Happy 150th Birthday, Colorado!

Colorado at 150…it is quite the milestone.

For eons, the state has been diverse in its wildlife, landscapes and weather. Since becoming a state 150 years ago, Colorado has become diverse on many other levels. Now, with more than 6 million residents, it has also become diverse in culture, ethnicity and political views.

Whether it is the more recent diversity that has evolved in the state’s most recent 150 years, in the long past from the time of the dinosaurs, or the struggles of the Colorado River water levels – a river that starts in the mountains of Colorado – the Centennial State holds a place dear to the hearts of many.

First, a couple of quick facts.

The name “Colorado” means “colored red” in Spanish.

Colorado became the 38th state on August 1, 1876, after becoming a territory on February 28, 1861, as part of the Pikes Peak Mining Region within the Jefferson Territory. The Pikes Peak Gold Rush began in 1858, when gold was discovered north of Pikes Peak, attracting the first substantial numbers of prospectors and White settlers to the region.

Here is a list of 150 places, historical facts and fun things to do that represent this state that remains very dear to my heart. Now, I have traveled all over this state and explored most of the roads. That being said, I haven’t been everywhere in Colorado – working on it! – so check back frequently to see where and what I have updated with new info, photos and trip ideas. And I love the outdoors, so this list has more along those lines than say music festivals or farmer’s markets. For another comprehensive list of destination ideas, visit UCHealth’s list of 150 things to do in Colorado and Environment Colorado’s collection of 150 photos from places across the Centennial State.

#1: Rocky Mountain National Park

I’ll start with Rocky Mountain National Park since this is the reason I moved to the state and live in Estes Park. It is too large of an area to give it just one place on this list, so read on for more of the unique features and destinations in this wonderful national park.

#2: St. Vrain State Park

Located in Longmont, this small urban park is one of the easiest escapes from a busy day to take a break, a walk, birdwatch and enjoy the views of Longs Peak.

#3: History Colorado Center

The state’s official museum holds a variety of memorbilia and facts from across the diverse state.

#4: Frozen Dead Guy Days

This unique festival is one of the most macabre anyone will ever experience. Held in March each year, Frozen Dead Guy Days started in Nederland as an homage to the town’s frozen dead guy, Grandpa Bredo. Now Grandpa and the festival are held in Estes Park. You can also tour the Frozen Day Guy Museum at The Stanley Hotel.

#5: Barr Lake State Park

Another state park easily accessible near Denver, Barr Lake State Park is home to bald eagles, white pelicans and a wide variety of snow geese and ducks that migrate here in winter.

#6: Elk

Colorado is home to the largest free-ranging elk population in the U.S. With nearly 300,000 elk across the state, this large mammal of the deer family attracts wildlife viewers and hunters to experience being in the presence of this animal, with bulls that can be nearly 900-pounds. Lake Evergreen, Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park are some of the most common places to see the elk during the spring calving and fall rut mating seasons.

#7: Dinosaur Ridge

#8: Pikes Peak

#9: Four Corners

#10: Peak to Peak Highway

#11: Loveland Pass

#12: Colorado Stargazing Trail

#13: Great Sand Dunes National Park

#14: Trail Ridge Road

#15: Mount Blue Sky

#16: Indian Peaks Wilderness

#17: Colorado Forest State Park

#18: Fort Collins

#19: Dinosaur National Monument

#20: Colorado River

#21: Carousel of Happiness

#22: Purgatoire River and Picketwire Canyon

This area has some of Colorado’s oldest and best-preserved dinosaur tracks. The area is about 150 million years old, dating back to the Late Jurassic period, and contains over 1,300 to 1,900 visible footprints in roughly 100 separate trackways along a quarter-mile stretch of fossilized riverbed. (No photo here yet because I am searching for an image of me sitting in one of the brontosaurus tracks.)

#23: Colorado State Fair

#24: Denver

#25: Manitou Incline

#25: Mount Bierstadt

#26: St. Elmo

#27: Colorado National Monument

#28: Crested Butte

#29: Longs Peak

#30: Fall colors

From Steamboat Springs to Dolores Canyon, there is no shortage of stunning locations to leaf peep in Colorado. I’ll give this one its own listing and then check out other destinations on this list for more leaf-peeping ideas. The fall colors in Colorado are more of the gold and yellow varieties in the massive stands of aspen trees, but know where to like, like #35, and you can find reds and oranges in destinations with scrub oak and unique stands of aspen trees for

#31: Colorado state parks

With all of my travels across the U.S., I still come back to the fact that, in my opinion, Colorado has the best state park system in the U.S. Check out the full list of state parks to start checking off each of the state’s 43 state parks in every corner of the state.

#32: Colorful Colorado signs

Every state has a Welcome to… sign at the entrance roads on major highways and roads, but only Colorado has one-of-a-kind wood signs that proclaim Welcome to Colorado in the most dull brown and white signs. Looking for the colorful sign? Check out #75 to see the colorful sign taken down by Colorado Department of Transportation.

#33: Steamboat Lake State Park

#34: Pikes Peak

#35: Kebler Pass

#36: Great Sand Dunes National Park

#37: Million Dollar Highway

#38: Crystal Lake

#39: Brainard Lake

#40: Fruita

Enjoy wine? Then head over to this destination along U.S. Interstate 70, where some of the most productive wineries are located in Colorado.

#41: Mount Elbert

Still the #1 14er still to do on my list.

#42: Dream Lake

#43: Isabelle Glacier

#44: Salida

I learned what the word “salida” meant because of this town's location along the Arkansas River. In Spanish, “salida” means “exit” or “gateway.” The town sits where the Arkansas River exits a tight canyon into an open valley, and thus the name.

#45: 14ers

#46: Mesa Verde National Park

#47: Chautaqua Park

#48: Camp Hale

#49: Blue sculptures

Colorado likes its blue art. The two most famous are the Big Blue Bear – officially called “I See What You Mean” – peeking into the window at the Denver Convention Center and the “Blue Mustang,” lovingly referred to as “Blucifer” at the Denver International Airport for its evil looking red eyes that stare at travelers entering the airport property.

#50: Denver International Airport

The 10th busiest airport in the world and the fourth busiest in the U.S., Denver International Airport opened in 1995 in what was then open prairie. It now is the hub in a growing region that sends more than 82 million travelers on trips throughout the world, making it a convenient resource for accessing worldwide and U.S. destinations.

#51: Sunflower fields

Colorado boasts an abundance of farm products, but none is as pretty as a field of sunflowers. Grown on the eastern plains, the crops are rotated every year to keep the soil nutrient rich, making it a fun scavenger hunt to find the best fields when they bloom in early August.

#52: Fisher’s Peak State Park

Colorado’s newest state park, this gem is located in Trinidad in southern Colorado.

#53: Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge

Known for the sandhill cranes that stop over here each spring, this destination is a gem throughout the year for nesting birds in summer, stunning mountain views in winter and elk in fall.

#54: National Western Stock Show

#55: Red Rocks Park

A favorite for many reasons – from the world-class musicians that perform there to the wildlife that can be spotted along the many trails.

#56: Pawnee National Grassland

#57: Palisade

#58: Monarch Pass

#59: Georgetown

#60: Guanella Pass

#61: Blue Lakes

#63: Steamboat Springs

#64: Middle Park

#65: Scenic and Historic Byways

There are 26 Scenic and Historic Byways in Colorado, and 13 are designated America’s Byways.

#66: Mueller State Park

#67: Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge

#68: Grand Lake

#69: Roosevelt National Forest

#70: Boulder

#71: Rabbit Ears Pass

#72: Rita the Rock Planter

#73: Rooftop Rodeo

#74: Grays and Torreys Peaks

#75: History Colorado

#76: Ridgway State Park

#77: Golden Gate Canyon State Park

#78: Medano Creek

#79: Maroon Bells

#80: North Park

#81: Mount Audubon

#82: Mount Goliath Nature Trail

#83: Soapstone Prairie

#84: Paint Mines

#85: Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site

#86: Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park

#87: Sand Wash Basin

#88: Royal Gorge Bridge

#89: Browns Canyon National Monument

#90: Browns Park National Wildlife Refuge

#91: Chasm Lake

#92: Allenspark

#93: Labor Day Lift Off in Colorado Springs

#94: Air Force Academy

#95: New Belgium Brewing

#96: Olympic and Paralympic Museum

#97: Bishop Castle

#98: Denver Zoo

#99: Lily Lake

#100: Cave of the Winds Mountain Park

#101: The Colorado Trail

#102: The Flatirons

#103: Mayflower Gulch

#104: The Stanley Hotel

#105: Devils Head Lookout Tower

#106: Fireflies

#107: Dearfield

#108: Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge

#109: Chimney Rock National Monument

#110: Ouray

Hot springs, wildflowers and ice make this San Juans mountain town and the nearby area live up to its nickname as the Switzerland of America.

#111: Colorado Waterfall Loop

#112: Seven Keys Lodge

Formerly the historic Baldpate Inn, this rustic yet high-end destination along Colorado Highway 7 between Estes Park and Allenspark is home to the world’s largest key collection with 30,000 keys. Find keys to Frankenstein’s Castle, the White House and Hitler’s bunker, and learn why it is named after just seven of those 30,000 keys.

#113: Isak Heartstone Troll

#114: Ouray Ice Park

#115: Petrified Wood Building

Located near Lamar, Colo., this building was marketed as the oldest gas station in the world when built in 1932 for its unique use of ancient petrified wood for the walls.

#116: National Center for Atmospheric Research

#117: St. Mary’s Glacier

Fourteen named glaciers remain in Colorado, including Tyndall and Andrews glaciers in Rocky Mountain National Park, from the Pleistocene era, with several accessible by trail. St. Mary’s Glacier, near Idaho Springs, is one of those locations with a 1.8-mile moderate hike, making it one of the easier glaciers to reach in Colorado.

#118: Devils Cauldron

#119: Devil’s Punchbowl

Located in the grotto along Colorado Highway 82 between Independence Pass and Aspen along the Roaring Fork River, this natural swimming hole and cliff jumping location will shock your system with the cold water on a hot summer day.

#120: Overland Trail Museum

Located in Sterling, a hub in northeast Colorado, the Overland Trail Museum honors those who made the hard journey west in hopes of finding gold and a prosperous life in Colorado.

#121: Commanche National Grassland

#122: Handies Peak

One of Colorado’s 54 14ers, this is considered one of the easier ones – although no 14er should be taken lightly – with meadows full of wildflowers and views of the nearby San Juan Mountains from the peak located near Lake City.

#123: Fish Creek Falls

An easy-to-access waterfall in Steamboat Springs, this

#124: Bear Lake

#125: Chapel on the Rocks (St. Malo)

#126: Butterfly Pavilion

#127: Denver Botanical Gardens

#135: Sprague Lake

#136: Hanging Lake

#137: Bent’s Old Fort

#138: Strawberry Hot Springs

#139: Waterton Canyon

#140: Flattop Mountain

#141: Breckenridge

Colorado has world-class skiing, including destinations like Snowmass, Aspen, Vail and Steamboat Springs. Breckenridge, however, offers an abundance of slopes for all levels along with a chill downtown area for apres skiing activities.

#142: White-water rafting

Many of Colorado’s rivers boast excellent water for rafting activities. Check out the Arkansas, Poudre, Clear Creek and Yampa for companies offering rafting tours.

#143: Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

#144: Two Ponds National Wildlife Refuge

Located on 72 acres west of Denver in Arvada, this urban wildlife refuge is one of the smallest in the U.S. National Wildlife Refuge System.

#145: Cache la Poudre Canyon

Colorado’s only nationally designated Wild and Scenic River, the Cache la Poudre River – locally referred to as simply The Poudre – runs 125 miles and descends 7,000 feet from its headwaters in Rocky Mountain National Park at Milner Pass to its convergence with the South Platte River east of Greeley.

#146: Canyons of the Ancients National Monument

#147: North Clear Creek Falls

#148: Yankee Boy Basin

One of the most stunning locations in Colorado to see alpine meadows of wildflowers, Yankee Boy Basin takes a nail-biter of a drive to reach. The drive starts from Ouray on U.S. Highway 550 and then west along Ouray County Road 361 to a lush, green-carpeted bowl below Mount Sneffels.

#149: Jackson Lake State Park

Come for the snow geese migration, stay for the night skies. Designated as a Dark Sky Park in 2020, it was the first Colorado state park to receive the designation and the only location east of U.S. Interstate 25 that has been certified by Dark Sky International. In late winter, tens of thousands of migratory snow geese pass through this area on their migration north.

#150: Denver State Capitol

Opened in 1894, the Denver State Capitol building is home to the Colorado General Assembly and offices for the Colorado governor, lieutenant governor and treasurer. The front steps of the building sit at exactly 5,280 feet, the roof is covered in about four pounds of 24-carat gold leaf and the building is open for free tours Monday to Friday.

With so much to see and explore in Colorado, this is only a partial list of what the box-shaped state contains within its borders. What other destinations would you add to the list? How many of these destinations and things to do have you visited?

Happy Birthday, Colorado!!!