northern front range
Within easy reach of the Front Range are several wonderful mountain towns; the Peak-to-Peak highway is a good one to drive or hitch a ride along. Nederland is up Boulder Canyon, a tiny mountain mecca with its co-op, cafes, Rastafarian restaurant, etc. Ward is a fiercly independent zone of its own. Little Allenspark has a city tap where you can fill up your jugs with pure mountain water. Estes Park is the touristy gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park, and Gold Hill has a cozy mountain inn with a roaring fire that will make you forget the rest of the world. Fort Collins, a college town without the dreadful self-consciousness of Boulder, is down on the plains. It has the Alley Cat, a 24-hour coffee house with free Internet-- walk north on College from here, and you'll find the walkable downtown area.
Boulder, that reality bubble 25 miles northwest of Denver, has a travel guide of its own. A few miles south of Boulder along Hwy. 93, you'll come to the Eldorado Springs Corner Market, the best gas station in the U.S. It has organic espresso, healthy snacks, progressive magazines, and a porch where you can take in the amazing view of the Flatirons. Turn off here to go to Eldorado Springs, the rock-climbing mecca (if you want to get into the state park for free, park at the post office and walk up the trail to your left). Further inside the town, they have a tap where you can fill up your jugs from the artesian spring water, and an old-school swimming pool.
Keep going along Hwy. 93, and you'll hit Rocky Flats, an old nuclear weapons facility. There's a neat radioactive roadhouse-- Rocky Flats Lounge-- on the west side of the road (Friday night is Wisconsin fish fry night).
Denver: it's a plain, good city. What to say? It's sprawling, not really walkable, but there's neat places if you know where to look. Capitol Hill, around (you guessed it) the Capital building, is the most walkable part; Taki's Japanese restaurant on Colfax is a great place for cheap, healthy food. There's a lot of nightlife up here-- Quixote's, Cervantes Ballroom, etc. Sundays is goth night at at The Church, which is usually pretty funny. Skip the 16th-street mall shopping experience and walk north of the mall through the park. Across the river, you'll find a neat neighborhood with hip Paris on the Platte, My Brother's Bar (of Kerouac legend, 2376 15th St.), and The Other Side Arts (which houses the Denver Zine Library, 1644 Platte). South Broadway is another good neighborhood, with bars like the Hi-Dive and vintage shops-- check out Mike Romoth's Apocalypse Boutique (108 S Broadway) for handmade masks, art, and leather. The Mercury Cafe is a wonderful venue for organic food (and baked goods), poetry, swing dancing, progressive movies, etc. And a calendar of Denver events can be found on denverevolution.org.
southern front range
Keeping south along the Front Range, don't bother with super-high-tech-military-possessed, Focus on the Family-headquarters Colorado Springs... but do stop by Manitou Springs, an artsy town, or go for a hike at the Garden of the Gods, an accessible park showcasing Colorado's gorgeous red rocks. Further south, I've missed any redeeming features that Pueblo may have, but Trinidad is a quaint stopping-point, and you can see Ludlow, the site of the Ludlow massacre.
denver metro
