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.

There is literally nowhere I'd rather be than Aspen, CO in the summer.