So, I suppose you're wondering why I'm even talking about Denver, right? Well, I was there for the Irish Dance Western Regional Championships (Oireachtas), and I had brilliant fun . . . but more on that later. This post is about the city.
I went to Denver without any real expectations as to what the city would be like. My previous experience with Denver was 4 hours spent at a layover in the airport on a flight to Costa Rica with some kids from my school last April. It was so much cooler than I had thought! For such a big city, it has a wonderful fronteir town feel. Basically, it just feels small and home-y. It's not a place I would live . . . at least, the part where we stayed isn't. But it's an absolutely beautiful place to spend a few days.
It was pretty cold while we were there -- I don't think it ever got above 55 or so. I loved it! I'm such a cold weather nerd (when I was in Ireland, I teased my family for being such "tourists" because they were always wearing huge jackets), and the fact that there was snow on the ground was brilliant! I'd never actually seen snow in a city before, except for Mammoth (and that doesn't really count, 'cause we go up there to ski anyway in the winter). I was also glad that it wasn't actually snowing, because that would have made lugging dance gear around/enjoying the city so much harder!
We stayed in a 30+ story hotel that was right across the street from the Convention Center, where we were dancing. Just a block up was 16th street, which was full of shops. In fact, cars aren't even allowed there, there's so many people -- you have to take this really cool shuttle up and down the street. I must've rode that shuttle about 10 times, to different cafes, stores, etc. My dad and I found this amazing independent bookstore, called the Tattered Cover, during our explorations. It's this amazing 3 story brick building that, when you walk into it, just feels like home. There's a little coffee place inside that makes amazing pumpkin "steamers" (what coffee-free lattes are called) and nutella croissants (YUM!). They have books on every single subject, and magazines, and . . . pretty much everything! I got Madeleine Albright's Memo to the President, a Stargate magazine, and a copy of the latest Macworld. Yeah, that describes me in a nutshell.
We also went to Union Station to take pictures. As you might've realized from my last post on my photography trip with Ashley, I have a fascination with trains, train stations, etc. They're so beautiful and haunting, and even more striking when they're practically empty, as they were when I went. Except . . . guess what!? There was another guy there taking pictures too! He had a nicer camera than me, but when we saw each other, we smiled and, I think, recognized each other as fellow artists. Such a cool encounter. . . . Denver is a brilliant city to photograph. Not just in the more urban parts, but when we went down by the Platt river, there was no shortage of photos there either.
We ate at this awesome little Irish pub by the river called McLoughlin's that had these amazing little flatbread pizzas, among other things. Which brings me to another topic about Denver . . . the food! There's all sorts of cool little places to eat on 16th street (which was mostly where we were). There was a Cheesecake Factory, a chocolate factory, the pub, multiple Corner Bakery Cafes, about 30 different Starbucks, and so many more places! If you're ever in Denver, check out 16th street for the food.
We also visited the state capitol, which gets major points for having beautiful poetry all around the walls. The legislature wasn't in session, unfortunately, but we did get to see all the empty rooms. I would have loved to watch the House or the Senate meet . . .
So yeah. That's Denver. I feel like I have a really hard time describing it in words, so maybe some of my pictures will do the trick.
No comments:
Post a Comment