There are many campgrounds in Weld County, but only one of them played a lead role in one of the pivotal moments in human civilization. That would be Missile Site Park, which has 12 campsites, restrooms, an RV dump and a decommissioned nuclear missile launch facility. Ruben Montiel led Colorado Life on a tour of the decommissioned site.

With an incongruity seldom found outside the realm of dreams, a pink Spanish colonial edifice rises up from a strip mall on Colfax Avenue in Lakewood, a mile west of Denver. Its 85-foot bell tower, seemingly borrowed from an old church in Puerto Vallarta, casts its shadow on a shopping center’s nondescript neighboring storefronts. This is Casa Bonita, a Mexican restaurant that has been making the surreal real since 1974.

Denver’s old train station took on a new life when the Crawford Hotel opened last year. Using the hotel as a base camp, people can explore Denver, or simply explore Union Station’s shops and restaurants – and perhaps enjoy a cocktail from bartender Hunter Byrne at the Cooper Lounge.

Dalton Trumbo was a prolific writer, doing much of his work while sitting in his bathtub. An accomplished novelist, his first book, Eclipse, was based on his hometown of Grand Junction, where the Mesa County Public Library still has a first edition.

It has become something of a tradition. Every five years, a certain Denver newspaper will call the Buena Vista Chamber of Commerce to ask why the town insists on mispronouncing its name – why do locals call it BEW-na VIS-ta rather than BWAY-na VIS-ta?

Randi Levin shares recipes from her cookbook, Baking at High Altitude.

Everybody knows that Santa Claus’ workshop is at the North Pole, but where’s Santa University? In Arvada, it turns out. The Noerr Programs, the Colorado company that provides Santas to 225 shopping centers in 38 states, hosts Santa University annually at its Arvada headquarters.

“Where the West Lives” is Golden’s motto, but come December, it might as well be “Where the West Meets the North Pole.” Santa Claus must be neglecting other towns, because he seems to spend an inordinate amount of time in Golden.

It's summer in Colorado, and that means sunshine - and peaches? In the town of Palisade, there's simply no better way to celebrate summer than to sink your teeth into one of these homegrown delights. Fresh from Palisade's own PeachFest, here are a few recipes that left our mouths watering.

Golden treasure awaits on the autumn road from Cañon City to Cripple Creek. The mountains are rich with historic gold mines, golden aspen leaves and glittering coins at casinos.

Four years after the Fourmile Canyon Fire set Sunshine ablaze, citizens of this close-knit community survive and thrive as a living testament to Coloradan fortitude.

Humans are just visitors in Dominguez Canyon Wilderness area, south of Grand junction; only animals live here full-time.