I spent the day in Denver

[Front_Range_Guy]

Long Walk. Short photo thread. :haha: There are a few decent people pics in here.

This was the first thing I saw when I got out of the car. "Know before you go" damnit!

I had my friend, who couldn't care less about urban things, with me. We had lunch at the 16th Street Mall and then headed toward the Denver Art Museum. I wanted to show him the expansion as he hadn't seen it yet.

Much to my surprise, there was some sort of an event going on. I have NO CLUE what it was. I didn't see a single sign explaining what the hell was going on... but... here are some pictures of it.

The guy speaking was part of a group trying to start a co-op grocery store in Denver.

This community event brought to you by Rupert Murdoch.

Heading toward The Golden Triangle.

Denver's such a cow town.

A small group in front of the convention center was trying to rally people around a possible Al Gore presidential campaign. It drew some media attention.

A picture of... a guy taking a picture.

Looking out the window, waiting to use the restroom at Starbucks.

One Lincoln Park.

It may be a box. But it's a TALL box! :skyscraper:

This was the last thing I saw before I got back into the car. LOL. Now I'm in Colorado Springs again. Whee ~ :dead:

[Explorer55]

FYI - you stumbled onto the People's Fair at Civic Center Park. It was started by "hippies" or similar folks years ago. I'm not sure of all the reasons for it in the beginning, but now it's main purpose is to raise money for various groups and community activities in the Capitol Hill neighborhood.

Btw, I saw you in the Grand Rapids Forum. I thought I'd find you here. I'm a native of Grand Rapids, but live/work in Lakewood. I don't share that generally on the GR forum since I don't want to keep saying things like "Well, in Denver we do this or that...." or "Denver, even Lakewood, are so far ahead of GR....". I also have to be discreet about some things I say about transportation because of my job. I do drop hints, though, like I've shared the website for Belmar in Lakewood, trying to get the folks in GR to think beyond downtown. As important as that is, new urbanism, smart growth, etc., should be applied everywhere.

Anyway, back to your trip to West Michigan. Since you will be staying in Fruitport, you ought to have plenty of opportunities to check out the local agricultural produce. I believe there are still lots of orchards churning out apples, pears, peaches, etc. And your timing should be good in terms of the harvest. Look for an apple orchard that presses cider onsite. Nothing like it fresh. If you can't find one there, when in GR, go the Robinette Orchard off the East Beltline in the north end of the GR area. They make fresh cider. You should be able to get directions from just about anyone on how to get there. It's not that far out of the main part of town, at least I think they are still in operation.

Also, I do highly recommend going to Grand Haven (the town) and/or Hoffmaster State Park. You'll also see plenty of other water features all around Michigan. After living in Colorado for several years, I find myself gawking at the very scenery I grew up with because I'm just not used to seeing all that water. And hardly a reservoir to be found!

You'll have fun, unless it's raining for days on end, but even then, I'm sure you'll manage to find enjoyable things to do, and there's nothing like walking along the beach in the rain.

[monsoon]

Nice photos and thanks for sharing. I have always admired Denver.

[colin]

What day were you there? It looks like last Sunday because of the clouds, since it didn't cloud up until later on Saturday.

Saturday I took the light rail up to the People's Fair, walked all around Downtown, Capitol Hill and Washington Park, and then walked around the DU campus for a while.

I'm sticking around Colorado until Friday. I'll probably go back Downtown sometime before then.

People's Fair:

Walked by this south of Downtown along Cherry Creek:

University of Denver has one of the most beautiful campuses I've seen, and I love that it's right on the light rail:

Drove out to Aurora also. Not really interesting, but they had a pretty cool town center and courts building:

[Front_Range_Guy]

Yeah. I was there Sunday.

No luck with the Boulder job?

[colin]

No, I'm pretty sure they wanted someone permanent based on the feedback and a couple of questions I was asked. Kind of a waste of my time.

But SLC, Boise, Spokane and Calgary are next!