Whichever route you take to get here, some suggestions on the back end, in the Denver Metro area...
If you come in on I-70 WB from Kansas, just stay on I-70 straight through the city. It's simply not that difficult to get through Denver on I-70. If you time it to arrive in the area between 10am and 3pm, so much the better. Get off I-70 for CO 58 at Exit 265, or continue on a bit further west to West Colfax/Exit 262.
If you decide on the US 287 route through Texas and then cutting across NE New Mexico to Raton and I-25 up through Colorado Springs, when you get to the southern part of the Denver Metro, you want to take CO 470 west (and NOT E-470, which is the toll road). CO 470 is the western beltway around Denver and will take you to Golden. Some resources and old timers refer to it as C-470, but signage is CO 470. Anyway, take that all the way around to where it meets up with I-70, but just stay straight/forward to US 6 and take that in to Golden. Depending on where you're going in Golden, US 6 will be the main drag through town.