COLORADO Estes Park Estes Park rests on the eastern edge of Rocky Mountain National Park, making this quintessential Colorado town the perfect launchpad for outdoor adventure. Put your skills to the test or rally for your favorite kilt-clad player at the Highland Games , a roundup of traditional Scottish competitions like hammer throws, stone put and caber-throwing, hosted at the Longs Peak Scottish-Irish Highland Festival. Experience a Scottish military tattoo (not unlike The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo), complete with an extraordinary marching band and dance ensemble. Elk Fest features Native American dancing, storytelling, music and art in the city’s aspen-studded Bond Park. Leaf-peep spectacular stands of honey-colored leaves while packs of elk gather in town during rutting season. Looking for more immersive Native American experiences? Attend an Indigenous-inspired dinner and sweet-grass offering at First Peoples Festival , which also centers Native American potters, bead workers, sculptors and more at an illustrious vendors’ market. Estes Park Elk Fest Pueblo Pueblo’s steel mill opened in 1872, which drew the interest of Italian, Greek, Slovenian, Polish, Irish and German immigrants for work, since being able to speak English was not a barrier to labor. The 40-plus languages eventually represented at the mill shaped the town’s culture and heritage throughout the 20th century. Learn more at the Steelworks Center of the West , where fascinating archives and artifacts dot the walls of this renovated smokestack-topped factory. Permanent exhibitions include the mysterious X-Ray Room, a deep dive into 20th-century medical clinics. El Pueblo History Museum details the cultural and ethnic groups who lived along the borderlands of southern Colorado. See a re-creation of an adobe trading post and plaza, as well as the excavation site of the original 1842 El Pueblo trading post. Survey more of the city’s creative culture at Sangre de Cristo Arts Center , where you can stroll through a vibrant children’s museum and an art gallery with rotating special exhibits. O’HARA PHOTOGRAPHY (ALL PHOTOS) El Pueblo History Museum COLORADO . COM 135
Colorado Official State Vacation Guide 2025: Page 135
