Denver Fall Foliage Guide 🍁

Though we arrived in late October (past Maroon Bells' peak), we embraced our life motto: "We trust others' descriptions of rivers more than our own experiences." And guess what? Aspen still blew us away! ✈️ Day 1: Landing in Denver 🚗 Rental Car: Picked up an SUV from Enterprise (Denver’s fleet leans SUVs—luxury sedans are rare). 🏨 Brown Palace Hotel: Old-school glam in downtown—highly recommend! 🏞️ Day 2: Rocky Mountain National Park Route: Denver → Bear Lake → Nymph Lake Drive time: ~2 hours from Denver. Parking: Snagged a Bear Lake permit (though no one checked). Still waited 40 mins to park—crowded! Missed: Trail Ridge Road (closed) + Haiyaha Lake (supposedly the prettiest 😢). 🍜 Dinner: Domo (skip the dipping noodles—meh). 🏨 Stay: Brown Palace (again, because why not?). 🍂 Day 3: The Epic Road Trip to Aspen! Route: Denver → Frisco → Vail → Twin Lakes → Independence Pass → Aspen 11:00 AM: Frisco lakeside photos 📸. Vail: Adorable ski town! Sipped coffee under golden leaves + snowy peaks... lost track of time until 3:30 PM 😍. Twin Lakes: Dexter Campground → short walk to the lake. Independence Pass: No service, single-lane, STUNNING snow-capped views. Last chance before November closure! 7:00 PM: Rolled into Aspen—perfect timing. 🏨 Viceroy Snowmass: Luxury alert ($$$ in ski season!). #Denver #FallColors #Aspen #Vail #ColoradoTravel #LeafPeeping 🍂📸