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Planning first trip to Boulder for a Colorado Football Game

collegefootballfan81

New Member
Hey All,

I’m looking to write a blog post about planning a trip to visit Boulder for a Colorado Buffaloes football game with my buddies. Basically, what I am asking is that if you and I met randomly on an airplane and I told you all about my trip to Boulder, you wouldn’t have to say, “You did it all wrong, next time you should do…”

Since you guys are the experts on a perfect weekend trip to Boulder, I wanted to see if you would answer a few questions and help us make our trip amazing. Feel free to answer any or all of the questions you’d like, and if you can think of any other info I’ve overlooked feel free to throw that in there too!

TRAVEL

1. What’s the most convenient/cheapest airport to fly into? Is there a specific airline that is best/cheapest to fly on?

2. Some in our group are a little more adventurous and don’t mind flying into an airport that’s a 3-4 hour drive away from the game if it would make for a cool drive or takes us by some cool sites/attractions – anything like that we should know about when we’re booking our flights?

3. How is the public transportation system/Uber in Boulder?

HOTEL

4. What’s the hotel situation like over the weekend of a game? How good is airbnb, vrbo, etc. in Boulder? Are there any great resort towns nearby to stay at for a day?

FOOD

5. Food is one of the main reasons we take these trips! What are your favorite places to eat around Boulder? How is the food in the stadium, anything a one time visitor can’t leave the stadium without eating?

TICKETS

6. What is our best option for buying game tickets? ticket office? StubHub? classifieds?

TAILGATING

7. When possible, we love to experience different schools’ tailgating scene. Any general tailgating advice for a first timer at a Colorado game?

TRADITIONS

8. It seems like a lot of schools have unique game day traditions – do you guys do anything that’d be worth planning our schedule around? Are there any buildings or sites near campus or the stadium that we should check out?

OTHER ATTRACTIONS

9. If we decide to bring families with us, are there any local sites/attractions that we need to make room for on our schedule? Any can’t-miss Historical/Educational or Fun/Entertainment sites?

SAFETY

10. Are there any general safety issues we should be aware of? Any areas we should avoid for parking, walking, etc? I know every fan base has its share of bad apples, but would you classify your general fan base as hospitable/neutral/in-hospitable?

As I said, feel free to answer any/all/none of the questions, and throw on any extra info that I may have overlooked! Hopefully we’ll see a great game there this fall!

Thanks,

Derek
 
I think you'll get a lot of good answers and this will likely be a good thread, but the timing is kind of weird to be talking football roadie to Boulder since it's early April.

A lot of the answers to the above depend on budget and interests, also. For example, renting a Chataqua cabin or staying at the St. Julien are both potentially awesome trips but completely different experiences.
 
Skidmark said:
Been through this upon joining Pac12. Start here.

https://www.allbuffs.com/threads/things-to-do-in-boulder-on-game-day.62770/#post-895600

Come back with specific questions that are not generic to the point of being insulting.

How many message boards and teams are you hitting up?
Click to expand...

Skidmark,
This is what I am looking for. Thanks for the link. Didn't mean to be insulting. From the response here, this is the wrong way to do this. This is only the second school I've asked. University of Arizona was a much different response, but I'm going to contact every single school. Create a blog post about each one and then I'm going to visit all of them with friends and report on the experience. Hopefully, people read the posts and don't have to bother you guys about it.
 
collegefootballfan81 said:
Skidmark,
This is what I am looking for. Thanks for the link. Didn't mean to be insulting. From the response here, this is the wrong way to do this. This is only the second school I've asked. University of Arizona was a much different response, but I'm going to contact every single school. Create a blog post about each one and then I'm going to visit all of them with friends and report on the experience. Hopefully, people read the posts and don't have to bother you guys about it.
Click to expand...
Don't take the response to seriously. We get a lot of bots posting spam and I think a few people may have thought that was what was going on here.

Buffnik made a good point, budget and interests will play into where you go and what you end up doing here. If money is of no value and you're looking for a world class experience, the St. Julien is the place for you. It's right next to the Pearl street mall where you'll find some good bars and restaurants and can experience the pep rally the night before the game. No matter where you stay, I think you'll find that there aren't many better settings to watch a football game than Folsom Field.
 
collegefootballfan81 said:
Skidmark,
This is what I am looking for. Thanks for the link. Didn't mean to be insulting. From the response here, this is the wrong way to do this. This is only the second school I've asked. University of Arizona was a much different response, but I'm going to contact every single school. Create a blog post about each one and then I'm going to visit all of them with friends and report on the experience. Hopefully, people read the posts and don't have to bother you guys about it.
Click to expand...

Every single school for a football roadie? Damn aggressive goal. That's like ten years plus of a travel adventure to complete. Congrats on winning the lottery, striking gold in your career, or just having the hutzpah to dream big.

Have you been to Boulder or taken a trip to Colorado before? It's kinda famous as a travel destination. Boulder is no stranger when it comes to various Best Of _______ lists. Food, adventure, quality of life, party school, college mascot, and on and on. Recently, the new football facilities are getting accolades for incorporating the best ideas from around the country into a smart and efficient design.

Truth is that all college towns pride themselves on being special. Some college towns just happen to be more special than others.

I recommend saving CU toward the end of your journey. Get Kansas State and Idaho and Fresno and North Texas and Central Florida under your belt first. Establish a baseline frame of reference and then come back for Boulder.

Placing Boulder second on your to do list is like taking Daisy Ridley or Cameron Diaz to your high school prom, and then following that experience up with a bunch of random dates suggested by match.com. If you're just going through the motions and asking about uber and safety issues in reference to Boulder, you're doing it wrong.
 
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Yung Buffalo said:
Don't take the response to seriously. We get a lot of bots posting spam and I think a few people may have thought that was what was going on here.
....
Click to expand...
As part of AZ Proposition X last year, I was granted the right to purchase one acre of the Grand Canyon. Which of course I did. But I'm retiring soon and moving out of state, so I was wondering if you'd like to buy it from me. No, really.
 
collegefootballfan81 said:
SAFETY

10. Are there any general safety issues we should be aware of? Any areas we should avoid for parking, walking, etc? I know every fan base has its share of bad apples, but would you classify your general fan base as hospitable/neutral/in-hospitable?
Click to expand...

Safety tip - Don't ingest psychedelic mushrooms and attempt to climb one of the Flatirons or you might end up naked and in the paper.

When it comes to general safety issues in Boulder, you are probably your own worst enemy. Know your limit and exist within it. With great party resources comes great responsibility.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Don't stay at The Broker Inn. Sounds like someone blew up a room. Prolly cooking hash or meth.
 
Flying in - Just fly into DIA and drive the 45 minutes to Boulder

Hotel - St. Julien for a higher end experience right in the middle of everything in downtown Boulder or the Millennium Harvest House for a little bit less expensive option that is closer to the stadium and usually hosts a tailgate for games.

Transportation - Uber is a good option, but most of the hotels have some sort of shuttle service that will take you wherever you want to go in Boulder for like $5.

Food - There are a lot of bars and restaurants down near Pearl Street, as well as some solid options on The Hill just West of of campus. Pasta Jay's is kind of a Boulder staple and has great Italian food (Alfredo Williams is my personal favorite). On The Hill, there is The Sink which is another Boulder staple that does some decent food (Burgers and other pub fare) and Half Fast Subs is a really good sandwich place that is known for their "Strong Island" ice teas (one of these should loosen things up a bit). There are a bunch of other places that I'm sure people will mention here, but those are just a few.

Tailgating - Most of the tailgating is done right on campus or just North of the stadium in various parking lots. I would recommend checking out the scene on campus as it's the most beautiful campus in the country. The student tailgating is typically done at houses and bars, so the tailgating crowd on campus is mostly 35 year olds.

Traditions - Others can elaborate on some other traditions, but the one that you will want to see in person is the running of Ralphie (CU's live buffalo), leading the team onto the field. She usually runs 5-6 minutes before kickoff, iirc, so get into the stadium early (she runs at the start of the 2nd half as well, so you will get to see her again). That, to me and many Buff fans, is the best tradition in college football. Some programs have live animals on the sidelines, but very few have one leading their team onto the field, let a lone a ****ing badass buffalo, that takes 5 dudes to control, running around the field. It's ****ing sweet.

Safety - Boulder is a pretty safe place and you shouldn't ever be worried for your safety.
 
collegefootballfan81 said:
Skidmark,
This is what I am looking for. Thanks for the link. Didn't mean to be insulting. From the response here, this is the wrong way to do this. This is only the second school I've asked. University of Arizona was a much different response, but I'm going to contact every single school. Create a blog post about each one and then I'm going to visit all of them with friends and report on the experience. Hopefully, people read the posts and don't have to bother you guys about it.
Click to expand...
One key tradition is we are known as the worst fans in CFB. You should bring marshmallow filled nails and urine filled balloons to throw at the elderly. As far as airports, check out Grand Junction or Montrose.
 
CUBUFF80 said:
One key tradition is we are known as the worst fans in CFB. You should bring marshmallow filled nails and urine filled balloons to throw at the elderly. As far as airports, check out Grand Junction or Montrose.
Click to expand...

Fly into Aspen or Vail. Our guest did ask for airports 3-4 hours away.
There also was a question about any resorts in the area. You can't find more impressive resorts than that. And with autumn leafs changing from mid-sept through the first week of October, it doesn't get better than that.
 
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