A Patriotic Family Road Trip in Colorado

Colorado State Capitol

Denver, CO

Denver's capitol has a 24-karat gold dome, and its front steps mark exactly one mile above sea level.

United States Air Force Academy

Colorado Springs, CO

The service academy training America's Air Force officers, with its striking aluminum-and-glass Cadet Chapel open to visitors.

Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum

Denver, CO

An aviation museum in a hangar of the former Lowry Air Force Base, with a B-1 bomber and space exhibits.

National Museum of World War II Aviation

Colorado Springs, CO

A museum at Colorado Springs Airport that restores and flies World War II combat aircraft.

Mesa Verde National Park

Mesa Verde NP, CO

Cliff dwellings built into canyon walls and occupied for seven centuries.

United States Mint at Denver

Denver, CO

One of the nation's mints, producing coins since 1906. Free tours are offered by reservation.

Molly Brown House Museum

Denver, CO

The Victorian home of Margaret "Molly" Brown, survivor of the Titanic and a tireless reformer.

Buffalo Bill Museum and Grave

Golden, CO

The grave of William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody and a museum of his life, atop Lookout Mountain above Golden.

Four Mile Historic Park

Denver, CO

Built in 1859, Four Mile House is the oldest standing structure in Denver, once a stage stop on the Cherokee Trail.

Fort Vasquez

Platteville, CO

A reconstruction of an 1835 adobe fur-trading post on the South Platte, rebuilt in the 1930s, with a small museum.

Cripple Creek Historic District

Cripple Creek, CO

A gold-rush town of the 1890s whose district produced more than 20 million ounces of gold, a National Historic Landmark.

Centennial Village Museum

Greeley, CO

A village of relocated buildings telling the story of the Union Colony, the planned farm town founded in 1870.

Meeker Home Museum

Greeley, CO

The 1870 adobe home of Nathan Meeker, founder of the Union Colony that became Greeley.

Fort Logan National Cemetery

Denver, CO

A national cemetery in southwest Denver on the grounds of Fort Logan, an Army post founded in 1887.

Red Rocks Amphitheatre

Morrison, CO

A natural amphitheater between towering red sandstone monoliths, opened in 1941.

Georgetown Loop Railroad

Georgetown, CO

A narrow-gauge line first completed in 1884 between two silver-mining towns, crossing the high Devil's Gate Bridge.

Pikes Peak Summit

Cascade, CO

The 14,115-foot summit whose view inspired Katharine Lee Bates to write "America the Beautiful" in 1893, reached by road or cog railway.

ProRodeo Hall of Fame

Colorado Springs, CO

The hall of fame and museum of professional rodeo, the sport that grew out of ranch work.

Royal Gorge Bridge

Cañon City, CO

A suspension bridge built in 1929 nearly 1,000 feet above the Arkansas River, long the highest bridge in the world.

Colorado Freedom Memorial

Aurora, CO

Glass panels dedicated in 2013 bearing the names of more than 6,000 Coloradans killed in service since statehood.

History Colorado Center

Denver, CO

The state history museum, from the Ancestral Puebloans and the gold rush to the ski towns and the space age.

Colorado Railroad Museum

Golden, CO

More than a hundred locomotives and cars from Colorado's narrow- and standard-gauge railroads, with a working roundhouse.

Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum

Colorado Springs, CO

A city history museum in the 1903 El Paso County Courthouse, with a restored courtroom.

Western Museum of Mining & Industry

Colorado Springs, CO

A museum of Western hard-rock mining with working steam engines and stamp mills.

U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum

Colorado Springs, CO

A museum opened in 2020 in the home of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee, telling the stories of Team USA.