We picked a good plane connection, arriving early afternoon in Denver, picked up our rental, and left - direction Durango. Britt had suggested a scenic route, which we followed. Within an hour we were up in the mountains (nevermind, Denver is already pretty high) and drove onto the highway called �On Top of the Rockies�. Indeed, we were on top of the rockies; most of the time, elevations were around 9000' (2700m), and at times well over the 3000m mark (10 000'), with a backdrop of 14 000' high peaks.