163 miles E. of Denver, 385 miles W. of Topeka, Kansas

As the first major Colorado community to greet motorists traveling I-70 from the east, Burlington is a good place to overnight at the beginning or end of a Colorado vacation. It's the largest town in east-central Colorado, with a population of about 3,500, and sits at an elevation of 4,165 feet. Those passing through might want to see how the community has preserved its turn-of-the-20th-century heritage with an impressive Old Town and famous carousel. Dry-land farmers established Burlington and other "outback" communities along the Kansas City-Denver rail line in the 1880s, and while wheat is very much the dominant crop today, you'll also find corn, dry beans, and sunflowers.