The rest of the time I spent in Denver was very busy with work and work related activities, which left me no time to really do much else. I was super sad about this because I really wanted to go to Coors Field and see a Rockies game (the Dodgers were in town) and I have a few friends out there that I wanted to see as well, that I did not get to see.
But I did get a little taste of the Mile High City and all of it's fun local art. Love and guns and horseshoes (magnets?) and mountains, I guess. Maybe some American flags and fire hydrants thrown in for good measure. This one is actually called, "Cowboy Pajamas" because it looks like he has his PJs on!
I stayed at the Embassy Suites near the Convention Center and had a decent view toward the southern end of the Rockies.
During our meetings, we got to take a field trip out to the Community Forms. This is a rainwater drainage system designed by an artist to look like a skate park.
It also sits in the area with reduced flood risk because it's protected by a levee. We all think this is really funny for obvious reasons!
All of the water is collected in the skate park (which is not a functioning skate park at all) and drains out to a stormwater drainage system.
The water is then absorbed and slowed down by the vegetation before it drains into the South Platte River (which you can't see here but is on the other side of the street, just past the elevated swimming pool on the left - and yes, that is what that is!) Not a bad use of art!
They also had some colorful cows around the city!
After our long first day, a few of us decided to go out and get some Mexican food for dinner at La Loma. Which of course, was legitimately hilarious given our field of work. Right next door was the beautiful and iconic Navarre building which was originally built as a school for girls back in 1880.
It operated as a gambling house and a brothel from 1889 to 1904 when it became a fine dining establishment until the 1960s. Then it evolved into a jazz club and in the 1980s, it became the Museum of Western Art which it has operated as such since then.
We enjoyed a great dinner (and drinks!) at La Loma before walking back to the hotel. Just outside of La Loma is the Trinity United Methodist Church which dates back to 1887. At just shy of 184 feet tall, this modern Gothic building was one of the tallest stone towers in the United States at the time it was built.
16th Street is getting a makeover right down the center of the street, but it still looked pretty at dusk.
Our second (and last full) day in Denver started with more meetings, but we were able to escape for lunch at the famous Sam's No. 3! On our way there, we passed a smoke stack disguised as a giant #2 pencil which is 15 stories tall!
We all ordered our meals at Sam's No. 3 to go so we wouldn't be late for our afternoon meetings. This great diner was founded in 1927 (originally across Curtis Street from where it sits now) and was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives on the Food Network in 2011! Their ice cream selection was MOST interesting. Green Nerds or Jack Daniels Chocolate Chip???
This place has a really cool diner vibe and a menu that goes on for miles!
Mmmm. Grilled cheese on Texas toast and tater tots. Am I a child, or WHAT?
Finally, our day of meetings ended and I walked back to my hotel (just two blocks away) to freshen up to meet everyone for a later dinner. I LOVE this Big Blue Bear who appears to be peaking in the windows at the convention center! He is 40 feet tall and weighs 10,000 pounds!
This mural at the Telephone Building is known as, "City Telephone Construction." The building was built in 1929 and was the headquarters for Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph, which later became Mountain Bell.
This Gothic Revival building was, at 237 feet (and 15 stories tall), the tallest office building in Denver. The entryway to this building felt SO European to me.
I don't think I've ever seen a city quite like Denver where you can literally find art on every corner. This is the All Together Now landmark, which is a 42 foot tall sculpture composed of children's toy blocks next to a yellow bench attached to the building next to it.
You can't come to Denver and NOT see the Daniels and Fisher tower! Built as a part of the Daniels and Fisher department store, this 375 foot tower was the tallest building west of the Mississippi when it was built in 1911! Although the department store went out of business in the late 1950s, it has housed residential and office spaces since 1981. If the taller buildings were not in the way, you could visit the 21st floor and see for 200 miles (or so they say!) Another fun fact - it was modeled after the bell tower in St. Mark's Square in Venice!
I walked down to Larimer Square where I was going to meet some other folks for dinner. They're welcoming us during Pride Month!
We also got a welcome from this little cherub in the Bull and Bear Courtyard.
This was such a lovely little quiet and peaceful square in the middle of downtown Denver. There were a lot of shade loving native and non native grasses, herbs, ferns, flowers and shrubs here.
Finally, my coworkers showed up and we were off to get something to eat. But not before stopping for a quick happy hour at Garage Sale Vintage. Yep. A vintage store with a bar inside and out.
But we couldn't find something we all agreed upon (that wasn't a billion dollars like Capital Grille or Ocean Prime) so we started walking toward Union Station to try to find a decent restaurant. We were wildly surprised by how many poke place there were here!
I'm gonna go out on a limb here and guess this was a result of the pandemic. "We need outdoor seating so let's just go ahead and build this around the meters!" Or perhaps you need to feed the meter to sit here???
We finally found a place to grab dinner at the Wynkoop Brewing Company. This was Colorado's FIRST brewpub (well... since Prohibition!) which had it's first beer poured in ... get this... 1988!
Everyone was so mad at me for this. If you're wondering, I had the Über Lager, a lovely German Helles.
After dinner, everyone parted ways. Some were tired, some had to go to the airport for midnight flights. But Trevor and I wanted to see the Confluence Park area (speaking of Green Nerds...) so we headed in that direction! Union Station was just so beautiful at night!
We passed the Union Station fountains, all lit up and dancing.
Across from the Museum of Contemporary Art (and almost under a railroad overpass) was some really beautiful and colorful art. Such an odd place for something so cool!
We finally reached our destination - Confluence Park. This area is at the confluence (!!) of the South Platte River and Cherry Creek. Shoemaker Plaza sits on the right (wait, is that in the floodway?) and a ginormous REI store is above it. The Speer Boulevard Bridge sits above the South Platte in the background.
Well, I mean we DID see that there was still melting snow up in the mountains. The river was kind of high!
Interestingly, along the north-northwest side of the South Platte River, there are a lot of plaques that tell you about the historic floods that have occurred and how "government officials did not deal with the river's miserable state." The area had been a polluted dumping ground up until the 1970s which exacerbated the flooding issues.
Thankfully, the South Platte River didn't take me on this day!
We walked back into the downtown area and past the Old Prospector, a statue dedicated to the gold mining history of Denver.
The Denver Gas and Electric building was all lit up - it felt like Christmas! Built in 1910, it has 13,000 lightbulbs on it's façade! And we were pretty sure about a quart of them were out. Who replaces these, anyway?
After another good night sleep (I got 13,000 steps the previous day!), I headed out to Union Station to catch my train to the airport. And what did I spot? Tupelo Honey! Another gem from my days of traveling for work in North Carolina. I'm kind of sad I didn't know this was here until this moment.
Auf Wiedersehen, Denver!
And goodbye mountains. I promise I'll come back!
But first, a pit stop in New York before I head home.
This summer has been incredibly smoky due to wildfires all across Canada. But it did make for a super cool, almost Hollywood-esque (read: fake) NYC skyline. Is it me, or are the NYC buildings getting taller and skinnier?
Until next time, Denver! And I'll be seeing you soon, NYC!
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