Exploring America's Great Parks

More than 300 days of sunshine annually (more than San Diego or Miami Beach) earns Denver high marks with visitors and make sunglasses a must. For the city’s most energetic shopping, dining and entertainment spots, point your compass in the direction of Larimer Square, the Tivoli, LoDo and the 16th Street Mall. Summer, fall, spring and winter, people crowd the street to window shop, in-line skate, ride in a horse-drawn carriage and bask in the fun.

If you believe that the color green has a calming effect, add a visit to some of the more than 200 city parks, the Denver Botanic Gardens or 70 golf courses. Another 20,000 acres of parks are in the nearby mountains. If your doctor ordered you to see a museum a day for a month, you’d be in luck. Between the Denver Art Museum, the Museum of Natural History and nearly 30 others, you’d be in terrific cultural shape. The Denver Performing Arts. Complex is one of the largest in the nation boasting eight theaters and more than 9,000 seats. It’s not hard to find the pulse of the city’s restaurant scene. Denver serves up more than 2,000 eateries and innumberable choices of cuisine, which include such delights as Rocky Mountain Trout, buffalo and Mexican and Southwestern fare.

Grand Junction, city, seat of Mesa County, western Colorado, at the junction of the Gunnison and Colorado rivers; settled 1881, incorporated as a city 1891. It is the center of a large irrigated farm and dairying region, and the focus of nearby uranium, vanadium, and oil shale production. Tourism is also economically important. The city is the seat of Mesa College (1925). Grand Mesa National Forest and Colorado National Monument are nearby.

There’s no better way to sample the South than Jackson. A smooth blend of the Old and New South, offering a glimpse of the past, while forging straight ahead into the future. Contemporary Southern best describes the flavor of Jackson, one finds cosmopolitan resting comfortably next to historic, a unique contrast to say the least.

Large national park in the state of Wyoming near the border with Montana. Home of buffalo and many natural wonders, including Old Faithful, a geyser that still erupts with regularity.