This gallery features some of the photos I took during the Colorado portion of my 13-day and 2,100-mile road trip through that state and New Mexico in late September and early October 2011. With Denver International Airport as my starting point, my major stops included Pueblo, CO; Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Taos, NM; then, back in Colorado -- Durango, Silverton, Ouray, Durango again, Telluride, Gateway, Grand Junction, Boulder, Estes Park, Grand Lake, Vail, Leadville, Aspen, Vail again and Denver. As I drove around Colorado, I crossed the Continental Divide of the Americas nine times at various points, all on paved roads. Altogether, I covered more than twice the distance of the Mille Miglia, which was my inspiration for this road trip.

I drove on the following magnificent Scenic Byways in Colorado: San Juan Skyway, Unaweep Tabeguache, Trail Ridge Road/Beaver Meadow Road, and Top of the Rockies, as well as the eastern fifth of the Colorado River Headwaters. All have been designated as state and national scenic byways, except for Unaweep Tabeguache, which has only the state-level designation.

I also took incredible drives on I-70, from Grand Junction to the outskirts of Denver, on my way to Boulder; from Empire to Vail; and from Vail back to Denver. Between Grand Junction and the Denver area, the scenery and the drive on this interstate highway were unbelievably spectacular in early October. The "cherry on top" was when I caught up with and passed a black prototype of the new-for-2012 991 edition of the Porsche 911 Carrera, as well as a black prototype of the 3rd generation, 981-series and new-for-2012 2013 Porsche Boxster, both of which took the next exit soon after, with at least two more black prototypes following them. In a trip in which practically all my expectations were exceeded, this stretch of I-70 was the most surprising leg, along with the Unaweep Tabeguache Scenic Byway, perhaps because I had not expected as much from them as from the other parts of my itinerary. They blew me away, at least as much as the other scenic roads did.

At the start of my road trip in Denver, I was aghast when I went to the Hertz parking lot to pick up the "Fun Collection" 2012 Ford Mustang that I had reserved. The rental car waiting for me was bright "ticket me" red. I had been hoping for a lower-profile color, such as gunmetal gray or silver. But the Mustang and its flashy color turned out to be very useful in my road trip photography. It was like traveling with a pretty and cooperative model, but, alas, this one was four-wheeled rather than two-legged. And, no, I did not get a speeding ticket during my trip, though at one point a state police trooper did flash his SUV's overhead lights at me for about three seconds as he approached at speed from the opposite direction. To my relief, he went past me without slowing down. His gesture may have been a warning or, less likely, a "Mustang or car enthusiast" greeting. Whichever it was, I appreciated it.

I used a Canon PowerShot S95 and a Nikon D300 with an 18-200mm Nikkor VR zoom lens to shoot the photos in this gallery. The pictures here show only a small fraction of the awesome and breathtaking scenery that I saw during my drives; safe places to stop for picture-taking were rare on the twisty two-lane mountain roads -- many of which had no shoulders and no guardrails; and on I-70, I was always in a hurry to reach certain places by a certain time. Also, the best shots often were not feasible without leaving the roads and going a considerable distance on foot. But trekking and climbing were not part of my plans. Besides, at the outset, I had decided that photography was going to be secondary in what, for me, was essentially a driving trip, for which I had a definite itinerary and timetable.

For maps of and more information on the scenic byways that I drove on, visit this Colorado Department of Transportation Web page https://www.codot.gov/ and this U.S. Department of Transportation Web page https://fhwaapps.fhwa.dot.gov/bywaysp/ . Also https://fhwaapps.fhwa.dot.gov/bywaysp/States/Show/CO and https://www.colorado.com/byways . These four are U.S. and Colorado government Web sites (as of 2024 May 3).

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