Sometimes, it just won’t do to go your own way – at least not when guided tours can take you places you might not otherwise experience. Find trips that take you down a river or into a socialite’s world.
We Coloradans pride ourselves on our Western independence, but sometimes it really is better to join the crowd. Here’s a sampling of some of the many guided tours the state has to offer. – Vicky Uhland, special to The Denver Post
TEA AT MARGARET THATCHER’S HOME
No, not that Margaret Thatcher. This wife of a 19th-century Pueblo banker was better known for her decorating sense than her political savvy. As chatelaine of Rosemount, a 37-room mansion built in 1893 in Pueblo, she created a gracious environment that remains today – from the oak coffered ceilings to the Tiffany chandeliers. The 24,000-square-foot house, built in the Richardson Romanesque style out of pink stone quarried near Castle Rock, is on the National Register of Historic Places and open for tours Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Make your Rosemount tour a truly Victorian experience by taking tea at the restaurant in the carriage house. For $18, you can dine on quiche, scones, sandwiches and a variety of desserts, then stroll across the garden to the mansion. Surrounded by the furniture, paintings, curtains and knickknacks chosen by Mrs. Thatcher, you’ll easily feel like the lady – or lord – of the manor.
Rosemount Museum, 419 W. 14th St., Pueblo, 719-545-5290, rosemount.org
TIPPY CANOE AND KAYAK TOO
If river rafting is a little too adventurous for you, try the more sedate – and scenic – sport of canoeing. More than 20 Colorado companies offer guided canoe and kayak tours along the state’s rivers, including the Colorado, Delores, Gunnison, Yampa, White and North Platte.
“With just two people in a canoe, you’re in charge of your own destiny,” says Susie Morton, a former canoe guide for Denver’s Centennial Canoe Outfitters. “It’s a slower pace, and generally pretty quiet with some beautiful canyon scenery, but there can be some wicked water fights.”
Guided canoe trips can last from a day to a week, with outfitters providing camping supplies, first aid and CPR knowledge, and training and encouragement to first-timers. Trips are rated by degree of difficulty and if you’re truly a landlubber, you might luck out and find yourself sharing your canoe with your guide.
For a listing of canoe and kayak guides, contact the Colorado River Outfitters Association, croa.org.
SCENERY WITH A SCIENTIST
Even if you’re the type of traveler who would rather be on airport security’s “most wanded” list than ever sign up for a group tour, you may find yourself lured by the Denver Museum of Nature and Science’s guided tours. Led by museum staff, these trips combine exotic scenery with scientific lessons and discussions.
Upcoming tours include a week-long jungle boat tour and volcano hike in Costa Rica with a museum geologist and a 30-mile canoe trip along the Colorado River where you can learn about geology by day and astronomy by night. Or you can visit Mesa Verde in the fall with a trained anthropologist.
For more information, visit dmns.org.
THE SOCIALITE RANCHER
In a little-known museum in Evergreen, you’ll find everything from Chinese porcelains to American Indian gloves to 19th-century farm tools. The Humphrey Memorial Park and Museum includes a historic homestead and outbuildings from the Humphrey Ranch, settled in 1920 by Chicago socialite Hazel Hammer Humphrey and her family.
Humphrey and her rich, globe-trotting ancestors apparently never found an item they couldn’t buy two of, as witnessed by the astonishing variety of collections contained in the museum.
“Everything is left out as they were when the family lived here. We don’t have things in locked cases,” says museum Director Peggy Shaw. “It’s not the usual rustic stick furniture you see in old homesteads – it’s incredible art and tons of collections from their transatlantic cruises.”
Tours of the homestead and grounds are led by an 80-year-old historian who is well-versed in family lore, not to mention full of entertaining stories, Shaw says. Tours are by appointment only and Shaw says they’re on hold until April or May, or “whenever we can chisel our way from the parking lot to the front door.”
The museum is open today, however, for the “A Lover Scorned Valentine’s Day Tea,” from 2 to 4 p.m. You can check out the museum’s reticule and hankie collection, along with the diaries and 19th-century valentines of Hammer Humphrey’s grandmother.
Humphrey Memorial Park and Museum, 620 S. Soda Creek Road, Evergreen, 303-674-5429, hmpm.org
WILDERNESS WITH A RANGER
Beginning in June, Rocky Mountain National Park will offer more than 50 tours and activities led by rangers. There are bird and wildflower hikes, stargazing programs and a variety of children’s activities, including “Skins and Things,” where kids and their parents can touch skulls, antlers, teeth and bones of many park mammals.
Although the ranger programs for this year haven’t yet been determined, look for highlights like last year’s fly fishing school, photography walk, trip to a 1920s dude ranch, map and compass exploration, and “tundra to trees” hike.
If you can’t wait until summer, check out the guided snowshoeing and skiing tours through the park’s wilderness areas. Rangers lead explorations of the Kawuneeche Valley or a subalpine forest in these two-hour beginner or intermediate trips, offered on Saturdays and Sundays through mid-March.
Reservations are necessary: Call 970-586-1223 or visit nps.gov.romo for a schedule.
