Aspen is the obvious day trip — twenty minutes by the free RFTA bus, with a real downtown, the Aspen Art Museum, several galleries, and the cluster of ski mountains (Buttermilk, Aspen Highlands, Aspen Mountain) shared on the Aspen Snowmass pass.
Glenwood Springs, about an hour down the Roaring Fork valley, is the place to go for an outdoor hot-spring pool — the original Hotel Colorado spring is one of the largest in the world. The drive there through Glenwood Canyon is itself an attraction.
