Review by Ed Quillen
Colorado – March 2002 – Colorado Central Magazine
Tours for Free: Colorado
by Jodi Jill
Published in 2001 by BentLight Media
ISBN 1-893722-01-5
Free tours are usually entertaining and educational for the public, while the company that provides the tour enjoys better public relations. And when you need to entertain guests while continuing your daily labor, what could be better than sending them off on a free tour — or enjoying one yourself when you’re visiting?
Thus a book that lists free tours in Colorado ought to be useful, whether you’re traveling, hosting, or just plain bored some afternoon. But even though I did find some interesting tours, in general I was disappointed.
For instance, I like beer. I used to brew some of my own. So I find the occasional brewery tour of some interest. But of the “more than 100 free tours for everyone in the family,” I counted 48 brewery tours, ranging from little brewpubs to the giant Coors and Anheuser-Busch plants on the Front Range. After you’ve seen a malt mill and a few mash tuns and wort kettles, just how many more do you need to see?
Similarly, there are a dozen wineries listed. To be sure, most offer free samples after the tour, but that brings up worries about highway safety.
That degree of thoroughness would be fine if other free tours were listed proportionately. But I didn’t see any dairies or bakeries on the list, yet you’d think at least some of them would offer free tours.
And though I cherish bookstores, I don’t know why anybody would need to tour one (in case you’re curious, there’s a place where boxes are unpacked, plus offices, phones, and computers ,and that’s about the size of what you usually don’t see at a bookstore).
Yet there are five Barnes & Noble outlets detailed here. Perhaps that’s a result of the book’s organization by geography: metro, northeast, southeast, etc. Author Jodi Jill seems to presume you’re in Greeley or Grand Junction, and you’re looking for a free tour. And instead of mentioning that the Grand Junction Barnes & Noble has tours, and providing particulars, she describes it in several paragraphs, just like the Barnes & Noble stores in Denver, Colorado Springs, etc.
And even this isn’t done well — a Paonia winery somehow ends up in the Northeast, by Greeley and Fort Collins. Nor are some interesting facts mentioned — i.e., Van Briggle Pottery of Colorado Springs is in the old Colorado Midland Railway roundhouse.
That said, there are some tours that sound interesting, like the American Numismatic Association Museum in Colorado Springs and the Pueblo Railway Museum, as well as staples like the U.S. Mint and State Capitol in Denver. There are also numerous “Scientific” tours listed including the National Center for Atmospheric Research and the National Earthquake Center at the School of Mines. And there are several indices, so that you can quickly find a “Great for Kids” or a “Crazy Good Fun” tour.
Each is described in a few paragraphs, and a box lists the location, schedule, and contact information. Some spots have regular hours, others are by appointment, and some require appointments for group tours.
But you won’t find much from Central Colorado — just Mountain Spirit Winery west of Salida. I enjoyed that free tour, but I’ve also enjoyed other free tours in this area, like various fish hatcheries and the Mt. Elbert Power Plant. With some more research, and some better editing and organization, this could have been a much more useful book.
As it is, it’s probably worth consulting if you think you’ll have some time on your hands on your next trip to civilization. But you’ll need to do your own research to find other free tours in Central Colorado and the San Luis Valley. — Ed Quillen
