Chicago to Denver/CO Springs with 2 Year Old

In Denver there is "16th Street" which you can ride up and down the street for free on a bus. NO cars allowed. Lots of shops and stuff. (Maybe not so exciting for a 2 year old) The Brown Palace Hotel is about a block from there. (Connected with Molly Brown) Her house is also fun to go through there. For those of you who don't know who I'm talking about, Molly Brown was one of the survivors of the Titantic. There was a great movie about her life, a funny good one, which I can't remember the name of now. Debbie Reynolds played her. I believe there is also a good zoo in Denver. An amusement park,called Elitch's...downtown in Lodo area. (A big tourist area) Denver has museums, the Capitol building. Central City, outside of Denver is cool also. An old mining town with gambling available. In Colorado Springs, Pikes Peak of course, and Garden of the Gods to drive through...could probably do some hiking and biking there also. For a great lunch or dinner, go to The Tavern in the Broadmoor Hotel. The hotel is worth seeing in itself. The Broadmoor arena used to have the Broadmoor Ice Rink there, built originally for Sonie Henie. The United States Figure Skating Association has a museum in the Springs as well as the new World Arena, where many champions train daily. The US Senior Men's Champion and the bronze medalist train there. The Air Force Academy has intersting tours and thereis a Cowboy Museum...Good Luck and have fun!

Many years ago we went on the Durango-Silverton train. It's worth checking out, lovely scenery, a must for train enthusiasts. Have fun!

You are going to a great location. There is dinosaur ridge on the west side of Denver (by Morris), great museauums there. There are also lots of parks with trails but most require fees for use. I don't think they are too expensive but I have done Waterton Canyon (Littleton area) by bike which is a nice ride. Around Colorado Springs, check out 7 Falls, Pikes Peak (can drive or take a train ride), I believe there is a good zoo too. Garden of the Gods is pretty cool too. Easy to drive/walk. Some historic areas too but their names escape me. At night there is a place that does chuckwagon suppers that a boy may like the old west entertainment (my mom took me there when I was a kid).

Good luck. We are hiking Rocky Mountain NP with our infant this summer!

We are going driving also to Colorado Springs in May. We have three kids. I suggest color wonder markers and books for coloring. Stickers on lamitated pages. You may want the dvd player. Even for 5 hours my 22 month old gets really fussy and is hard to take on trips. I don't think you can use the Brookfield Zoo memebership. I know the Colorado Springs area really well. They have a zoo in the mountains. Lots of hills. Also there is Focus on the Family headquarters which is a lot of fun. Hope you have a safe trip.