Tag: denver

  • Denver wrap up and stray observations

    Now that I’ve left Denver I thought I’d reflect on some of what I noticed there, both big and small. Let me get the two big ones out of the way first: From the top of the capitol building I spotted a striking neo-Gothic church. I asked the tour guide about it and he said…

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  • Guided tours of Denver

    Downtown Denver’s Best Walking Tour This two hour downtown tour covers a lot of ground, both historically and physically. It was the first tour I took in Denver and proved to be a good jumping off point for my stay there. The tours are led by Austin, a local guide with significant experience who was…

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  • Getting around Denver via RTD public transit

    Denver’s public transit system is called RTD (or “Regional Transportation District”… how creative) and it makes getting around the city a snap. It integrates seamlessly into Google Maps, so much so that I found Google’s arrival estimates more accurate than RTD’s own displays. RTD has three types of vehicles: buses, light rail, and commuter rail.…

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  • Street art in Denver’s RiNo neighborhood

    There’s street art all over Denver, from the murals hidden under bridges to the sculptures in the alleys along the 16th Street Mall. But there’s only one neighborhood that’s famous for its street art: River North, also known as RiNo. Walking to RiNo from downtown is a pretty reasonable 20 minutes or so. The main…

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  • International Church of Cannabis

    As a Pink Floyd song ended, the psychedelic animation on the interior walls and ceilings faded into a rotating star field, and the audio of Steve Jobs’ “Here’s to the crazy ones” played. Then a song by The Doors came on along with more trippy visuals. It was easy to forget I was sitting on…

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  • Millennium Bridge and Confluence Park

    A short walk from Denver’s Union Station is an unusual pedestrian suspension bridge: Millennium Bridge. From certain angles it looks like the mast of a sailboat. Millennium Bridge is tiny by suspension bridge standards, it only exists so people can walk across the train lines below. The unusual tilt in the tower is part of…

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  • Colorado State Capitol building and the mile high marker

    Denver is the state capitol of Colorado and their capitol building is free and open to visitors during normal operating hours. It’s a beautiful late 19th century building with a gold-leaf dome. Best of all you can get there for free on either the MallRide or MetroRide buses by hopping off at the Civic Center…

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  • Denver Botanic Gardens and Cheesman Park

    Arriving early this morning in Denver I stopped at a cafe to figure out what I wanted to do before my Airbnb was ready for check-in. Not everything I had down on my to do list was open yet, but I noticed the Denver Botanic Gardens was about to open for the day. While taking…

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