Front Street Steakhouse, Ogallala, NE. Not so long ago Front Street was hoe-down headquarters for Texas drovers, tinhorn gamblers, pretty gals and some of the fastest guns of the west. Ogallala was the end of the Texas Trail Drives for over ten years starting in 1875. They were known for the gun play, the saloon gals and the gamblin'. They are proud of their heritage, independent natures and respect for those who came before them. Dinner will consist of a choice of 1) Rib eye Steak, 2) Grilled Halibut) or 3) Grilled Chicken breast. All are served with baked potato, tossed salad, dessert and beverage.

W.W. Peppers Restaurant, Grand Junction, CO. W.W. Peppers has been a Grand Junction landmark since it opened in 1984. This Blue Ribbon award-winning restaurant features aged beef, handcut steaks, seafood and Southwestern cuisine with flair. Menu TBA.

Metate Room (inside the Far View Lodge), Mesa Verde National Park, AZ. Mesa Verde Metate Room Restaurant received "Award of Culinary Excellence" from the American Culinary Federation Colorado Chefs Association in the area of sustainable cuisine. Colorful Native American artwork surrounds you as you enjoy their award winning, contemporary menu inspired by regional heritage foods and flavorings. The Ancestral Puebloans raised corn, beans and squash, gathered nuts and herbs, and hunted wild game. Chef Brian Puett celebrates this culture, incorporating these foods together with contemporary favorites and a comprehensive wine list including fine Colorado Wines. Menu TBA.

The Trough Restaurant, Gunnison, CO. A highly-rated restaurant in Gunnison. Menu TBA. 

Phantom Canyon Brewing Co., Colorado Springs, CO. Phantom Canyon is located in the historic Cheyenne Building, which was built in 1901. Originally the local offices of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad, the building was renovated in 1909 and re-opened as The Cheyenne Hotel. The Cheyenne Building was the first downtown restaurant to be placed on the National Register of Historical Places and is located on the first corner of the city. The building is named after Cheyenne Mountain and Chief Two Moons of the Cheyenne Indian Tribe (whose stone visage looks over the front entrance). Menu TBA.

Flying W Ranch, Colorado Springs, CO. The Flying W Ranch, located in Colorado Springs, is a working mountain cattle ranch that has specialized in western food and entertainment since 1953. Guests experience picturesque natural surroundings, an authentic Western Village and mighty tasty Chuckwagon Suppers. When the Flying W Wranglers top the evening off with their outstanding Western Stage Show we truly have an offering unsurpassed in Colorado. Supper and show are outdoors underneath a picturesque Colorado Sky, or in their indoor venue if the weather is contrary. Menu TBA.

Adams Mystery Playhouse, Denver, CO. An intriguing mansion, built at the turn-of-the-century, once one of the most prestigious addresses in Denver. Most of the original fixtures of the mansion remain, with a unique, large dining room added in 1965. You'll marvel at the wood work in Adams, the spider web floor, Denver's only "Casket Bar" and the interesting theatrical touches throughout. With the craze of Mystery Dinner Theatre sweeping the nation, the Playhouse offers hilarious antics as the audience solves the crime. Doors open at 6:00pm and crime solving completes at approximately 9:15pm. Menu TBA.

White Fence Farm Restaurant, Lakewood, CO. You'll be seated in one of their eight dining rooms, each with its own special decor and charm. You will enjoy the Farm Chicken Dinner, including: Bean Salad, Cole Slaw, Cottage Cheese, Pickled Beets, Corn Fritters, Mashed Potatoes, and Home Made Gravy, warm Fruit Cobbler and choice of Coffee, Tea, or Lemonade. After dinner, a stroll around the beautifully-landscaped grounds or browse through the colonial-style buildings, such as the Americana Barn, Granny's, the silo, which is home to "Colorado Christmas," where it's Christmas all year long. Once you are finished there, be sure to visit the Country Cottage, located just behind the restaurant. In this distinctive shop, created from an old railroad car, you will find fine antiques and gifts for the home that you would be hard pressed to find elsewhere. Or, if shopping is not your style, you can rest in one of the rocking chairs on the porches of the Country Cottage and Americana Barn.

Gella’s Diner/Lb. Brewery Co., Hay, KS. The migration of Volga-Germans on the heels of exiting frontiersmen resulted in a glorious mix of cultures reveling in the heartland’s abundant ingredients creating unique traditions signature to northwest Kansas. Gella’s Diner & Lb. Brewing Co. draws its name from the community’s rich Volga German heritage. Gella is a Volga-German term meaning “you know” or “don’t you agree” and is often used at the end of a statement to ensure that the listener agrees. Lb. Brewing Co. pays homage to the bygone days of the settlers where beer and bread sometimes played interchangeable roles. When in the field, workers couldn’t always stop to eat lunch. So, they drank it. Hence “Lb.” for “Liquid Bread.” Menu TBA.

The Mother-in-Law House Restaurant, St. Charles, MO. This is one of the more unique restaurants you’re likely to find anywhere. Sit-down dinner including a homemade salad bar, tender roast beef, oven roasted potatoes, specially prepared dessert and coffee, hot tea or iced tea. Following dinner, our hostess will tell you the interesting story behind the restaurant’s unusual name.

Sixteen Continental/Full Breakfasts

Hilton Garden Inn, Rockaway, NJ. Breakfast Buffet.

Fairfield Inn, Maumee, OH. Early Eats Continental Breakfast includes Jimmy Dean Breakfast Sandwiches, fresh Belgian waffles, fresh fruit, hot and cold cereals, pastries and more.

Holiday Inn Express, Ogallala, NE. Their Express Start Breakfast Bar features a selection of fruits, juices,cereals,

breads/pastries, and even hardboiled eggs. They have also created the world's best tasting cinnamon roll.

Courtyard by Marriott, Grand Junction, CO. Enjoy a variety of hot and cold foods including cooked to order eggs & omelets, potatoes, crisp bacon & sausage, Belgian waffles, cereal, yogurt, fresh fruit, and a variety of pastries.

Far View Lodge, Mesa Verde National Park. An American, cafeteria-style breakfast both mornings of our stay.

Holiday Inn Express, Gunnison, CO. Express Start Breakfast Bar with their signature cinnamon rolls.

Hyatt Place, Colorado Springs, CO. Full breakfast buffet, which features English muffins, toast, cereal, whole fruit, juice, yogurt, coffee and tea, and hot breakfast entrees, like made-to-order eggs, smoked bacon or cinnamon French toast.

Hilton Garden Inn Denver Downtown, Denver, CO. Full, cooked to order breakfast.

Holiday Inn Express, Hays, KS. Their Express Start Breakfast Bar features a selection of fruits, juices, cereals, breads/pastries, and even hard-boiled eggs.

Fairfield Inn, Independence, MO. Continental breakfast.

Country Inn, St. Charles, MO. Deluxe continental breakfast buffet with fresh waffle station.

Hampton Inn, Springfield, OH. Continental breakfast.

Attractions:

Colorado National Monument, Fruita, CO. Colorado's Grand Valley feels like cowboy country. As you drive along Rim Rock Drive in Colorado National Monument, you'll wish you were trotting along atop your horse, tipping back your Stetson as you peer out at the sunset-colored plateaus, canyons and arches. The drive is a well-maintained 23-mile paved road traversing the monument. You'll want to get out of the car to enjoy the crisp fall air and to snap some photos of the red-and purple-streaked, water-sculpted cliff walls, whimsically arranged rock formations and sky-high mesas. 2011 marks the monument's centennial anniversary, and as one element of the celebration, a statue of John Otto will be unveiled in nearby Fruita. As the monument's first park ranger, Otto was so devoted to the area that he was described in news accounts as the "Hermit of Monument Canyon."

Four Corners Monument, Shipley, NM. The Four Corners Monument marks the quadripoint where the states of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah meet. It is the only point in the United States shared by four states, leading to this area being called the Four Corners region. The monument also marks the boundary between the Navajo Nation and the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe Reservation.

The monument where "visitors can simultaneously straddle the territory of four states" is maintained as a tourist attraction by the Navajo Nation Parks and Recreation Department. The monument consists of a granite disk embedded with a smaller bronze disk around the point, surrounded by smaller, appropriately located state seals and flags representing both the states and tribal nations of the area. Circling the point, with two words in each state, the disk reads, "Four states here meet in freedom under God." Around the monument, local Navajo and Ute artisans sell souvenirs and food. The monument is a popular tourist attraction despite its remote and isolated location.

Mesa Verde National Park. Mesa Verde National Park is a U.S. National Park and UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Montezuma County, Colorado. It was created in 1906 to protect some of the best-preserved cliff dwellings in the world. The park occupies 81.4 square miles near the Four Corners and features numerous ruins of homes and villages built by the Ancestral Puebloan people, sometimes called the Anasazi. There you can find over 4,000 archaeological sites and over 600 cliff dwellings of the Pueblo people.

The Anasazi inhabited Mesa Verde between AD 550 to 1300. These people were mainly subsistence farmers; they grew crops on nearby mesas. Their primary crop was corn, which was also the major part of their diet. Men were also hunters, which further increased their food supply. The women of the Anasazi were famous for their elegant basket weaving. Anasazi pottery is just as famous as their baskets; their artifacts, even today, are highly prized. Since the Anasazi kept no written records, their artifacts are the only link to understanding their interesting culture. By 750 AD, the people were building mesa-top villages made of adobe. By the late 12th century, they began to build the cliff dwellings for which Mesa Verde is famous. Mesa Verde is best known for cliff dwellings, which are structures built within caves and under outcropping in cliffs — including Cliff Palace, which is thought to be the largest cliff dwelling in North America. The Spanish term Mesa Verde translates into English as "green table".

Durango & Silverton Railroad, Durango, CO. This historic train has been in constant operation for over 127 years, carrying passengers behind vintage steam locomotives through the breathtakingly scenic San Juan National Forest. Relive the sights and sounds of yesteryear for a spectacular journey on board the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. We will enjoy one-way passage from Durango to Silverton.

Royal Gorge, Canon City, CO. The Royal Gorge Bridge & Park is unlike any destination you’ll ever experience. A journey of epic proportions with more than 360 acres and 21 rides, shows and attractions to explore. Where you will marvel at the awe-inspiring panoramic views from one of the world’s highest suspension bridges - hanging 956 feet high and spanning a quarter mile across the canyon. This one-of-a-kind attraction has something for everyone.

Pikes Peak Cog Railway, Manitou Springs, CO. An optional excursion will be offered aboard the Pikes Peak Cog Railway, a 9-mile journey to the 14,115-foot summit of Pikes Peak. We owe the inspiration for the lyrics of the beloved song, "America the Beautiful " to the stunning vistas from the summit of Pikes Peak. It was the summer of 1893, and Katharine Lee Bates, a professor of English at Wellesley College, was in Colorado Springs to teach a summer session at Colorado College. On July 22, Katharine, along with several others of the visiting faculty, took a trip in a carriage to the summit of Pikes Peak. Horses got them to the halfway point, and, as was customary, a team of mules finished the climb to the 14,115 foot summit. Because altitude sickness affected one of the party, they only stayed on the summit a half hour, but the brief experience was enough inspire a poem. She wrote, "an erect, decorous group, we stood at last on that Gate-of-Heaven summit...and gazed in wordless rapture over the far expanse of mountain ranges and sea like sweep of plain. Then and there the opening lines of 'America the Beautiful' sprang into being… I wrote the entire song on my return that evening to Colorado Springs."

Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs, CO. Garden of the Gods Park is a registered National Natural Landmark. Imagine dramatic views, 300' towering sandstone rock formations against a backdrop of snow-capped Pikes Peak and brilliant blue skies. View the show: "How Did Those Red Rocks Get There?” in the Visitor Center, prior to a one-hour narrated tour of the geology and history of the Park and the Pikes Peak region of Colorado. The trained, knowledgeable guides make sure you see the famous rock formations and lesser-known historic sites.

U.S. Olympic Training Center, Colorado Springs, CO. Public tours are conducted on a year-round basis by USOC Ambassadors. The tour includes a 12-minute film and 45-minute walking tour of the complex. Nearly 70% of the tour is out-of-doors. During the tour, visitors will have the opportunity to view athlete training facilities including Sport Center Gymnasiums, weightlifting and wrestling facilities, the USA Shooting Center, Coaching & Sport Science, the Aquatics Center, and Sport Medicine. Life-size figures with narrative panels adorn the Irwin Belk Olympic Pathway and provide information about Olympic and Pan American Sports.

U.S. Air Force Academy Campus Tour. The Barry Goldwater Air Force Academy Visitor Center serves as the gateway to the academy, providing information on its history and cadet life to hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. An early morning drive is a great way to take you to the grounds of the United States Air Force Academy, where you will enjoy an informative exhibit about cadet life in the spacious Visitor Center and Gift Shop. Don't miss the short hike along a nature trail to the famous Cadet Chapel.

Molly Brown House, Denver, CO. As more and more historic properties were demolished in the 1960s, a group of preservation-minded Denver citizens joined efforts in 1970 to rescue the home of Titanic survivor Margaret Tobin Brown. The group incorporated as Historic Denver, Inc. and began major restoration efforts in order to return the home’s interior and exterior to its early 20th century grandeur. Guided tours of the Museum reach an average of 45,000 visitors a year, sharing the story of Margaret "Molly" Brown and Denver history. The Molly Brown House Museum will be hosting Titanic-related events throughout 2012, the 100th anniversary of Titanic.

Rocky Mountain National Park, Estes Park, CO. The Rocky Mountain National park is located in north-central Colorado. Established in 1915 and enclosing part of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, the park has an area of 262,191 acres. It contains over 100 peaks exceeding 10,000 ft., including Longs Peak (14,255 ft.), as well as broad valleys and alpine lakes. The tundra in the park's high country is an island of Arctic vegetation surrounded by plants of lower latitudes. Animal life includes bighorn sheep, deer, mountain lions, and a variety of birds. We’ll view magnificent scenery along Trail Ridge Rd.

Eisenhower Presidential Library & Museum, Abilene, KS. The Eisenhower Presidential Library & Museum was opened in 1962, and includes a Visitor Center, Dwight D. Eisenhower's boyhood home, the Place of Meditation, the Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, in a park like setting. The museum contains the war gallery, a section about Mamie's "style," and a section on Ike's election and presidential years. The Eisenhower Library includes 480 manuscript collections; over 300,000 still photographs; thousands of hours of motion picture film, audio tapes and discs; oral history transcripts; 25,000 books and many other objects.

Truman Presidential Library & Museum, Independence, MO. The museum offers an introductory film on the life of President Truman, and two floors of exhibits relating his life and presidency through photographs, artifacts, film clips, documents, and memorabilia. It was the first presidential library to contain a full scale replica of the Oval Office, a feature that has been copied by the Johnson, Ford, Carter, Reagan, and Clinton libraries. The library also contains The White House Decision Center, an educational program in which school students take on the roles of President Truman and his advisors facing real-life historical decisions in a recreation of the West Wing of the White House. The mural Independence and the Opening of The West by Thomas Hart Benton adorns the walls of the lobby entrance. The mural, completed in 1961, was painted on site over a three-year span.

Gateway Arch, St. Louis, MO. The Gateway Arch commermerates St. Louis, Missouri as the “Gateway to the West.” Completed in 1965, the inverted, weighted curve of gleaming stainless steel soars 630 feet, our nation’s tallest monument. We will ride to the top of the arch aboard a tram, where a 30-mile panoramic view awaits you. You will also enjoy the Museum of Westward Expansion in the visitor center at the base of the Arch.

Itinerary:                    

DAY 1 – September 4, 2012 - Tuesday (B & D)

Buffet breakfast (included) at the Hilton Garden Inn Rockaway Mall

Depart from the Hilton Garden Inn Rockaway Mall (departure 7:00am)

Overnight in Maumee, OH – check-in at the Fairfield Inn for one night

Dinner (included) at Applebee’s

DAY 2 – September 5, 2012 - Wednesday (CB & D)

Continental breakfast (included) & baggage pick-up

Arrive Newton, IA – check-in at the Holiday Inn Express for one night

Dinner (included) at August Bergman Inn

DAY 3 – September 6, 2012 - Thursday (CB & D)

Continental breakfast (included) & baggage pick-up

Arrive Ogallala, NE – check-in at the Holiday Inn Express for one night

Dinner (included) at Front Street Steakhouse

DAY 4 – September 7, 2012 - Friday (CB & D)

Continental breakfast (included) & baggage pick-up

Arrive Grand Junction, CO – check-in at the Courtyard by Marriott for one night

Dinner (included) at W.W. Peppers

DAY 5 – September 8, 2012 - Saturday (B & D)

Breakfast (included) & baggage pick-up

Four Corners Monument

Arrive Mesa Verde National Park – check-in at the Far View Lodge for two nights

Dinner (included) at Metate Room

DAY 6 – September 9, 2012 - Sunday (B & D)

Breakfast (included)

Mesa Verde National Park Guided Tour

Free afternoon

Dinner (included) at Metate Room

DAY 7 – September 10, 2012 – Monday (B & D)

Breakfast (included) & baggage pick-up

Durango & Silverton Railroad

Free time in Silverton, CO

Arrive Gunnison, CO – check-in at the Holiday Inn Express for two nights

Dinner (included) at The Trough Restaurant

DAY 8 – September 11, 2012 - Tuesday (CB & D)

Continental breakfast (included) & baggage pick-up

Royal Gorge Park

U.S. Olympic Training Center

Arrive Colorado Springs, CO – check-in at the Hyatt Place Hotel for two nights

Dinner (included) at Phantom Canyon Brewing Co.

DAY 9 – September 12, 2012 - Wednesday (B & D)

Breakfast (included)

Pikes Peak Cog Railway (optional)

Free time in Manitou Springs

Garden of the Gods Tour

Dinner (included) at Phantom Canyon Brewing Co.

DAY 10 – September 13, 2012 - Thursday (B & D)

Breakfast (included) & baggage pick-up

US Air Force Academy Tour

Depart for Denver

Molly Brown Historical Home

Overnight in Denver, CO – check-in at the Hilton Garden Inn Denver Downtown for two nights

Dinner (included) at Adams Mystery Playhouse

DAY 11 – September 14, 2012 - Friday (B & D)

Breakfast (included)

Rocky Mountain National Park sightseeing

Dinner (included) at White Fence Farm Restaurant

DAY 12 – September 15, 2012 - Saturday (B & D)

Breakfast (included) & baggage pick-up

Depart for Hays, KS

Overnight in Hays, KS - check-in at the Holiday Inn Express for one night

Dinner (included) at Gella’s Diner/Lb. Brewery Co.

DAY 13 – September 16, 2012 - Sunday (CB & L)

Continental breakfast (included) & baggage pick-up

Lunch (included) at Kirby House Restaurant

Eisenhower Presidential Library & Museum

Overnight in Independence, MO - check-in at the Fairfield for one night

Dinner (not included)

DAY 14 – September 17, 2012 - Monday (CB & D)

Continental breakfast (included) & baggage pick-up

Truman Presidential Library & Museum

Overnight in St. Charles, MO - check-in at the Country Inn for one night

Dinner (included) at Mother-in-Law House

DAY 15 – September 18, 2012 - Tuesday (CB)

Continental breakfast (included) & baggage pick-up

Overnight in Springfield, OH - check-in at the Hampton Inn for one night

Dinner (not included)

DAY 16 – September 19, 2012 - Wednesday (CB)

Continental breakfast (included) & baggage pick-up

Depart Springfield, OH

Lunch stop (not included)

Return to Hilton Garden Inn Rockaway Mall (approximate return time is 8:30pm)

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Please contact a tour representative for more information and/or reservations at (973) 366-0600 ext. 602.