Seeing you hail from Tennessee, you know what grades and curves are. Trail Ridge Road goes over the top of the park to Grand Lake; as said a tourist trap. Wife and I used to do the trip, get a black walnut icecream cone, and come back home. If it is after the 4th of July, and the floods didn't get it, the original road is Fall River. It is one way up only, dirt with lots of switchbacks, connecting to Trail Ridge. There is a Stanley Steam car museum, and a few years ago they had a Stanley mountain car giving rides. Wife wouldn't let me spend the time and money. I am blessed that way in that she wants to do no more than get a picnic lunch and avoid all the touristy stuff in town. If you have the means, the Stanley Hotel is supposed to be the cats meow. We haven't stayed overnight for a few years, but were never unhappy with anyplace; with the exception of the cabins right in the park having really bad mattresses, but they were housekeeping places with all the stuff you needed to make a home, so that made up for some of it. There is a lot to do in Colorado, depending on how far you want to travel. Don't forget that half the state is shortgrass prairie (Pawnee Grasslands east of Greeley); further west you get into the Colorado Plateau, high desert country. Bison are at Rocky Mountain Arsenal, and on Genessee just off I-70 West of Denver. Arsenal also has Pronghorn antelope as does the prairie. There are bighorn sheep on the Estes side, usually just outside the park. Sometimes they are butting because of nervousness. Man that looks like a headache. You flying in? or driving and renting a car. There must be some tourist info available if you ask ahead. Past again when the time comes closer.
