Colorado,  Family Travel,  West

Red Rocks Amphitheater and Casa Bonita – Our First Look at Colorado

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October 1st was Day 1 of our trip out West, and the first trip of our “50 States Before Graduation Challenge.” We had a noon flight out of Cincinnati, so we left our house early that morning and picked up our friends and drove the hour + drive to the Cincinnati airport.  Hadassah had a friend her age on the trip and they were so excited about getting to ride on an airplane together.

Cullan isn’t a big fan of flying and always wants to hold my hand during takeoff and landing. He’s almost 10, and I know these hand-holding days won’t last forever, so I’m savoring every minute.

We are working on his fear of flying – ’cause it’s hard to be part of a traveling family when you don’t like to fly!

Hadassah fell asleep while watching Frozen on repeat.

We landed in Denver around 2 pm, grabbed our luggage and rental van, and headed to Red Rocks Park and Amphitheater.

There was a light drizzle of rain/snow, and we started digging jackets out of our suitcases.  Temperatures were in the 80s when we left home, so we weren’t dressed for colder weather on our first day.

The Red Rocks Amphitheater is made of natural sandstone rock formations and has the most amazing acoustics. At an elevation of 6,450 feet above sea level, it was once considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Today’s rendering of the amphitheater was built by the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) from 1936-1941.

Musical groups were performing here as early as 1910, and it’s still going strong as a popular concert venue. Musical artists such as U2, The Beatles, Willie Nelson, Blues Travelers, and Coldplay, among numerous others, have performed here.

Despite the rain we had an enjoyable time walking around the visitor center and the amphitheater.  The visitor center had a lot of great historical information about the park as well as memorabilia from artists who have performed there.

It looked like such a fun venue to watch a concert at – assuming the weather was a little nicer.  We were actually lucky that we were able to visit there because they close early to the public on nights that they have events, and the night we were there was the only evening that week that no events were scheduled.

The park is also well-known for its hiking and biking trails. It’s such a beautiful area. I would love to go back sometime when it’s warmer and walk around and explore the rest of the park. They also offer guided tours if you’re interested, and during the off-season their tours include backstage access.

For dinner we headed to Casa Bonita which is a Denver icon and turned out to be such a unique place to visit. 

It’s a Mexican restaurant that has a variety of entertainment programs going on while you eat.  They have a 30-foot waterfall with cliff divers and shows with pirates, gorillas, and gunfights.

In other parts of the restaurant, there’s an arcade, a puppet show theater, and a place where you can dress up and take photos.  Each table has a flag on it, and if you need more food or want some sopapillas, just raise your flag and your server will be right with you.

After dinner we had an hour and a half drive to our Airbnb in Colorado Springs.  Everyone kept drifting to sleep in the van, and I tried my hardest to stay awake and make sure that Rob was alert since he was the driver for the week. When we got to our Airbnb we crashed. The two hour time change definitely caught up with us!

For another look at Day 1 of our trip, check out our YouTube video below, or you can read about Day 2 and our trip to Garden of the Gods.

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28 Comments

  • Taquia

    April 9, 2020 at 1:42 pm

    How cool! I would love to visit Red Rocks Amphitheater and Casa Bonita with my son. It looks like your family had a great time!

  • Pam

    April 9, 2020 at 3:08 pm

    I haven’t heard about Casa Bonita for years! I love your plan of 50 states before graduation – great project and goal.

  • Casandra

    April 9, 2020 at 5:29 pm

    I still hold my husbands hand when we take off! What an incredible restaurant. I will be adding this to my Colorado bucket list.

  • Stacey Billingsley

    April 9, 2020 at 8:06 pm

    Red Rocks is such a beautiful place to see a show. I hope to see one there one day. I love Casa Bonita. I grew up going to the one in Tulsa, but now the Denver one is the only one left. I took my family there about ten years ago because they didn’t believe all the things I told them about it. They are believers now!

  • Hera

    April 10, 2020 at 6:09 am

    My sis in law and I enjoyed hiking this area and easily spent a day just walking, chatting and admiring the beauty of it. We were late to dinner with the fam, we had so much fun.

  • Jordan

    April 10, 2020 at 2:12 pm

    I visited Denver and Red Rocks last year and loved it! It’s such a cool amphitheater and I wish we had been able to attend a show. Also, I love your goal to visit all 50 states before your kids graduate!

  • Leeanne

    April 10, 2020 at 8:41 pm

    I used to live in Denver. I’ve seen several concerts at Red Rocks and I will say it’s amazing. Each concert was so different but the acoustics are wonderful at this theatre so every concert is outstanding.

  • Taci

    April 12, 2020 at 7:09 am

    My fav band, zac brown band, did a show here that the ended up releasing a recording of. It looks like an epic place to see a show. I hope I can see one there one day.

  • Trisha

    April 12, 2020 at 8:43 pm

    I had a friend who moved to Colorado and she went to a concert at Red Rock and was blown away by the experience. If we ever get the opportunity to visit the area, we will for sure be stopping. Thank you for sharing!

  • Amanda

    April 12, 2020 at 11:56 pm

    50 States by Graduation….what an awesome challenge! I hope you reach your goal. We have done 19 so far. It’s an amazing learning experience for sure. Looks like you had a great time. I look forward to reading more of your adventures!

  • Anitra

    May 18, 2020 at 5:56 pm

    How precious are they on the airplane! Colorado looks absolutely beautiful! I definitely need to add this to the list of must see places!

  • Caressa Walker

    May 19, 2020 at 3:25 am

    I definitely would love to visit the restaurant and the just observe the natural forms of the mountains. Looks like a fun family trip that is chill.