Bill takes us to a familiar Front Range vacation spot ? Estes Park, but he takes the one-tank trip on the road less traveled.

On Highway 36, north of Boulder, you'll find plenty of bicyclists. They're watching out for you so give them the same courtesy.

In Lyons, you have two choices on the road to Estes Park -- Highway 36 is the fast one. Highway 7 is the cool one. Highway 7 goes up the St. Vrain canyon. If you're paying $2, or $2.25 for gas, this is the road you want to take. Get your money's worth -- more scenery per gallon of gas and plenty of good road. And before long, we're closing in on Estes Park.

It's fairly quiet right now but on weekends in the summer, the town will be jammed. People drawn by a blend of tourist trap, time capsule and trendiness. Estes Park is a great place for real life to mingle with wildlife.

Do the real bears really come down here? Believe it or not, they do. They come down to mingle with the fake ones.

Estes is also the gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park and Trail Ridge Road, the highest continuous paved road across the Continental Divide. (The road's closed until Memorial Day.)

When you get to Estes Park, check out Chicago's Best. It's as close to Chicago style as you can get in these parts. They bake their own bread and the Italian beef is more than a meal.

Nestled in among the mountains, no building stands so tall as the Stanley Hotel. The hotel was built back in the early 1900s by the inventor of the Stanley steamer car, and legend has it that he came up here with suitcases full of cash just to keep the place running.

Estes park has a great golf course, if you don't mind the occasional distraction -- like elk. When we're headed home, we've got three choices. Highway 34 to Loveland, Highway 36 to Lyons and Longmont or back on Highway 7. Whichever road you take, this is a one-tank trip well worth remembering.

Bill's Road Notes: This week's One Tank Trip takes the road less traveled to Estes Park. Our route is US-36, the Boulder Turnpike, to Boulder. North on 36 to Lyons, then head west. In the town of Lyons you'll go left on State Road 7 through Allenspark to Estes Park. If you want to continue heading west, sometime around Memorial Day you should be able to cross the Continental Divide via Trail Ridge Road. You'd return to Denver via US 40, Grand Lake, Granby, Winter Park and berthoud Pass. If you want the "Bargain Route", you'll take US 34 to Loveland and check out the Factory Outlet stores before returning on I-25. If you come back via US 36, you'll go back to Lyons. I'd suggest going east from Lyons on State Road 66 to Longmont, then south on US 287. The rolling countryside in this part of Boulder County is well worth your time, and ultimately you'll end up in Broomfield, ready to get back into life in the fast lane, picking up the Turnpike back toward home.