you could spend a day in Denver -

start [or end] at pint's pub "the purveyor of the largest selection of single malt whisky this side of Edinburgh, Scotland." - across from the new Liebskind art museum and next to the old Gio Ponti museum [much cooler] and next to civic center park and the Graves library...



then hop the free mall ride up to LoDo - tattered cover bookstore and the new Adjave contemporary art museum...

or, just go skiing :)

(ears perk up)

Largest selection of single malt whisky this side of Edinburgh, huh? Interesting... Very interesting.

Pints Pub is crucial. Warning: you may get vertigo if you visit Pint's BEFORE going inside Libeskind's Art Museum. As you can imagine it can be disorienting ,even sober...
but, like la_la said....and as a recent visitor, I highly recommend seeing Adjaye's Modern Museum on the opposite end of the Mall ride... ..notice the beautiful and scenic Bar on teh roof..great way to see the city, while drinking more scotch.

Just so happens that the friends I'll be hanging out with are a bunch of hard-drinking Anglophiles, and one of them is getting ordained as a priest at the Episcopal cathedral that Saturday morning... I suspect that after a few hours celebrating at Pints that evening, the only place I'll be visiting is the toilet bowl in my hotel room.

Maybe I'll do the Modern on Friday, and check out Libeskind's museum beforehand (if the weather prevents me from taking my mountain road trip)... I'm not the biggest Libeskind fan, but it's probably worth checking out.

Speaking of mountain road trips, assuming the weather cooperates, are there any particularly scenic drives or destinations within a couple hours of Denver? I've been itching to see some real mountains again since I moved away from Oregon. Any large waterfalls in the Front Range that would be worth checking out, that don't require hardcore hiking?

Lig....I could say the Airport....but heck you will be landing there. That is about as much of Denver I have seen in many a year. I usually leave there and head North on some small prairie highway,
driving along the front range of the Rockies up to Cheyenne Wyoming and then across no mans land until I reach the site of my mums house on the Western Edge of the Black Hills in Wyoming near Devils Tower. It is much more than a day trip so I would say piss on driving around alot cause Denver is like everyother city to damn many roads. You might want to go to Boulder, but something tells me your not the crunchy granola kinda guy who is into Botique shopping. Just find yourself a good western watering hole and hang with your friends.....next thing you know you be back in the Big Apple sporting Cowboy Boots and a Setson Hat.

I was just in Denver a few months ago.

Boulder is cool, and it's actually only about 30 minutes away from downtown Denver. Like snook said, if crunchy college towns aren't your thing, the New Belgium Brewery is about 30-45 minutes outside of Boulder in Fort Collins. It's a brand new sustainable brewery with awesome beer.

I third the bookstore downtown. Lots of hard to find books there.

Colorado Springs is quaint and a nice drive from Denver

If you like sushi, find a Tokyo Joe's. It's a hip fast food sushi chain that makes rather good sushi at a reasonable price.

Ride the light rail. It puts Chicago's and NYC's mass transit to shame. Apparently fares are on the honor system; just make sure you have a valid ticket when you board.

There are lots of nice restaurants downtown.

Denver has a lot of new architecture - recently built and under construction. Especially lots of urban housing on the other side of the river.

Also, go visit the mile high step at the capitol building.

PP is just down the street, walking distance from the L museum. I can't say I am the biggest L fan, but I still get chills when I see it.

There are tons of half decent townhome/loft constructions around Lodo (where the Adjaye museum is) and across the highway, but nothing amazing.

There are plenty of bars and restaurants downtown. PP is ok, but I am not a scotch drinker so up to you. Atmosphere is typical pub.


There's the ski train that'll take you straight to Winter Park, if you get here in time.

the drive to Boulder is really pretty if you don't take the major highway - 36. Take 6th West to 93 and turn right, you'll go past Golden, here you can head up to Black Hawk or continue North on 93 [so pretty] and end up in Boulder. There's a pretty drive from Boulder to Nederland, but not too much to do once you get up there...skiing/eating Avoid I-70 on the weekend at all costs if you're not skiing!

I second a visit to Adaye's MCA is def worth it, and I think some Sat's are free to get in...

Also the bar on top of the Hyatt near the convention center has great views of the city and mts, though drinks cost an arm and a leg!

regarding your drive:
you can also take hwy 285 s toward Fairplay. when you reach the top of kenosha pass there is a nice view of south park and the mountains beyond...if it is clear of course. i wouldn't recommend driving 285 if the weather is bad, but if it's clear this could be a good option.

the mountains are like 30 minutes west of town. anywhere in that direction would be pretty. you could try Red Rocky, Rocky Mountains National Park, or for a weird cultural experience, the Mother Cabrini Shrine.

i can't think of anything particularly architecturally noteworthy. the old art museum (connected to the libeskind plane-wreck) is really cool from the outside. and there's a neat michael graves public library next door (better study it now to be ready for postmodernism's big comeback next year!!!)

Interesting... Mother Cabrini's headless body is buried in a chapel just a couple blocks from my apartment. Her head is back in Rome, or so I've read.

Makes me glad to be an Episcopalian... When we make somebody a saint, we just keep their wallet.

Check out this mcm neighborhood just south of denver. it's on the national register of historical places: arapahoeacres

Interesting... I'll have to add that to my list. Thanks for the link.

Well, how was the trip?

Very enjoyable, but much too short. Aside from a drive into the mountains on Friday, I didn't get to do much sightseeing around town... Which was fine, since the main purpose of the trip was to attend my friend's ordination at the cathedral, and to catch up on some good friends who I hadn't seen since I moved away from Philadelphia in 2004.

We did manage to spend some time at Pints... Thanks for the suggestion, la_la. We also hit the Cheeky Monk and the City Grille on Colfax. (One of the central canons of the Episcopal Church is that the liver is evil and must be punished... I think my hangover has mostly subsided by now.)

A few photos here



I definitely need to spend some more time out there....