Things to see and do in Colorado

View the plains from Colorado National Monument (www.nps.gov/colm), west of Grand Junction, an area of fantastic red rock canyons, monoliths, pillars and cliffs. Dinosaur National Monument (www.nps.gov/dino) in Colorado's northwest corner, is a plateau cut by two rivers and home to one of the world's richest deposits of dinosaur and reptile fossils.

Tour the Coors Brewery at Golden and sample the famous beer made from Rocky Mountain spring water.

Hike, bike or horse ride around the dramatically sculpted red sandstone pinnacles of the Garden of the Gods (www.gardenofthegods.com), a National Natural Monument.

Visit the Great Sand Dunes National Monument (www.nps.gov/grsa), with some of the highest inland sand dunes in North America.

Tour Indian cliff dwellings in Mesa Verde National Park (www.nps.gov/meve), in the high plateau country of southwestern Colorado, 56km (35 miles) west of Durango. The 21,044-hectare (52,000-acre) park, a World Heritage Site, contains dramatic Anasazi culture's cliff dwellings built over 700 years ago (www.nps.gov/meve).

Drive the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park (www.nps.gov/blca). It preserves the most spectacular 19km (12-mile) stretch of the 85km (53-mile) gorge carved by the Gunnison River. A paved road circles the rim of the canyon, at some points nearly half a mile deep.

Ski the Rocky Mountains (www.nps.gov/romo), renowned the world over for unparalleled skiing, quaint mountain towns, world-class accommodation and spectacular scenery. Aspen (www.aspenchamber.org) is America's most sophisticated ski resort, offering a full range of winter and summer activities and countless restaurants and shops. Ski or snowboard in Summit County, home to the popular ski resorts of Keystone (www.keystone.snow.com) (with the longest ski season in the state), Arapahoe Basin (www.arapahoebasin.com), Copper Mountain (www.coppercolorado.com) and Breckenridge (www.breckenridge.snow.com).