I am so excited about going to Colorado, mostly because I have heard from a reliable source (my partner/tour guide Alan, a former Colorado resident and current American) that due to the lack of humidity your hair never suffers from the dreaded frizz.

We fly into Denver airport which is a stunning building comprising of several teepee-shaped fabric structures designed to resemble the Rocky Mountains. You feel like you're flying into the big top at the circus!

We pick up our rental car and make our way to Glenwood Springs to stay with friends. Glenwood is a small, pretty town with an impressive local history. It boasts the world's largest hot springs swimming pool and is the location for the confluence of the Roaring Fork and Colorado Rivers. It is also home to the vapour caves, mirthfully described as a "hygenic Hades", where you can relax in the natural geothermal steam baths.

We stop in to the microbrew pub Glenwood Canyon Brewing Company for some lunch and a sampling of their mighty fine ales. Glenwood Springs was also home to Doc Holliday (he of the gunfight at OK Corral) in his later years, and he is buried in the Glenwood cemetery. You can visit the grave of the good doctor (who was actually a doctor of the dental variety) and he even has a bar named in his honour, replete with stuffed moose heads.

On the way home we spot our first toxic spider of the trip. It's a black widow which one of our companions teases, much to my horror. I don't want it to transfer its poisonous rage on to me.

The next day we visit Aspen, otherwise known as the playground of the rich and famous, but seeing as it's late summer there are no rich or famous to be seen. However, I do get to see Kurt Russell's fence, the private airfield where John Travolta parks his plane AND Jack Nicholson's dog house! (Which is a replica of his human-sized abode.)

The most magnificent feature of Colorado is of course the Rocky Mountains. The Maroon Bells are the most photographed mountains in all of North America and are best seen from Aspen. They take their name from the shade of the sandstone of these bell-shaped peaks.

We stop in for dinner at Hickory House Ribs (or the 'Hick House'), a bear-lover's haven; it is filled with rustic carved bears of assorted sizes and shapes. Bears are abundant in these hills. The garbage bins are specially designed to lock upon closure to prevent marauding bears from hanging around town.

Next day we hit up Boulder, most famous in modern times as the town where the horrible Jon-Benet Ramsey murder occurred. However, I prefer to remember it as the setting for the glorious 80s sitcom Mork and Mindy.

Boulder is a picturesque village set in an open air mall. It's a great place to go strolling or browsing and has a really relaxed feel to it. It's also a college town so there's always something happening and lots to see and do.

Next stop on our tour is Denver, located a whole mile above sea level. Denver is a large and exciting city, peppered with decorative cows. Yes, cows! There's also a free trolley bus you can take that runs back and forth along the main mall area.

During our ride on the trolley I spy a man with an enormous afro wearing a space suit and dancing down the street. Love those crazy locals! We have a delicious pizza dinner at the elderly yet charming Wazee Supper Club in LoDo (lower downtown). I am an instant convert to their mozarella sticks.

Like any large urban centre, Denver has a problem with panhandlers; however, they have devised a novel approach to dealing with the cities homeless. Refurbished parking meters are dotted around the city and you are encouraged to offload your spare change into these meters rather than directly into the hands of the homeless. The donations are then distributed to charities providing food, housing and clothing for the city's less fortunate.

Next destination on our whistle-stop tour is legendary venue Red Rocks, which is just outside of Denver. There's no gigs scheduled the day we visit and I am slightly distraught to see that Willie Nelson, my dad's idol, is due to play a few days after we have departed Colorado.

Red Rocks is a phenomenal and atmospheric natural ampitheatre. It truly does feel like a spiritual centre, and if you ignore the seating and the sound systems you can almost imagine what it must have been like for the Native American Indian Ute tribe to camp out here.

Pretty much every musical legend you can think of has played there and it was also where U2's famed concert video Under A Blood Red Sky was filmed.

And so, with a heart almost as heavy as my bulging, souvenir-filled suitcase we depart this wonderful place. Colorado is a tremendously beautiful state to visit in summer or winter. And trust me; your hair will look great in any season.


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