Tempt your culinary senses on your next vacation in Colorado.  Across the Front Range and in mountain communities, various restaurants specialize in serving local ingredients – from wild game to plump vegetables – to whet your appetite and enhance your trip experience.  In Crested Butte, known for its wildflowers and recreational pursuits, the Timberline Restaurant serves locally grown premium natural beef on open-faced dinner burgers with caramelized onions and beef demi-glaze sauce.  For more local flavor, elk – raised nearby – is slowly sautéed in oil and butter and served with a blueberry merlot demi-glaze sauce.  For a historical feast, The Fort features recipes based on research from 2,000 books and diaries kept by trappers and traders along the 19th century Santa Fe Trail.  In fact, the restaurant is a full-size adobe replica of Bent’s Fort, an 1830’s fur-trade post.  Located in Morrison, the restaurant serves more than 50,000 buffalo dinners annually, including buffalo steaks and Rocky Mountain Oysters.  In the restored ghost town of Dunton Hot Springs, the head chef prepares truly epicurean meals with organic produce and vegetables grown from local farms, and organic lamb and meat from the area.  After feasting, guests may pursue a variety of activities that include helicopter skiing, soaking in hot springs and touring archeological sites. For information on dining in Colorado, visit www.coloradorestaurant.com.

This fall, keep your eye on the skies in Colorado, and witness natural phenomena that spur mystery and imagination about the life of ancestral people.  In Southwest Colorado, Chimney Rock Archeological Area, a National Historic Site, hosts night-time events for viewing the Major Lunar Standstill.  During the standstill, the moon rises between the two towers of Chimney Rock, visible only from the vantage point of a small natural cliff top.  Researchers studying the ancient people from this area believe the inhabitants were aware of the lunar events and celebrated them.  Night-time events occur on September 24, October 21, November 17 and December 15.  During the fall equinox on Sept. 22, the sun perfectly illuminates ancient carvings – dating back more than 1,000 years ago – etched into the walls of Crack Cave in Picture Canyon.  In Southeast Colorado, near Springfield, this display of history and nature takes place only on the equinox (in the spring, too). As the sun seeps onto the cave wall, a shadow appears to point much like a sundial to illuminate ancient Celtic-style markings one at a time.  To this day, scholars continue in their quest to decipher the meaning of the markings. 

Get lost in Colorado adventure at the Denver Botanic Gardens 6th Annual Corn Maze at Chatfield Nature Preserve. Open every Friday, Saturday and Sunday, September 3 – October 31, family fun is creeping around every corner as you journey through the challenging five-acre maze. This year’s maze is designed after three remembrance columbine flowers (also the state flower). A miniature maze is available for younger children.  For a spooky night of twists and turns, grab your flashlight and sense of direction while winding through nine-foot-tall corn stalks. New this year, on September 24 and 25, visit the corn maze for a treasure hunt and the chance to win great prizes.  Denver Botanic Gardens at Chatfield will also be hosting "Frontier Days" from September 24 – 25, October 15 – 16, and October 29 – 30, offering educational activities based on the days when Chatfield was a working farm. Visitors can see covered wagons, take a history lesson in a 19th century schoolhouse, learn about life on a farm at the historical farmhouse, take a hayride, and visit the Preserve’s barnyard friends. 

The Colorado Discovery Adventure

The Family Adventure

The Colorado Romantic Adventure
Love is in the air in Colorado. Grab the hand of your special someone and head to the Rocky Mountains for a romantic getaway.

For other Colorado Romantic Adventure ideas, visit the Romantic Adventure page.

The Colorado Outdoor Adventure

26th ANNUAL APPLE JUBILEE, October 8 – 9, 2005:  Head to Grand Junction during the annual apple harvest festival at Cross Orchards Historic Farm. Visit the original barn and packing house, learn more about apple cider pressing and apple butter churning.  Enjoy a hay ride, browse a wide variety of artisan booths, or watch blacksmiths and woodworkers craft their trades.

LEADVILLE HALLOWEEN TOUR, October 29, 2005: For a ghoulishly fun time, walk the haunted streets of Leadville as a historical tour guide tells the tales of murder mysteries from the town’s history. 

44th ANNUAL HOLLY DAZE CRAFT SHOW, October 29, 2005: Head to the northeastern plains and the town of Holyoke, for crafts, great food and fun! Enjoy the small town flair as more than 100 booths display crafts of all kinds from the state’s finest artisans.

THE NUTCRACKER, November 25 – 27, 2005:  In Boulder, the annual performance of live music from Boulder Philharmonic and dance by Boulder Ballet is as sweet as sugar plums.  The classic ballet is performed at Macky Auditorium concert hall on the University of Colorado’s campus. 

GRANBY’S 100th BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION, December 9 – 10, 2005: Granby, once a sleepy mountain town, now known for its various recreation and amenities at the base of Rocky Mountain National Park, celebrates its 100th birthday with various events.  Residents in 1905-era costumes will convene on Main Street, recalling the town’s ranching heritage, during the annual Parade of Lights and Town Tree lighting ceremony.

TRADITIONAL HOLIDAY CELEBRATION, December 2 – 3, 2005: Bent’s Old Fort, a National Historic Site, lights up with candlelight tours, old-time wagon rides and storytellers during this celebration at the trading post originally built in 1834. 

BREAKFAST WITH SANTA, December 10, 2005: Before Santa slides down your chimney, have breakfast with him where the wild things are at The Wildlife Experience, a wildlife conservation museum featuring natural history, fine art and film in Parker.  While you’re there, decorate cookies and get your face painted like the animals.

Photo Credits:
“Feast on Local Flavor in Colorado” – Photo courtesy of Jason McConathy/The Fort
“The Moon and Sun Shed Light on Colorado’s Ancient Cultures” – Photo courtesy of Helen L. Richardson/Chimney Rock Archeological Area
“Family Fun with Twists and Turns” – Photo Courtesy of Scott Dressel-Martin, Denver Botanic Gardens