Colorado: Winds captured by the surrounding flat-topped buttes make for prime sailing conditions on Colorado’s largest body of water, popular with anglers, sunbathers and boaters roaming 41,000-plus acres.
Colorado: The astonishingly steep walls of the canyon rise 2,000 feet from the river, exposing expose 2-billion-year-old black metamorphic rock. Peer across the chasm to Colorado’s tallest cliff, Painted Wall.
Colorado: Visit the Western State College campus, pop into boutiques or take in the Pioneer Museum’s mineral exhibit and awesome collection of antique cars.
Colorado: See the southwestern night sky’s twinkling stars. The state’s largest research-quality telescope is open Friday and Saturday nights mid-May through September.
Colorado: Take the chairlift to a web of mountain-biking trails (Crested Butte is the sport’s self-proclaimed birthplace) or see how you fare at bungee jumping, zip-lining and disc golf at Adventure Park.
Colorado: Blocks of Victorian-era buildings form one of the country’s most distinctive towns, according to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Nearly every summer weekend features a fun festival.