10 things you still need to do this summer
Summer is glorious. It’s your time to do your thing and make the kind of memories you can pull out of your mind like handwarmers when the days get cold. But before you blow all of those golden moments on the Olympics—or yardwork—I thought it might be nice to compile a quick list of very straightforward, and easy to initiate, must-do Colorado summer mini vacations to check off your Front Range fun list this year.
1) Go to Red Rocks
Red Rocks is the pinnacle of what summer in Colorado is all about. It mixes the timelessness of the mountains with the music of the time, and a truly magical rock and roll altar where the musicians are only half the show. Even if you have to pay a bundle to one of the online scalpers to catch one of your favorite acts, or check out some band you’re still not totally sold on, your inner fan will thank you for blessing it with all of the good music and warm mountain air.
2) Go Camping
Seriously. I’m only saying this because I think there are still a few of you who think the only place to sleep in the mountains is in a condo or hotel. If you live in Colorado, you have got to go camping at least once a summer, just to smell the pines, cook some hot dogs, tell some stories, and wake up wondering just what the heck that is snuffling around your tent when even the dog is afraid to growl. It’s probably just a raccoon, but you’ll still tell the story for years.
3) Drink all day in a Denver or Boulder Brewpub on a Saturday Afternoon
Waste a day by getting wasted, or at least too buzzed to do anything but lay in your hammock when you get home. Bring some friends out to the Wynkoop, the Falling Leaf, the Wazee Supper Club or the Avery Tap Room, and hoist some beers, eat some burgers and watch the day passing by outside—and wake up Sunday ready for a long adventure to sweat all of the hops back out of you.
4) Hike a 14er
The perfect day-after-over-indulging activity in Colorado is to go climb a 14,000-foot peak. The elevation and sheer amount of them (54, just in case you really didn’t know) are what makes this such a classic summer activity. The style in which you do it—in your lycra, tie-dye or old blue jeans, while running, striding or wheezing step by bloody step—and the degree of difficulty you throw in with your chosen peak, are all up to you. Just be courteous to your fellow hikers. It’s their day off, too.
5) Drive Through Rocky Mountain National Park
Or maybe you just feel like hitting the road with the windows down, listening to music and taking in the views. Rocky Mountain National Park is one of the best places to do that in this world. Be sure to get out and walk around a few times just to let it sink in, then stop off somewhere for a soft-serve ice cream cone on the way home.
6) Host a Barbecue
This may seem like a no-brainer with all of the barbecues you’ve already been to in the past couple months, but maybe you have yet to play the host. Time to break out the grill.
7) Rock Out at Lion’s Lair
Still looking for something a little more visceral? Then let your closet rocker out down on Colfax at the Lion’s Lair. While New York, Boston and L.A. transplants may have a hard time believing this, Denver has had a rocking homegrown hardcore heavy metal and punk scene for more than 30 years. And while many venues, bands and longtime local legends have come and gone, the Lair still stands, packing in the sweaty bodies and dumping pitchers full of fuzztone feedback down their ears.
8) Attend a County Fair
And speaking of homegrown, there are a lot of hardworking industrious people in this state who grow their own food, raise their own livestock, knit their own blankets and bake the kind of pies you just can’t buy at the store. They get to show off their talents once a year at county fairs, local farmers’ markets and the state fair.
9) Get Wet
Seems like I always wait too long into the summer to remember just how good a cool dip in the water can feel. Whether it’s in a river, a cool mountain lake, out at Waterworld with all of the screaming kids, or just over at Congress Park at Elwayville’s finest municipal pool.
10) Do One Thing You Have Never Done Before
If you want to make this a truly memorable summer, then do one thing that you’re sure to remember, just because you’ve never done it before. Whether that’s running a marathon, building a tree house, learning how to salsa dance, taking an epic road trip or adopting a new best friend for life down at the local animal shelter, that one thing could help propel you to places you never imagined before. Me? I’m going kayaking in Norway.
Whatever you decide that one thing is, we’d love to hear about it. Drop us a line when you aren’t so busy having the best time of life.
Peter Kray is Elevation Outdoors’ editor-at-large and co-founder of The Gear Institute (gearinstitute.com).
