or the Sand Dunes. They are really cool and different places to go.