Suggestions for trips/tours starting from Denver?

[cjolley]

I lived there as a kid. He's spot on.

[Fat Tone]

Well we had a great time, 15 nights, 2822 miles in a Subaru Forrester, 11 hotels/motels, 6 states, 6 National Parks, 3 National Monuments and several National Forests.

grand prismatic spring.jpg

[cjolley]

Details?
More pics?

PS How did you like the Forrester? We have a 2013 and like it a lot.

[Fat Tone]

The Forrester was perfect for us. Smaller than a lot of the vehicles on the road, but our two suitcases laid flat in the load area, and our hand luggage behind the front seats along with a cooler we bought early on and kept top up with bulk-bought drinks and ice from the hotels. I took my own sat-nav and had all the destinations pre-programmed so navigation was easy. It averaged 32 MPG over the 2822 miles (that's USG, so 40MPG in proper imperial gallons) which considering the changes in elevation and the 75mph and 80 mph speed limits we often encountered was quite respectable. Gas was $2.75 - $3.00 per gallon, which is about 50p a litre compared to ~£1.20p at home, so I was more than happy to pay for it. If it was lacking in any area it was acceleration on to freeways. 0-40 is no problem, above that and when you put your foot down it just raises the engine revs, economy falls through the floor, and you slowly speed up. No biggie.

What puzzled me, and I haven't had time to investigate, is the rear badge that claimed it is a partial zero emission vehicle, which surely is an oxymoron? When cycling through the info displays, there was one which showed power to each wheel, but it didn't seem to change apart from indicating steering. Maybe I didn't look at the right times.

[cjolley]

Unlike some cars that get PZEV by turning off the engine at stops, the Forrester engine apparently puts out exhaust that is cleaner than the intake air under certain circumstances.
Sounds like yours had the CVT. Ours has a regular automatic and doesn't get that good mileage. About 26 mpg on the highway.

[Fat Tone]

I've written myself a 2-page summary of the trip to aid the memory. I won't bore you with that, but here's where we went:

Denver, Estes Park Rocky Mountain National Park, Cheyenne, Mammoth Site at Hot Springs, Keystone, Mount Rushmore, Devils Tower, Buffalo, Jim Gatchell Memorial Museum, Cody (Rodeo!), Yellowstone via the NE entrance and Lamar Valley, West Yellowstone, all the Yellowstone sights including Old Faithful and Grand Prismatic Springs, bears, buffalo etc, Grand Teton NP, Jackson Hole (inc cable car to top of mountain), rafting down the Snake River saw lots of Bald Eagles, Salt Lake City inc city tour (but the Tabernacle choir were away), Moab, Arches NP, Canyonlands NP, Arches NP late at night for star photography, Glenwood Springs, Glenwood Caverns, Denver, cinema (Terminator Genesys), Colorado Springs, Pikes Peak, Wings over the Rockies Museum.

[cjolley]

That sounds like a great trip.
Did you set aside a second two weeks to recover?

[Fat Tone]

Hehe, that would be nice. No, I went in to work the first morning and got straight in to contract discussions for ten minutes and then there was a 'thank God you are back Tony, fix this...' and it's pretty much carried on for the last week. Jet lag can't end soon enough!