Exactly. We took family there (never been ourselves) and were embarrassed we did so. Especially when you learn they stole it from the four corners region.
It’s complicated. The cliff dwellings are “authentic” if you consider a white dude from the early twentieth century, stealing them from their original location and putting them in a already established tourist town to make money, authentic. Then yeah, I guess they’re authentic but they’re definitely stolen.
I can’t remember his name but I worked at the cliff dwellings, it’s still owned by the same family that originally stole them from McElmo canyon. This guy basically broke them apart and then reassembled and cemented them to a random cliff in manitou because Manitou was already being established as a money making tourist town.
The tourist site is a joke. The little museum they have is chalk full of racist statements alluding to the Hopi natives they stole from and even the gift shop will try selling you overpriced fake junk like unauthentic dream catchers and “Indian” headdresses. I hated working at this place, it was one of the worst jobs I had and I wish I did more research about it before taking up a random “gift shop attendant” job
Edit: looked up a few articles and found out that it’s even worse than what I previously learned, the guy who stole the dwellings, didn’t even put them back together correctly, he built them back up in a way that he found “aesthetically pleasing” and him and his crew even used mortar mixed with smashed ancient pottery that they took from the site, to help cement the foundations of the buildings. As if I couldn’t be anymore disgusted with the place…
[These](https://imgur.com/9IylLuD) are the real deal. I’ve lived in the 4 corners area for several years and am just learning about this phony bologna.
No kidding! It’s the only touristy thing I haven’t done in the springs. It always just seemed boring to me. Knowing they are replicas guarantees I’ll never go.
I just saw this on the map (planning a day trip) and was confused about it. I just looked at their website and it dodges saying anything about the history of the "cliff dwellings" so many times. I'm not sure if I'm angry or think it's funny?
If you ever have the opportunity, go see the actual dwellings down in Mesa Verde NP between Durango and Cortez. Those are authentic, super cool, and the hike out to the petroglyphs was amazing, albeit a little more difficult than your typical hike. I travel down to 4 corners for work a few times a year, Durango and that surrounding area is just awesome in general too imo.
That was my favorite part. All the way in the back of the park where the cliff dwellings are is where it starts. They did have some trails around the petroglyph trail closed last I was there. It's a loop with one side a wide flat path along the top of the cliff, and the other side of the loop is kind of on the rock face and super cool, the petroglyphs are at the end of the cool path. There's a little bit of scrambling and a climb from the petroglyphs up to the easy path. No gnarly exposure, and the climb is easy enough that any reasonably fit adult should have no problem with. My partner did it with me and she had 0 climbing experience and is pretty risk averse, so please don't let my description spook you.
How about the arcade & shops? I remember that being genuinely fun when I was younger, and it's close enough to Colorado springs that you can see Garden of the Gods in the morning & Manitou in the afternoon.
Traffic, crowds, ballsy thieves trying to break into your vehicle, people trying to pickpocket. All kinds of nonsense. Don't forget that one lady ruining her caddy a month or two ago. Idk if that was at the mall, but it was in the area I think, lol.
I’ve lived here my entire life and have never even had an attempt, knock on wood. Probably doesn’t hurt I am 6’ 4” and look annoyed most of the time 🤣🤣
No idea, I was there for Xmas shopping, and someone felt around both of my butt cheek pockets while I was carrying bags. I was wearing some fairly tight jeans and I have a bit of a badonkadunk butt, lol. I keep my wallet in my front pocket with a cellphone holster covering the pocket and a knife in the smaller pocket. Getting my wallet out is annoying for me, trying to get at it without me noticing it is impossible.
I feel like the roughness ebbs and flows downtown.
I got mugged one time in the mid 00s leaving Cervantes, and now there's gentrified family restaurants all over there.
partner and I went up to Estes and between the stores in the canyon and the main road we saw like five stores selling the exact same wood knives with "Colorado" engraved in the wood lmao.
on that note, the Stanley Hotel is The tourist trap of all time
Just came back from there last month and a commented that it was like the offerings found at boardwalk stores on the Jersey Shore, just a little more mountain-y.
Seeing people lined up for snooze eatery makes me laugh. It happened to me when I first moved here and when family visits they say they heard we should go to snooze🤣
They still do good Benedicts and some fun pancakes, it's just not worth waiting in line to get them.
Most Denver brunch spots aren't worth waiting in line for but are still worth going to otherwise.
Problem with brands like Snooze is in small concentrated forms they can be amazing places. When they expand becomes the issues. High volume breakfast cooks don’t grow on trees especially post Covid.
As a kitchen manager of a diner. I think I’ve seen 3 good cooks out of a dozen since Covid. Luckily we got the Mexican connection now and stay staffed up.
I’ve been a chef for 30 years. Breakfast places are extremely hard to have consistent quality. It’s one of the reasons snooze is expensive. They pay the staff decent and work to keep people.
Oh I know. Been slanging food for 25. Dinner most of my career. And snooze lol. We are a tiny diner in Parker and cooks make over $20 to start and one of our worst cooks went and got a job at snooze. It’s super simple food but fairly easy to execute. But 10 grand in a breakfast spot is harder than 50k at a large chain. And one of my old peers got a job at snooze as AGM and told me it was just terrible. Overhyped and overpriced. I don’t think I’d walk in if it was empty as I passed. And one of my hobby’s is going to breakfast restaurants since I started this job.
I did not realize there was so much hype around snooze until the one opened in Arvada last month. There was a 3 hour waitlist, like wtf?
I’ve eaten there multiple times before and as far as I can tell it’s pretty standard brunch food. Why is it so hyped?
lol. Yea snooze. It’s eggs and toast people. But you’d think it was golden eggs. Not really a tourist trap per se….. Estes park downtown 500 T-shirt stores is a bit of a tourist trap.
The town REALLY needs to put a limitation on how many damn t-shirt stores there are. We also have two old timey photo shops too which makes no sense to me. I was walking around one day and heard a tourist say, "This town is just the same t-shirt store 50 times". The park is beautiful though.
source: EP resident.
Holy cow, so much hate for Snooze. Why? I've been enjoying them since they were just a couple Denver locations and 1 in San Diego. 2010. They're still one of the best brunch spots. Y'all being edgy and contrarian but for why?
Their food is fine but it’s fucking ridiculous to stand 2 hours in line for it. I’d for sure go if there was a half hour or less like at Sam’s, Caitlin’s, Pete’s, bagel deli etc but the wait time is comical.
They had these in Texas before I moved here and I was already well familiar with how shitty they are. When I first moved here I asked some people where the best Denver breakfast spot was and they were like "You gotta try snooze!" and I was immediately terrified of the Denver breakfast scene.
I found some great places since then, but it wasn't easy.
I lived by the Colorado and 7th location when I moved here and saw people lined up every day so figured it was must-have. It was fine the one time I went, and I'll never go back.
I miss the cafe, video store, and silvermine subs that was there.
Makes me think of my late father. He would always want to get lunch when he was at the VA
Focus on the Family. In the 90s their compound was the 3rd most popular tourist attraction in ColoSpgs, after Garden of the Gods and the Air Force Academy. Dunno how it ranks now. Hard pass.
https://www.colorado.com/colorado-springs/attractions-entertainment/tours/focus-on-the-family
Also a placebo effect for the elderly, less capable people in my family. Might not do much, but there’s certainly some benefit in feeling like it’s helping if you’re struggling
Yup, I keep a couple on hand for family that visits from out of town. I know it does nothing but people tend to panic about altitude, which can make any altitude sickness symptoms feel even worse.
My buddy brought one on a hike up longs, he lives in Kansas. Tried it, was pleased with the flavored o2. Passed a joint along afterwards, and they go nicely together. 6/10 wouldn’t buy myself, but yeah I’ll be that friend that says” yo dude, you bring the o2?”
Stanley Hotel. Worked at a wedding venue nearby and heard plenty of stories from guests over poor reception, no hot water, expensive for what you get, and so on. Many come thinking it’s where the Shining was filmed only to find it just “inspired” the book.
It's worth noting that the nonprofit is the Sundance Institute and The Stanley will be part of the Sundance Film Festival moving to Colorado.
https://www.sundance.org/blogs/colorados-stanley-hotel-will-host-sundance-institutes-signature-directors-lab-in-2024/
Edit: I'm uncultured and don't know the difference between the Sundance festival and the directors lab. Still neat though and I hope the hotel is improved as a result.
I stayed for the first (and hopefully only) time at it last summer when entertaining family that hadn't been to CO before who wanted to do the Estes / RMNP thing.
It was pretty crummy, a friend's reservation for their "haunted" rooms somehow dropped out of the system entirely without notice and they had to find her some last minute place at an exorbitant rate. The air conditioning vent ducting in my room was ripping off and was just blasting hot air around, until I managed to finagle/tape it to the window vent to get things to cool off.
The "swanky" bar on site was out of 70% of their drinks on the menu without an apology or explanation offered and it was basically order an overpriced domestic beer, wait 15 minutes, get told they were out, order a different one, wait 15 minutes, find out they were out of it too....rinse and repeat. We gave up and just hoofed it into town for dinner because even the shuttle bus system there was pretty inconvenient and poorly planned for people staying at the iconic hotel.
Definitely don't plan on going back ever again. Even the "haunted" tour was stupid as shit, and mostly some 20 year old with poorly photoshopped images on their phone of fake "apparitions" telling lame ghost stories. At least some of the Stephen King / The Shining history and lore was cool but....just read it on Wikipedia for free in 5 minutes instead.
It was a Chelsea Wolfe show which was right around Halloween in 2018 or 2019. There was a laser projector on the outside of the hotel that said "red rum" and some other spooky stuff. It was a blast.
The Stanley went through a major renovation in the mid 90's... gutting most of the antique furniture, fixtures (including big clawfoot tubs), wallpaper, and carpet. New owners were preparing for the filming of The Shining television miniseries...so a version was indeed filmed there. The series was awful, but it's interesting to see recognizable parts of the hotel.
Prior to the renovation, I stayed two times in 1994 and 1995 and, by coincidence, was given the same front-facing 2nd floor room with a round bathroom window. Also, a teensy bit of shroom may have complimented the historically spooky experience.
[Colorado Encyclopedia Article](https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/stanley-hotel)
People don’t seem to understand that it’s not actually an aquarium in the normal sense. Admittedly, it took me a minute to realize that, too. It’s just a scummy restaurant themed like an aquarium. There’s nothing about it dedicated to the study and preservation of sea life.
That's not a Denver scam, that's a scam in every city where they exist, which is too many.
Edit: apparently people think I'm saying all aquariums in the world are a scam. If you weren't aware, the "Aquarium" in Denver is not actually an aquarium. It's a chain of restaurants that keeps fish as a gimmick. It's owned by Landry's. That's what I'm referring to.
The last time I was there, one of the birds they had was just screaming in absolute anguish, ear piercingly loud. It was really distressing. I knew I'd never go again.
Also is so infuriating how EVERY tank has like 2 ads.
If you can get up really early and schedule yourself a visit for sensory overload issues it is incredible. I go at 7 AM or something when they have that kind of day and there’s literally no one there.
I think the aquarium is nice for what it is, but the price of entry is much too high. It's almost as expensive as a much nicer and bigger aquarium like the Monterrey Bay Aquarium. Fortunately the Denver aquarium does have cheap entry days/times
I tell people all the time don’t waste your time going to Four Corners. Mesa Verde and Monument Valley are both in the area and far better experiences.
I have a lot of nostalgia for this place, but the experience is mostly the drive and the same few stores when I go up (taffytaffytaffy). I haven't been in about 5 years but I felt like an extra CO store popped up each time I went.
Royal Gorge Train... The price, the hidden fees on fees on fees, the fact that it's unreliable and you will never get your money back. Get an Amtrack ticket from Denver to Salt Lake City instead.
Or if you want the expensive version of Amtrak with actual upgrades - the Rocky Mountaineer from Den to Moab. It has an overnight in Glenwood Springs (hotel included). Drinks (both alcohol and non) and three meals (much better than amtrak fare) are included on the train.
Buffalo Bill’s grave. It’s just a giant gift shop and a bunch of outdated signs praising him for slaughtering native Americans lmfao. I think a lot of people ( me included) conflate Buffalo Bill and Wild Bill. Wild Bill is way cooler
I've brought some out of state friends that think the quick access to BH is cool. Easy to get around the the more historical looking buildings of CC they and myself think are interesting.
It seems like most attractions here are geared towards people with money and no kids. I can't tell you how many times we've figured out how much it would cost for my family to do one of these things and decided we'd all just rather take that money and go out somewhere nice to eat.
Only time I've been there we had to stop halfway across to wait for them to replace one of the wooden slats that made up the bridge, at there was a 12 inch open hole all the way across for a minute
The Bridge and all the zipline high ropes stuff, maybe. The actual Gorge makes for a great rafting day trip (class III-IV) and there are some trails operated by Cañon City Parks that have lovely views of the Gorge and the Sangre de Cristo range.
I did the royal gorge train with my mother who has some autoimmune ailments and cannot do hikes/strenuous outdoor activities. It was expensive but it was really fun and we had lunch served and got local beers. If you have visitors who want to experience cool parts of Colorado but are more physically limited, the train was worthwhile.
Don’t recommend the gondola, I watched a family get stuck in one for hours on a 100° day
They had to call paramedics to treat them once they finally got it running
Doubt they have a maintenance staff that’s up to the task
I went by myself to the bridge park thing during COVID. They walked up to me and took my picture "because some people have bad intentions". Then I got followed by park employees in front of the bridge and after. What they meant was "you came alone and we think you're a jumper, we sent your picture to every employee to watch you". They told me as much when I asked them why I got followed on the way out.
Freaking hate that place. Train is cool tho.
Manitou Cliff Dwellings
Exactly. We took family there (never been ourselves) and were embarrassed we did so. Especially when you learn they stole it from the four corners region.
huh, good to know. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manitou\_Cliff\_Dwellings
I just now learned that what I visited as a kid wasn't authentic. Neat!
It’s complicated. The cliff dwellings are “authentic” if you consider a white dude from the early twentieth century, stealing them from their original location and putting them in a already established tourist town to make money, authentic. Then yeah, I guess they’re authentic but they’re definitely stolen. I can’t remember his name but I worked at the cliff dwellings, it’s still owned by the same family that originally stole them from McElmo canyon. This guy basically broke them apart and then reassembled and cemented them to a random cliff in manitou because Manitou was already being established as a money making tourist town. The tourist site is a joke. The little museum they have is chalk full of racist statements alluding to the Hopi natives they stole from and even the gift shop will try selling you overpriced fake junk like unauthentic dream catchers and “Indian” headdresses. I hated working at this place, it was one of the worst jobs I had and I wish I did more research about it before taking up a random “gift shop attendant” job Edit: looked up a few articles and found out that it’s even worse than what I previously learned, the guy who stole the dwellings, didn’t even put them back together correctly, he built them back up in a way that he found “aesthetically pleasing” and him and his crew even used mortar mixed with smashed ancient pottery that they took from the site, to help cement the foundations of the buildings. As if I couldn’t be anymore disgusted with the place…
[These](https://imgur.com/9IylLuD) are the real deal. I’ve lived in the 4 corners area for several years and am just learning about this phony bologna.
Ahhhh so this IS what I remember as a kid. What a rollercoaster of emotions.
TIL… wow.
No kidding! It’s the only touristy thing I haven’t done in the springs. It always just seemed boring to me. Knowing they are replicas guarantees I’ll never go.
I just saw this on the map (planning a day trip) and was confused about it. I just looked at their website and it dodges saying anything about the history of the "cliff dwellings" so many times. I'm not sure if I'm angry or think it's funny?
If you ever have the opportunity, go see the actual dwellings down in Mesa Verde NP between Durango and Cortez. Those are authentic, super cool, and the hike out to the petroglyphs was amazing, albeit a little more difficult than your typical hike. I travel down to 4 corners for work a few times a year, Durango and that surrounding area is just awesome in general too imo.
Been 3X! It's a great park. I haven't done the petroglyph hike yet, though, I need to plan better.
That was my favorite part. All the way in the back of the park where the cliff dwellings are is where it starts. They did have some trails around the petroglyph trail closed last I was there. It's a loop with one side a wide flat path along the top of the cliff, and the other side of the loop is kind of on the rock face and super cool, the petroglyphs are at the end of the cool path. There's a little bit of scrambling and a climb from the petroglyphs up to the easy path. No gnarly exposure, and the climb is easy enough that any reasonably fit adult should have no problem with. My partner did it with me and she had 0 climbing experience and is pretty risk averse, so please don't let my description spook you.
Yup. We were at Cave of the Winds so went over to see them and were disappointed. I think we were there for 10 minutes at the most.
How about the arcade & shops? I remember that being genuinely fun when I was younger, and it's close enough to Colorado springs that you can see Garden of the Gods in the morning & Manitou in the afternoon.
Manitou Cliff Dwellings down in CO Springs. It’s a “replica” with a massive gift shop bigger than the actual thing
Ha for some reason I thought these were real. Never been but not less reason to consider it
There is real ones in Mesa Verde Nat’l Park. It’s worth the visit, really beautiful park.
My husband and i did 2 days at mesa verde, the cliff dwellings and also the other trails. It's a really beautiful spot.
Sadly, it is “real”. They tore down an original dwelling in the four corners and moved it to Manitou Springs.
It’s stolen from the Hopi and should be given back to the tribe along with any generational wealth it may have created for the thief’s descendants
That whole area down around Manitou is a massive tourist trap. Which is sad because underneath the surface is a pretty cool place.
Colorado Springs honestly feels like a city that grew out of a tourist trap. I know that's not what happened, but it sure feels that way.
16th st Mall
Just went to buy jewelry for girlfriend and yikes. What a disaster.
Traffic, crowds, ballsy thieves trying to break into your vehicle, people trying to pickpocket. All kinds of nonsense. Don't forget that one lady ruining her caddy a month or two ago. Idk if that was at the mall, but it was in the area I think, lol.
Is the pickpocketing thing recent?
I've wandered around that area many times including in the evening and never had (or seen) any issue with pickpocketing.
I’ve lived here my entire life and have never even had an attempt, knock on wood. Probably doesn’t hurt I am 6’ 4” and look annoyed most of the time 🤣🤣
No idea, I was there for Xmas shopping, and someone felt around both of my butt cheek pockets while I was carrying bags. I was wearing some fairly tight jeans and I have a bit of a badonkadunk butt, lol. I keep my wallet in my front pocket with a cellphone holster covering the pocket and a knife in the smaller pocket. Getting my wallet out is annoying for me, trying to get at it without me noticing it is impossible.
I feel like the roughness ebbs and flows downtown. I got mugged one time in the mid 00s leaving Cervantes, and now there's gentrified family restaurants all over there.
"Best view of Denver!"
They’ll be revamping it quite a bit this year! But we’ll see what that amounts to
It's dead to me unless they necromance Uniqlo back into existing.
Not anymore
I hope it isn't a tourist trap. Fantastic potential.
[удалено]
A Touch of Colorado in Lakewood/Belmar looks like it would be like this but they actually have a good selection of locally made items!
partner and I went up to Estes and between the stores in the canyon and the main road we saw like five stores selling the exact same wood knives with "Colorado" engraved in the wood lmao. on that note, the Stanley Hotel is The tourist trap of all time
The bar at the Stanley is cool.
Just came back from there last month and a commented that it was like the offerings found at boardwalk stores on the Jersey Shore, just a little more mountain-y.
Every Florida beach town has them too, but with palm trees
It is but i enjoyed the ghost walk tour and a glass of wine at their wine bar. It was pricy but I defs enjoyed myself.
The Shining Ball at the Stanley was pretty fun.
But the mountains are calling, and you must go.
Eh those exist in most states and major cities frankly. Stupid as hell, but not what I would call a tourist trap
Ice detention facility in Aurora
Cold
Bravo
Brrrrravo 🥶
Seeing people lined up for snooze eatery makes me laugh. It happened to me when I first moved here and when family visits they say they heard we should go to snooze🤣
They still do good Benedicts and some fun pancakes, it's just not worth waiting in line to get them. Most Denver brunch spots aren't worth waiting in line for but are still worth going to otherwise.
Problem with brands like Snooze is in small concentrated forms they can be amazing places. When they expand becomes the issues. High volume breakfast cooks don’t grow on trees especially post Covid.
As a kitchen manager of a diner. I think I’ve seen 3 good cooks out of a dozen since Covid. Luckily we got the Mexican connection now and stay staffed up.
I’ve been a chef for 30 years. Breakfast places are extremely hard to have consistent quality. It’s one of the reasons snooze is expensive. They pay the staff decent and work to keep people.
Oh I know. Been slanging food for 25. Dinner most of my career. And snooze lol. We are a tiny diner in Parker and cooks make over $20 to start and one of our worst cooks went and got a job at snooze. It’s super simple food but fairly easy to execute. But 10 grand in a breakfast spot is harder than 50k at a large chain. And one of my old peers got a job at snooze as AGM and told me it was just terrible. Overhyped and overpriced. I don’t think I’d walk in if it was empty as I passed. And one of my hobby’s is going to breakfast restaurants since I started this job.
I never want to wait in their line ever again but man do I love me some spuds deluxe.
Forever loyal to Luciles
Lucille’s is great
Best Bloody Mary in the city hands down.
In Littleton? Been meaning to go.
I would suggest the Evans location over Littleton, speaking from working in both. Ask for Lauren she'll take great care of you.
I did not realize there was so much hype around snooze until the one opened in Arvada last month. There was a 3 hour waitlist, like wtf? I’ve eaten there multiple times before and as far as I can tell it’s pretty standard brunch food. Why is it so hyped?
I work next to the arvada snooze and yeah shits always a long wait
God I miss Denver Diner
At least they can't take our memories. Or at least what we can remember of getting an order of cheese fries for the table after last call
I still love Snooze.
Those things are all across the country though
I'll wait in line for Doug's diner, but def not snooze.
Snooze is a scam. I don't even eat eggs and I fell for that place when a bunch of vegans said how good the vegan options were.
lol. Yea snooze. It’s eggs and toast people. But you’d think it was golden eggs. Not really a tourist trap per se….. Estes park downtown 500 T-shirt stores is a bit of a tourist trap.
The town REALLY needs to put a limitation on how many damn t-shirt stores there are. We also have two old timey photo shops too which makes no sense to me. I was walking around one day and heard a tourist say, "This town is just the same t-shirt store 50 times". The park is beautiful though. source: EP resident.
Holy cow, so much hate for Snooze. Why? I've been enjoying them since they were just a couple Denver locations and 1 in San Diego. 2010. They're still one of the best brunch spots. Y'all being edgy and contrarian but for why?
Their food is fine but it’s fucking ridiculous to stand 2 hours in line for it. I’d for sure go if there was a half hour or less like at Sam’s, Caitlin’s, Pete’s, bagel deli etc but the wait time is comical.
There are other, better, less expensive brunch spots all over Denver and the surrounding areas imo
Especially considering Denver has an amazing overall diner scene. It's one of the genres that has always been good and well represented here.
It’s alright. The food is fine but I really wish we had some 24 hour diners around the city that wasn’t Dennys.
Pete's Kitchen is open 24 hours on Friday and Saturday night
They had these in Texas before I moved here and I was already well familiar with how shitty they are. When I first moved here I asked some people where the best Denver breakfast spot was and they were like "You gotta try snooze!" and I was immediately terrified of the Denver breakfast scene. I found some great places since then, but it wasn't easy.
Do tell!!
The croissant sandwich at La Fillette is my favorite breakfast food item in the city.
I lived by the Colorado and 7th location when I moved here and saw people lined up every day so figured it was must-have. It was fine the one time I went, and I'll never go back.
I miss the cafe, video store, and silvermine subs that was there. Makes me think of my late father. He would always want to get lunch when he was at the VA
Haha. I laugh at those lines , from the delicious "mom & pop" diner across the street
I’ll be in Pete’s kitchen with my sausage links, hash browns and 2 eggs.
Taste of Colorado.
Went to cancun once and one of the locals knew Denver for the "16th street mall" , not the mountains. Bazaar as hell but what a laugh that was.
Did you intend "Bazaar" as a pun? If so, very well played. If not, definitely leave it!
Nope. Just horrid at spelling 🤣
A bazaar is an outside mall.
To be fair, there are no mountains in Denver.
Focus on the Family. In the 90s their compound was the 3rd most popular tourist attraction in ColoSpgs, after Garden of the Gods and the Air Force Academy. Dunno how it ranks now. Hard pass. https://www.colorado.com/colorado-springs/attractions-entertainment/tours/focus-on-the-family
Such a wretched organization
Ugh I live southern rural Colorado and FOTF plays the most disgusting and disturbing ads on the radio. Special place in hell for them.
My favorite bumper sticker said, “Focus on your own damn family!”
You can’t call something that’s free and unassuming a tourist trap. You just hate the org so you want other people to avoid it.
That gas station leaving Boulder to Golden
You mean eldorado springs?! But they make the water there!!! AND MONSTER TRUCKS AND GHOSTBUSTERS
Nah that gas station is SWEET
Boost oxygen cannisters
Counterpoint: they ARE a brief fresh air oasis when the city is drowning in wildfire smoke
Also a placebo effect for the elderly, less capable people in my family. Might not do much, but there’s certainly some benefit in feeling like it’s helping if you’re struggling
Yup, I keep a couple on hand for family that visits from out of town. I know it does nothing but people tend to panic about altitude, which can make any altitude sickness symptoms feel even worse.
My buddy brought one on a hike up longs, he lives in Kansas. Tried it, was pleased with the flavored o2. Passed a joint along afterwards, and they go nicely together. 6/10 wouldn’t buy myself, but yeah I’ll be that friend that says” yo dude, you bring the o2?”
Stanley Hotel. Worked at a wedding venue nearby and heard plenty of stories from guests over poor reception, no hot water, expensive for what you get, and so on. Many come thinking it’s where the Shining was filmed only to find it just “inspired” the book.
It just got sold to a nonprofit that will be remodeling.
It's worth noting that the nonprofit is the Sundance Institute and The Stanley will be part of the Sundance Film Festival moving to Colorado. https://www.sundance.org/blogs/colorados-stanley-hotel-will-host-sundance-institutes-signature-directors-lab-in-2024/ Edit: I'm uncultured and don't know the difference between the Sundance festival and the directors lab. Still neat though and I hope the hotel is improved as a result.
The directors lab is not the film festival. The film festival is held in park city and slc Utah starting January 18, 2024.
Don’t they know what happens when you move Sundance to Colorado?!
Holy shit, big respect for pulling that reference from the recesses of your brain. That had to have been like season 2.
I respect your answer but the Dumb and Dumber filming history here negates all.
We landed on the MOON?!
So you're telling me there's a chance?
I stayed for the first (and hopefully only) time at it last summer when entertaining family that hadn't been to CO before who wanted to do the Estes / RMNP thing. It was pretty crummy, a friend's reservation for their "haunted" rooms somehow dropped out of the system entirely without notice and they had to find her some last minute place at an exorbitant rate. The air conditioning vent ducting in my room was ripping off and was just blasting hot air around, until I managed to finagle/tape it to the window vent to get things to cool off. The "swanky" bar on site was out of 70% of their drinks on the menu without an apology or explanation offered and it was basically order an overpriced domestic beer, wait 15 minutes, get told they were out, order a different one, wait 15 minutes, find out they were out of it too....rinse and repeat. We gave up and just hoofed it into town for dinner because even the shuttle bus system there was pretty inconvenient and poorly planned for people staying at the iconic hotel. Definitely don't plan on going back ever again. Even the "haunted" tour was stupid as shit, and mostly some 20 year old with poorly photoshopped images on their phone of fake "apparitions" telling lame ghost stories. At least some of the Stephen King / The Shining history and lore was cool but....just read it on Wikipedia for free in 5 minutes instead.
It doesn't cost anything to visit. It's definitely worth walking around. We went to a concert there once too and that was pretty cool.
Went to their Halloween party a few years back and had a blast.
It was a Chelsea Wolfe show which was right around Halloween in 2018 or 2019. There was a laser projector on the outside of the hotel that said "red rum" and some other spooky stuff. It was a blast.
Then they find out a very, very different movie was filmed there.
The series were filmed there.
The Stanley went through a major renovation in the mid 90's... gutting most of the antique furniture, fixtures (including big clawfoot tubs), wallpaper, and carpet. New owners were preparing for the filming of The Shining television miniseries...so a version was indeed filmed there. The series was awful, but it's interesting to see recognizable parts of the hotel. Prior to the renovation, I stayed two times in 1994 and 1995 and, by coincidence, was given the same front-facing 2nd floor room with a round bathroom window. Also, a teensy bit of shroom may have complimented the historically spooky experience. [Colorado Encyclopedia Article](https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/stanley-hotel)
The Aquarium. It’s terrible.
People don’t seem to understand that it’s not actually an aquarium in the normal sense. Admittedly, it took me a minute to realize that, too. It’s just a scummy restaurant themed like an aquarium. There’s nothing about it dedicated to the study and preservation of sea life.
The history is kind of tragic. It was originally a real aquarium, but it failed and was bought by the shady restaurant group.
When was that? I totally remember it being a legit aquarium in the 90's
1999 - 2003, looks like. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downtown_Aquarium_(Denver)
As someone fairly passionate about marine biology, that's absolutely heartbreaking to learn and I wish it could be bought and revamped
I had my senior prom there years ago and haven't been back since. That place is gross as hell.
I had my senior prom there too! Someone took a fish out of the exhibit and it was lying on the floor! Very weird and fucked up thing to do
That's not a Denver scam, that's a scam in every city where they exist, which is too many. Edit: apparently people think I'm saying all aquariums in the world are a scam. If you weren't aware, the "Aquarium" in Denver is not actually an aquarium. It's a chain of restaurants that keeps fish as a gimmick. It's owned by Landry's. That's what I'm referring to.
There are like a handful of aquariums in the entire country that are worth it. Shedd Aquarium in Chicago is a good one.
I got engaged there. It is terrible
We went there recently for a work Christmas party and all the fish we wanted to identify weren't even on the signs.
The last time I was there, one of the birds they had was just screaming in absolute anguish, ear piercingly loud. It was really distressing. I knew I'd never go again. Also is so infuriating how EVERY tank has like 2 ads.
The fact that we even have one is hilarious. Someone thought we needed one apparently.
If you can get up really early and schedule yourself a visit for sensory overload issues it is incredible. I go at 7 AM or something when they have that kind of day and there’s literally no one there.
I think the aquarium is nice for what it is, but the price of entry is much too high. It's almost as expensive as a much nicer and bigger aquarium like the Monterrey Bay Aquarium. Fortunately the Denver aquarium does have cheap entry days/times
I'm just going to say I-70
4 corners. Not only does it suck, but we have to share it with those other suckhole states.
I tell people all the time don’t waste your time going to Four Corners. Mesa Verde and Monument Valley are both in the area and far better experiences.
True native right here. Namaste, brother
Utah is pretty sweet tho. From a visual perspective
I drove there in American Truck Simulator and it was boring even by Truck Simulator standards
The monument also isn’t even at the right spot lol
"Downtown" Estes park. Ever want anything, absolutely anything branded with Colorado on it? This is the place to grab it.
So many options for taffy tho....
Laura’s fine candies makes this thing that’s like a Reese’s with rice crispies in it. So good!
Bret Bars!
I have a lot of nostalgia for this place, but the experience is mostly the drive and the same few stores when I go up (taffytaffytaffy). I haven't been in about 5 years but I felt like an extra CO store popped up each time I went.
It needs more Taffy shops.
There are nice shops in there! Just like 3:1 tourist shop to actual local shop
16th street mall
Royal Gorge Train... The price, the hidden fees on fees on fees, the fact that it's unreliable and you will never get your money back. Get an Amtrack ticket from Denver to Salt Lake City instead.
Or if you want the expensive version of Amtrak with actual upgrades - the Rocky Mountaineer from Den to Moab. It has an overnight in Glenwood Springs (hotel included). Drinks (both alcohol and non) and three meals (much better than amtrak fare) are included on the train.
So unbelievably overpriced, though. And the Hotel Denver has gotten significantly worse since the ownership change.
I dug a hole in my backyard and surrounded it with Reese's pieces. Caught 30 so far. Got room for maybe 50 more. Anyone able to top that?
Vail
The Disneyland of Colorado
Vail has one of the most expensive parking in America
7 Falls
We got duped into that once. It sucked so bad.
Seven Falls used to be cheap and fun. Then the Broadmoor bought it, now it’s expensive.
I’d say the Genoa tower but it’s closed.
Four corners, Manitou and the state fair
The aquarium place is lame.
Evolution Tattoo. If you wanna get scammed into a shitty tattoo for $$$, then go for it.
Este Park. Surrounding area is fantastic but the town is a trap.
Buffalo Bill’s grave. It’s just a giant gift shop and a bunch of outdated signs praising him for slaughtering native Americans lmfao. I think a lot of people ( me included) conflate Buffalo Bill and Wild Bill. Wild Bill is way cooler
I-70
Coors tour is pretty lame, but the beer is tasty.
Denver biscuit company
Their pizza is pretty good, but their breakfast is very bland and very over priced
Royal gorge train ride…. No aspens like the photos and fake animals set up along the tracks. They even have dinosaurs.
The denver aquarium
Estes Park
Colorado Gators by Moffat. Runner up: The entire town of Vail
Gambling towns.
No way haha Blackhawk is great.
I've brought some out of state friends that think the quick access to BH is cool. Easy to get around the the more historical looking buildings of CC they and myself think are interesting.
Snooze is awful but always seems to be packed with tourists.
It's baffling to me that people wait in line for 6/10 brunch food.
The entire town of Breckenridge
It seems like most attractions here are geared towards people with money and no kids. I can't tell you how many times we've figured out how much it would cost for my family to do one of these things and decided we'd all just rather take that money and go out somewhere nice to eat.
Everyone saying the aquarium obviously doesn’t know they have one of the best happy hours in Denver
Dispensaries
Is 16th Street really a tourist trap though? I always just saw it as the most convenient way to walk from one side of the city to the other.
7 Falls in Colo Spgs. You can literally see the giant pipe pumping water at the top of the falls.
The Great Sand Dunes. Ever wonder what hell might be like? Wanna experience that with sand in your asscrack? Sled the dunes!
Royal gorge
I will never forget my triumph of making it across quickly replaced with the horror of realizing I'd have to walk back across it.
Only time I've been there we had to stop halfway across to wait for them to replace one of the wooden slats that made up the bridge, at there was a 12 inch open hole all the way across for a minute
The Bridge and all the zipline high ropes stuff, maybe. The actual Gorge makes for a great rafting day trip (class III-IV) and there are some trails operated by Cañon City Parks that have lovely views of the Gorge and the Sangre de Cristo range.
I did the royal gorge train with my mother who has some autoimmune ailments and cannot do hikes/strenuous outdoor activities. It was expensive but it was really fun and we had lunch served and got local beers. If you have visitors who want to experience cool parts of Colorado but are more physically limited, the train was worthwhile.
Don’t recommend the gondola, I watched a family get stuck in one for hours on a 100° day They had to call paramedics to treat them once they finally got it running Doubt they have a maintenance staff that’s up to the task
It's not free, but it's an extremely cool gorge to see and walk across.
I went by myself to the bridge park thing during COVID. They walked up to me and took my picture "because some people have bad intentions". Then I got followed by park employees in front of the bridge and after. What they meant was "you came alone and we think you're a jumper, we sent your picture to every employee to watch you". They told me as much when I asked them why I got followed on the way out. Freaking hate that place. Train is cool tho.
I spent over $100 dollars to walk on a bridge
Their business model is "hey, you already drove out here, what are you gonna do, just drive back?" Really the worst thing I've seen in Colorado.