Ever since visiting the park in 2016, we’ve been dying to go to a concert at Red Rock Amphitheater just outside of Denver, Colorado. We kept an eye out for the right show, and were excited when we found out Jon Pardi (who we’ve seen in the Twin Cities, Duluth, Rochester and Las Vegas) would be making a stop in August 2023! We decided to pull the trigger and plan a long weekend around the trip.
Where We Stayed
For the first time, we chose an Airbnb that was not a whole-home rental. We stayed in the basement (with separate, walk-out entrance) of a home near Green Mountain in Lakewood. We noticed a lot more of these type of locations when searching the platform; our cousin who lives in the Denver area told us this was because housing is expensive. The situation was ideal for us on this trip – we were only at there to sleep and get ready, and it served as a great home base for us. The location was also clutch, as it was only a 15 minute Uber ride from Red Rocks Park & Amphitheatre (without concert traffic).
How We Got There
We used US Bank FlexPerks points to cover our airfare. We booked on Sun Country, arriving in Denver around 6 p.m. Thursday evening. We booked a rental SUV at Alamo via Costco travel (the rate was less expensive than a car). With Alamo, you can now use the Skip the Counter feature so you don’t have to wait in line when you get there! We checked in while on the bus from the airport to Alamo, and were ready to go when we arrived. We also like that you can choose your own vehicle from the lot – we ended up with a Toyota Highlander that we were very impressed with.
What We Did
On our first full day, we picked out a trail in nearby Golden to check out. We use the free All Trails app, and look for loop trails when we can. We were very pleased with the Mount Galbraith Loop via Cedar Gulch Trail, a 4-mile loop with an elevation gain of 928 feet. The trail offered mountain views as well as views of downtown Denver and Golden (including the Coors Brewery which you’ll see in the photo below!). It took just under two hours to complete.
Pro Tip: The Coors Brewery offers tours! We went on a previous trip with friends and it was free. It looks like there is a cost now, but if you’re interested, it makes for a perfect afternoon field trip!
Friday evening was the main event – the concert at Red Rocks Park & Amphitheatre! We were very pumped for this concert, and it did not disappoint! The views from the amphitheater were amazing, especially with rainbows over downtown Denver in the background following a brief bout of rain. Having done audio for concerts and owning a DJ business, Blaine is very picky about sound at concerts; and it was on point. Between the amazing views and great sound, Red Rocks may have ruined all other venues for us – and we will be back!
Note that cans are not allowed in the venue (we had looked it up before going, and they indicated that a factory-sealed, non-alcoholic beverage was okay to bring in, but they made us toss our unopened cans of Lacroix before entering (boo!).
Before our trip, we researched the best way to get to and from the park beforehand without much luck – the bottom line: be prepared to wait after the show. Getting a ride share to the concert wasn’t difficult; the 13 minute drive to the park took an additional 10 minutes with traffic and we were dropped off at the South Lot for easy access to the gates. We pre-scheduled a Lyft for 12:15 a.m. to pick us up, but got dropped from several Lyft and Uber drivers after the show. This wasn’t ideal, but we did end up using the original scheduled booking with Lyft and got picked up only 15 minutes late at 12:30 a.m. It cost $48 with tip, but a taxi would’ve been $80. All-in-all, patience paid off. When we go again, we plan to look into booking a hotel that has a Red Rocks shuttle.
Saturday was a full day at Rocky Mountain National Park, which was about 1.5 hours from where we stayed. Learn from our mistake: the national park is piloting a reservation system, similar to their Covid-19 policy. We arrived to the park at noon and noticed signs that said “Timed reservation required.” We did some quick Googling and realized we couldn’t get into the park without a reservation until 2 p.m., and we couldn’t access the Bear Lake Road (we had planned to do the Emerald Lake hike) until 6 p.m. Since we had driven all the way there, we decided to find something to do in Estes Park until we could drive into the park.
We walked the Lake Estes Trail, which offered views of the Rocky Mountains in the distance. The lake offered several water activity rentals that might be fun for a day when we weren’t still trying to get into the national park. It was a 4-mile loop around the lake and dam. For those traveling with kids, this would have been a super easy walk with a stroller, even if you didn’t want to finish the entire loop.
The loop in Estes Park took just enough time for us to jump back in the car and head to the Rocky Mountain National Park entrance. The road to get in was backed up (others were likely in the same boat as us, waiting until 2 p.m. to get in) and it took 10-15 minutes to get in the park. Thanks to the America the Beautiful pass, we didn’t need to pay entrance fees – this also helped get us through the entrance line faster. We stopped to take in the views at Rainbow Ridge and Forest Canyon overlooks before hiking to hiking.
We picked Tombstone Ridge via the Ute Trail for our Rocky Mountain hike. The trail was used by the Arapaho and Ute Native Americans between the winter and summer hunting grounds and offered mountain views, wildflowers and animals. We saw lots of marmots and even a kit fox along the 2-mile out and back trail, which took us around 2 hours to complete (including photo stops, of course!). We highly recommend this trail, and totally think the kids could have handled it!
On Sunday, we spent some time before and after lunch walking along Bear Creek in Morrison. Nice easy trail perfect if you’re waiting for a table for brunch or dinner, and it was nice to have a final walk before heading to the airport.
What We Ate
After arriving Thursday evening, we drove past downtown Denver to Lakewood, where our Airbnb was located, to find dinner. We ended up at Curry Kitchen, which was a fantastic Indian restaurant with tons of vegetarian options (learn more about how we became vegetarian). We ordered the Vegetarian for Two meal, which included samosa, pakora, saag paneer, korma, daal and sweet potato rice served with naan and basmati rice.
On Friday, we grabbed lunch in downtown Golden after a hike. We settled on Table Mountain Grill & Cantina, a Mexican restaurant right off the main drag on Washington Avenue. We split chips and guacamole and portobello fajitas which were amazing and inspired me to add mushroom fajitas to my home menu. The accompanying margarita hit the spot. Service was nice and speedy!
Before heading to the concert, we stopped at Locust Cider in Lakewood. (Each year, our sister gifts us the Minnesota Hop Passport, which we highly recommend! When we are out of town, we always check the app to see if any local breweries are on it as there are a few non-Minnesota ones on there – we lucked out with this place was on the passport, so we got BOGO ciders!) We played a game of Rummikub while we sipped our ciders. While we were there, they were setting up for an event with live music and vendors at the plaza at Belmar – we thought it looked like it was going to be a cool place to hang out, but we had our Red Rocks concert to get to! Keep an eye out for other events in the area!
Because of the late lunch, we skipped dinner before the concert and had leftover Curry Kitchen as a late night snack after the show.
On Saturday, we grabbed Subway before our adventure in Estes Park. For dinner, we stopped in Boulder on the way home at Twisted Pine Brewing Co, which was a good halfway point between the national park and Lakewood. The pizza was a little on the expensive side, but was worth it after 8 miles of hiking. We probably would have been find sharing one, but were both pretty hungry, so we shared the Mediterranean and Vegan Herbivore (but added cheese). We both had the Boulder Fog hazy IPA which paired nicely with the ‘za.
On Sunday, we met Blaine’s cousin and her family in Morrison for lunch. This was a great town right near Red Rocks Amphitheater. We ate at The Cow: An Eatery. Blaine ordered a veggie burger and I had a tomato and red onion grilled cheese with sweet potato fries. The food was okay. We were aiming for brunch, but there was a 45-minute wait on a busy Sunday, and if we went back we’d go earlier to check out brunch instead. We stopped by the outside window for an ice cream cone, too.
After lunch, we had some time to kill before heading to the airport, so we went for a walk and then grabbed a final-final drink on Rooftop Tavern. We didn’t order any food, but the pub-style fare we peeped at other tables looked good!
How Much We Spent
- Airfare: $20 fees (purchased with Flex Perks credit card miles, $530 value)
- Transportation: $300 + $70 gas + $70 rideshare
- Airbnb: $555
- Entertainment: $135 for concert tickets + $60 drinks/snack
- Food/Drinks: $300
- Total = $1,110($1,640 with airfare value)
This trip to Denver was quick and easy – We can’t wait to go back!
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