Aspen, Co in the summer...

What is the allure of Leadville? It sucks. Go up to Glenwood for another neat little city. You should definitely drive Independence Pass, it is beautiful. Get out and see the Grotto and explore around a little bit in that area with hikes. There are some slot canyons and waterfalls if you are willing to get off the main road.

Bring your wallet, Aspen is priced like Manhattan, there are no cheap eats or drinks.

Aspen is great in the summer. The days are warm but you can get some frost at night. Go to Woody Creek Tavern for a meal. It's halfway between Snowmass and Aspen and is a great dive like atmosphere with good food at good prices. Used to be one of Hunter S. Thompson's hangouts when he lived there. Other good inexpensive places to eat are New York Pizza, Zane's, Taster's Pizza and Mill Street Melts (food truck or old timey wagon thing on the plaza). Road Biking is good but there will be a lot of traffic on the narrow roads.....I used to ride up to Maroon Bells sometimes and that doesn't have much traffic. But you climb the entire way from 7900' to 10,000. Great riding back to town though. Mountain Biking is the thing to do . You can hit Smuggler's Trail in town (Its a fire Road for the first few miles of climbing) and start doing switchbacks for about 1000' climb. At the top you can look out over the town. You can keep going to make a 15 mile loop which is a pretty easy, non-technical trail. There are tons of other trails in the area but they get pretty technical. There is a path along the Roaring Fork River that is nice and flat and goes all the way to Glenwood Springs.

Driving the pass is nice and Leadville is ok...not much there really although Camp Hale is kind of interesting. It was a WWII training camp for Snow and Ski warfare. The guys that trained there came back after the war and started all the ski mountains such as in Aspen, Vail etc. The remnants of the camp are still there and there are some interpretive plaques scattered around. To make a loop, take 24 to Minturn....stop for a bite at Minturn Saloon. Then keep heading south to I-70 then back through Glenwood Springs and then up to Aspen.

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What is the allure of Leadville? It sucks

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I don’t know man, the French are assholes.

Thank you all for your replies and suggestions. We really look forward to our little get-away. Looks like I'll scratch off Leadville, and spend a little time in Glenwood Springs.

Looks like a bicycle ride to Woody Creek Tavern is now in the cards. We're using Elk Mountain Expeditions for our rafting trip, and Maroon Bells Outfitters for out trail ride.

Thinking of White House Tavern, J-Bar, Meat and Cheese, Jimmy's, and Jimmy's Bodego for evening meals. Any other thoughts?

Also, we will be there during JasAspen and beginning of Aspen Music Festival. Hope to catch some wonderful evening entertainment. "Ragtime" is a consideration at Theater Aspen.

Any recommendations? TIA

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and spend a little time in Glenwood Springs.

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Hit up Casey Brewing and Blending for some world class beers

White House is good. The rec for Poppycocks is right on - those pancakes are great. Also we love the Hickory House in aspen for ribs, and also Tempranillo in Basalt is worth the drive for dinner.

The bike ride from town down to Woody Creek is nice. Rent a Polaris RZR and drive up Aspen mountain for fun. Can't recommend Taylor Creek Fly shop enough. Go on a float trip on the Roaring Fork with them.

If you fish with them, leave early and hit up Breakfast in America in El Jebel for pre-fishing breakfast. Great great counter service type place.

The Snowmass rodeo going on then - always a fun time in the evening.

The Saturday morning farmers market in Aspen is a lot of fun as well.

Work your angles to try to get on The Roaring Fork Club if you like golf.

Quite a few dispensary in Aspen. Even if it's not your thing its pretty interesting to go in and check out the merchandise.

You flying in to ASE? If so, steal the window seat from your wife, its a hell of a view.

+1 on Belly Up

I’ll be there in mid July

Alright man. You stick to the I70 corridor.

I just have a different opinion on what I need in a town and what I want on a drive. Give me 2 lanes over i70 any day. I’ll go out of my way to stay off interstates.

I’ll preface this by saying I stayed in Leadville on a high school ski trip that was the moment I decided I would move to the mountains one day. We did a hut trip on Tennessee Pass and I had the time of my life as a kid that grew up in the southeast. So it’s very likely my sentimental side is a reason I think it’s a super cool town.

The history of Leadville alone intrigues me. Not to mention, getting off the beaten path a bit compared to Glenwood. There’s a handful of breweries and places to eat in Lead-vegas. He’s gonna be there a day, doesn’t need 15 restaurants to fill the two meals they might have in town. You can go snag a Melanzana jacket if that’s your thing. Pretty sure you can only buy them in the store. Great jackets that make for great base layers. The Main Street is a nice place for a stroll, and the surrounding mountains are incredible. Heaven forbid you run into a few gruff locals!

I was speaking on the general allure of Leadville, and not specific to someone just coming from Aspen. Minturn to Red Cliff to Tennessee Pass to Leadville is one of my favorite drives. The abandoned mining town along the drive is eery and in a very cool setting.

Glenwood is a cool place and the canyon is a cool drive, but it’s far from what I think of on my list of mountain towns. I haven’t spent much time there so I don’t wanna comment on it too much, but nothing wrong with giving the guy my opinion. People have different ideas of where they wanna spend their time. But to just shite on Leadville is unfair.

ETA: pretty sure they have a cool disc golf course that gets ya some great views on the surrounding 14ers.