There's a good vibe about this town and it's hip clean streets. The proximity to the Rocky Mountains and the 200 miles worth of biking and hiking trails means everyone about town is slim and into a sport of some kind. The town consists of a main pedestrianised street and a few less busy offshoots. Around every corner are tidy wooden panelled houses and people biking somewhere.
There's a bit of an arts scene going on in town and it also attracts some big name bands. Buskers play guitar, one guy has dragged out a piano, around the leafy streets lined without the usual chain stores with the addition of quirky little cafes and restaurants. This would seem a great place to live, not far from the city of Denver, right next to the Rockies, an interesting mix of happy looking folk and decent suburbs. A good compromise between city and back-country living. But they do have some serious winters. On to the home of the cowboys.A couple of Denver facts for you. It's the Colorado state capitol, the most educated city in America and it has the thinnest populous of all American cities. This is no doubt due to the location of the city to the Rocky Mountains and the hundreds of trails around. Cycling is quite big judging by the amount of cycle shops and the numerous people partaking. There's also plenty of joggers and cycle lanes which make it quite different from the anti-people cities we've come across so far.
Initially Denver reminded me of Manchester, it has a vibrant arts and music scene, nearby mountains and a youthful appearance alongside some grand government buildings. But as it's American it does lack that certain liveliness and hustle and bustle of an English city. But there's still plenty of night-life and people mooching around just not on the same scale.
The first thing you see of Denver are the shining glass office buildings and, when you get closer, the angular shapes of the art museum.
We plan to stay a couple of days when, after unloading the car, it occurs to us something is missing. Laura's snowboarding boots. We'd not taken the snowboarding gear out of the car for a couple of weeks so only now have we realised their absence. We think back to the last time we snowboarded and it was two weeks ago in Idaho we changed into our gear at the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. It wasn't quite nowhere, however, as the Crators of the Moon National Park visitors centre was a hundred yards down the road. Our only hope is that someone passing through spotted the boots and chose not to steal them but to hand them in at the centre. What to do then we'd have to decide, it was after all 700 miles away.
Next morning we ring the visitors centre and amazingly the boots had been handed in and were waiting for us in Idaho. So what do we do? Driving that far would take a couple of days and cost us in petrol and accommodation way more than the price of the boots. We consider the options and decide on the least rational one. After Denver we've got a 1400 mile round trip ahead of us. Besides, we're not exactly in a rush and it'll give us a chance to do some snowboarding again, if the snow is still there.
Right, let's get on with Denver. No, wait. First I have my first haircut on the entire trip. 9 and a half months of hair growth is starting to look a mess. The new haircut definitely has a 'feminine' quality about it but I assure myself it will grow on me, literally.
Into town and an up close look at the jagged art museum said to resemble the Rocky Mountains, I don't know if the person who thought that was demented but it looks good either way.
The capitol building, just as in every other state, is a copy of the nation's capitol in Washington D.C. but this one has 200 ounces of gold coating it's exterior dome. Very impressive and over the top.
As usual with government buildings we get a healthy dose of drunken homeless with baked faces and scraggly beards, and that's just the women! We hadn't been asked for change for weeks as our stint in National Parks had been tramp free. Arriving in Boulder and then here changed that. The sad fact of American city life.We have a quick nosey inside the capitol building but the over elaborate nature of it soon tires. Another way to quickly dull the senses is to venture to the shopping district. Like any developed city in the world you find the same street with the same shops, only the façades are different. Denver has a couple of decent buildings here, the best one of note being a Masonic Temple. A handy, and free, shuttle bus takes the weary from one end of the long shopping street to another aswell as stopping at points inbetween. A tower copied from the design of one in St. Mark's Square in Venice is also here and is said to be that tallest tower west of the Missouri river. I'm sure Vegas would disagree but never mind.
Denver also has a couple of liveable districts akin to the apartments of Manchester, which also explains the higher ratio of foot traffic here compared to other US cities. A huge outdoor sports store is in one district that is also home to a few funky stores and great looking suspended footbridges.
The Mexican part of town is a bit shabby but OK if you want to buy a car judging by the amount of dealers along here. Lakewood on the west side of Denver is much better though. Stylish bars, restaurants, lively theatres and gig venues feed the large student population.
Denver used to be a bit of a cowboy haunt but not much of that seems to remain these days. A lot of modern trappings of major cities have taken a foothold here. But city life here still seems more day to day liveable than any other city I can think of. It's the mix of mountain air, modern and slightly older architecture, youthful student exuberance and speedy access to terrific scenery. Maybe it's the altitude, it's nicknamed the mile-high city for good reason, but I like this city and that's not something I say often in America.
Ok, so we've got a few days of driving ahead of us. Hopefully the car's starter motor will hold out but I'm starting to lose hope. We had to start the car one morning by rolling it down a slight hill first. A big forkout looks on the cards.
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