It's About the (RV) Journey....: A Day in Denver..........................

The light rail into Denver is about 2 miles from our campground here in Golden. We headed out on a Saturday, to avoid the city rush hour during the work week, and had a pleasant ride into the city. We passed the Sports Authority Stadium and the Pepsi Center, which are on the light rail lines. From the train, we also had a nice view of the Denver skyline.

Sports Authority Stadium

riding the train

Denver skyline

PepsiCo Center

After about 40 minutes, we arrived at Union Station in Denver, and headed down the 16th Street Mall. Though the mall is closed to car traffic, there are free buses that will stop at every corner all the way down this coblestone street. It was early still, and not unbearably hot, so we walked. The city was quiet before 10 am, but later in the day was quite busy with tourists.

we have arrived

nice station!

heading down 16th Street Mall

lots of art and flowers to enjoy

the streets are empty now....but not later!

The Mall area was like an urban park. There were chess tables, art work, lovely gardens and planters and....pianos.... strategically located at various areas on the mall for anyone to play. Let's just say there are a lot of very talented pianists in Denver. Nice!

Chess anyone?

sounds like a fun tour...the money museum!

pianos everywhere...and lots of talent on the streets!

very clean city-nice

There were many restaurants with outdoor seating nestled in among the shops and businesses along the mall. Of course, early in the morning, not much was happening. Later was a different story!

the Art Museum is about a mile and a half from Union Station

another light rail line into Denver

A couple of blocks from the 16th Street Mall, we spotted the Colorado Convention Center and took a detour to check it out. We wanted to see the Blue Bear!

Colorado Convention Center

the infamous Blue Bear looking in

fun!

that bear is huge

The light rail and bus system kept traffic at bay in the area, and we were pleasantly surprised at how mellow the city seemed. We thoroughly enjoyed exploring the city.

mass transit really helps here!

more art...oh...and the Paramount Cafe is where we had lunch later in the day

skyscrapers-must be way more crowded here during the week!

At the end of the mall, we headed over to the Denver Art Museum. It is located near the Capitol Building and the Denver County Court. The mint is right behind those buildings. The Civic Center Park is right there too, and seems to be the spot where homeless folks can get something to eat. We saw a group getting bananas and bagels.

Civic Center Park

lovely fountains

onward to the art museum

past lovely gardens

past the Court House

past the Capitol

Just past the park area is the Denver Library and the Denver Art Museum. The art museum is in two buildings, connected by an indoor walkway. What a fun museum! We kept our visit to under two hours and really enjoyed the exhibits. One of the exhibits recommended by the staff was the "Women of Abstract Expressionism". The informational movie on the artists and expressionism was very enlightening for us, and we were glad to be informed before viewing the artwork.

the library (left) and the art museum

a visit to Denver Art Museum

took me a minute to "see" this!

here's the entrance

Native American dance

cool

looking down from the 4th floor-a cool building inside

okay...abstract expressionism

nice

like the colors!

the artists

We meandered through different exhibits in the museum. One area displaying "Bark Art" was really interesting to us. It reminded us of a wall hanging Tom's mother had in her home for years, though hers was made of textiles, not bark.

cool building....artwork in the atrium

tree bark art!

we loved these

again...cool building

Another big exhibit was Dance in American Art. All styles of artwork were exhibited here, as long as it related to dance in America. There were also hands-on interactive rooms in this section, where dance movement could be recorded and translated into color.

dance

The museum was housed in two buildings. We headed out to the other building and took in just a few exhibits before heading back out into the streets of Denver. The Art Museum was a treat!

heading across to the next building

this was interesting to me

a collection of blankets from the area -and a historic description of each on a hangtag

contemporary art-chairs

i like this one :)

After our morning in the Art Museum, we headed back towards the 16th Street Mall, and ambled our way to find a good place for lunner (lunch/dinner). We were starving, and ready for a good meal. We stopped at the Paramount Cafe, and were lucky to get a nice table in the shade. Very refreshing!

Tom can play!

she was really good!

Doner Kebab....popular in Germany too

a great lunch! in a cool spot!

fun people-watching too :)

Full but refreshed, we headed back towards Union Station, stopping at a few places along the way. The city was so clean, and easy to navigate. Truth be told, we didn't venture too far off 16th Street....with the exception of the Art Museum area.

heading back to Union Station

much more fun walking than taking the bus

coming with me Susie?

its getting pretty hot in the sun

oh....should we just stop in and look?

Union Station is a fun place, filled with shops and eateries. The main area is now used for "hanging out" and meeting up with friends, instead of benches waiting for the train. Definitely a happening place. We spotted Ice Cream, and thought it would be a perfect way to end our fun excursion into Denver. And it was!