Those looking for a scenic mountain drive will love the Mount Evans Scenic Byway, the highest paved road in North America. The highway rises to a height of 14,264ft (4,348m) above sea level and takes you right to the top of Mount Evans. Along the way, you might spot mountain goats and bighorn sheep as you pass alpine lakes and rock formations. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime drive with plenty of places to stop and snap a photo.
The Annual Flower Trial Garden is a devoted horticultural research garden on the campus of Fort Collins' Colorado State University, open to the public throughout the year near the campus' Center for the Arts. The garden strives to serve as a trial space for the performance of annual plant cultivars in the region's high-altitude Rocky Mountain environmental conditions, with primary annual plantings on display between late May and mid-October. Plant varieties are grouped by genus and arranged by color, with more than 1,000 different cultivars typically on display each year. In addition to the main annual showcase, the garden also presented an annual pansy display, which is planted in fall and on display through the early spring. Perennials cultivated by the garden are also on display year-round across the street from the garden facility. 
While its Denver counterpart might be more popular, the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs is the most interesting Colorado zoo experience you’ll find. It sits about 6,800ft (2,073m) above sea level and features exhibits built into the mountainside. You can also feed the giraffes, ride an open chairlift over the zoo, walk through an aviary of free-flying birds and expect plenty of animal encounters.

In twenty-five acres of Colorado, more gold has been mined than in all of Alaska and California combined. The Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine was at the heart of Colorado’s gold mining industry, and this tour takes visitors into mine shafts and tunnels that have been worked since 1889. An elevator ferries visitors 1,000 feet below the earth, and it is not for the claustrophobic. 
In the spring of 1971, Bishop and Willard decided to use a large metal tank to supply the cabin with water. Since the metal cylinder was 40 feet tall, Bishop and Willard continued to build the walls of what was originally a small cabin. Friends and neighbors of the cabin would consistently joke with Bishop and Willard that they were building a castle. Eventually, Bishop decided to turn his original plans of a small cabin to a large castle.

Not a drive for the faint of heart, as the trees disappear, so do the guardrails. Take your time around the curves for the sake of the views and your own safety. You’ll see mountain goats and bighorn sheep continue to graze without even batting an eye at your visit. Enjoy looking down on the world – the clouds don’t even make it up here all the time!
Cliff Palace and Balcony House are ancient cliff dwellings that the ancestral Pueblo Indians inhabited in the 12th and 13th centuries. Located in Mesa Verde National Park, both are World Heritage Sites and National Monuments. Balcony House had forty-five rooms and two kivas (ovens), and it can only be accessed on ranger-guided tours. Tour participants must climb a thirty-two foot ladder and then crawl through a twelve-foot tunnel to access Balcony House.
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