Denver - Native Viewpoint- Overview

Denver became a city thanks to the railroad. And you can still ride the train into the city today. The train station was at one time in the heart of the city. It's still in the Lower Downtown area, which is where you'll find all the popular bars and restaurants. Many of the old warehouses left from the trainyard days have been reverted into trendy lofts and commercial real estate. Coors Field is right there, and Invesco Field at Mile High Stadium and the Pepsi Center are only a short ride away.

Quick Tips:

If traveling within downtown, there's the new Light Rail system. However, for anything outside of the Metro area you will need a car. Since most of what Colorado has to offer (mountains, rivers, ski resorts, etc.) fall into this category...rent a car.

Best Way To Get Around:

Denver's airport is not close to downtown. If you are coming by plane, make sure you've planned on how to get from Denver International to the city, or mountains, or wherever else.... I'm not kidding...DIA is in the middle of nowhere!

Are you looking for a little culture and sophistication in your dining experience? 'Oui, oui,' you say? We felt the same way and decided to try Le Central.

This well-established restaurant has been in the area for years and I had the pleasure of experiencing it on New Year's Eve. After the wonderful experience I had, I'll have to revist again. 'In with the new,' as they say!

As we sat down to in the comfortable and cozy dining area, we sipped our wines and settled in to examine the menu. It changes frequently, but it's always a set menu at $35 per person.

I enjoyed a salmon salad, followed by the duck l'orange and, for dessert (by far the most important course), a baked-apple dish topped with cream brulee. It was all excellent. My friends enjoyed their selections of oysters and steak. Obviously, I can't speak for the entire menu . . . but both the presentation and taste of what we ordered was very good.

I especially enjoyed the noise level. So many restaurants can't seem to keep the decibel level below a moderate roar; here, it was a delight to discuss world events, books, and other high-brow cultural subjects without having to shout across the table.

Bon appetit, mes amis!

The Chophouse is located in the old train station right across the street from Coors Field. This place reeks of old money and quality. The food is excellent, and the chance of running into a local sports celebrity is good. Despite its reputation for hosting the after-parties of Denver's major leagure sports team's victories (NHL's Avalanche!) this isn't a sports bar in the traditional sense. This is fine dining, "Western-Style". The Chophouse makes no apologies for the large brewing kettles, the old-fashioned newspaper clippings of sports teams or the menu that features, almost exclusively, meat. Nor should it, because while it is old-fashioned in many ways it holds onto the quaint notion of quality. The service has always been excellent. One time my date's mushroom escaped from his plate, skidded across my lap and into the walkway. Before we could recover our dignity a waiter had removed the offending mushroom and brought a side plate of new ones.

Everything I've tried on the menu has been excellent. This is definately a wonderful place for a fancy night out.

Are you looking for good food, fast and cheap? Of course you are...you're in Denver with better things to do than blow a lot of money and time on lunch!

Papa Keno's is an independantly owned pizzeria that serves hot sandwiches and salads as well as their pizzas. The single slice is what they are known for, though, so let that be known. I've never seen anywhere that serves such a large "slice". At first, I was astounded at the price - $5 dollars, I thought, for a slice of pizza! I was soon set straight when I realized that their slices were around 10 inches long and 8 inches wide! The hot, Italian sandwich is highly recommended, too.

The staff is wonderful, helpful and will put anything they have on your pizza. Just ask. They fix everything on the menu fresh, and you can even watch them do it.

Great place for a quick bite to eat before a night on the town.

I always like to head to Wynkoop mid-week, right after work, to grab a bite to eat and meet friends. It's trendy (with-out being pretentious -God forbid!), always busy, and a in a good, central location to the rest of Denver's night life.

It started out its life as an upscale pool hall in an not-so-upscale part of town. Lucky for it, Coors Field moved in right after it did and a slew of other bars and clubs sprang up around the neighborhood. Wynkoop has the bragging rights of being one of the first bars to populate the newly, trendy neighborhood. However, it's kept the old-time traditional feel to it.

The first floor houses the restaurant that specializes in burgers and fries, and the second floor houses nothing but wall-to-wall full size pool tables. Come early in the evenings on the weekends, or during the week (as I do) if you plan on playing a couple games. The tables go very fast.

As for the food, everything I've ever had has been good. However the selection is about what you would expect from a bar, i.e. burgers, soups, sandwiches and appetizers.

The Wynkoop does make their own beer, however. They have won local and national awards for their brews. What you like will obviously depend on your taste in beer, but their selection is good and runs the gammit from light brews to stouts. I particularly like the cider. But, I'm not a beer connoisseur by any means, and can best be described as a victim/product of Denver's huge micro-brewery culture.

Denver is second in the nation, below Milwaukee in the amount of micro-breweries within the city. So, if you like to have a brew and play a little pool in old-fashioned splendor the Wynkoop is fantastic.

Whenever I travel I seek out quiet, local bookstores or coffee shops to relax and let the trip sink in. Actually, I do it at home, too. The Tattered Cover is my favorite store in Denver. It's a local, independant store that has spread to two locations, but is a far cry from your local Barnes and Noble.

The dark wood panelled book shelves go from floor to ceiling and can completely swallow you in if you let them. If you somehow avoid getting lost in a good book amoung the three floors and numerous, overstuffed couches and chairs, the smell of coffee will rope you into the coffee shop. This is not a chain cafe, and the best part is that it truly feels like it's part of the book area. Local characters, such as students, ladies chatting over coffee, book lovers and the occasional author can be found here.

Which brings me to another point. The Tattered Cover attracts any author who plans a book tour through Denver. The downtown location has a seperate events room where book readings and discussions are held. I recently attended a panel discussion there, and the seperate room was great for the size of the audience and the question and answer period. The Cherry Creek location, which is the original, holds their readings in between the shelves in a small clearing. This causes a bit of squeezing amoungst the audience, but what's a little closeness between book lovers?

While going up the stairs at the Cherry Creek location, be sure to take time to study the black and white photos lining the walls. Each one is an author who has visited the store.

I was originally going to call this bit, "Perfect Place to Spend a Rainy Day in Denver". However, Denver's weather rarely permits the pleasure of a completely rainy day. Be sure to drag yourself out of the sun at least for an hour or so and see the Tattered Cover.

Mt. Evans is the only mountain, other than Pikes Peak, in Colorado that has a paved road up to the top of it. Because of its easy accessibility I am always taking out-of-town guests up to the top.

This Fourth of July started out innocently enough -- two friends from the East Coast, and I (the native guide) decided to visit Mt. Evans. It was well over 90 degrees in Denver and we were ready to head for higher ground, and cooler temps. Dressed innocently enough in shorts, t-shirts and with a couple sweatshirts tucked in the back of the car, we started out.

As we got off the interstate at Idaho Springs we first took note of the storm clouds coming in from the west. It started to get sprinkly, but we were so busy checking out the fantastic scenery that what was happening really didn''''t register. Besides, the rain felt good to us three sun-baked city dwellers. Passing Echo Lake, halfway up, cars were pouring down the mountain and picnikers were making a hasty retreat.

"Oh well" my reasoning went, "we haven''''t reached the forest service station and surely they will tell us if there is any danger". So onward and upward we progressed to the station to pay our $10 toll.

To my surprise, we got to the station, and after taking our money, they told us not to worry, "It''''s only lightening at the top, as long as you stay in the car, you''''ll be fine." Growing up in this state, I''''d always heard stories of hikers that got caught on top of Mt. Evans in storms and were hit by lightening as a result. My heart started to beat faster, but as long as we stayed in the car, I thought we''''d be okay. Besides, there was no talking my friend down now on her quest for great scenery and adventure.

My heart started to really skip beats when cars passing us on their way down were covered in a half an inch of hail (snow?!). The road to the top is not only very steep, but doesn''''t have guardrails. There''''s a good reason why it''''s shut during winter, and now I''''m envisioning us driving/sliding off the side of the mountain!

We made it to the top, amoungst a hailstorm, without incident. We were rewarded with an incredible view. Not only was it no longer raining, or hailing but the lightening had moved on as well. We sat and watched the storm move away from us an onto the next mountain. It was breathtaking.

On the way down I was looking for mountain goats, or other wildlife, when we stopped next to a few other cars parked and the occupants peering up the side of the mountain. Great, they must see some goats. Right? Nooo, once again the day was getting out of hand. It turned out that two hikers from Texas had gotten caught in the storm and called for help from a cell phone. They were dressed in t-shirts and shorts, and it was cold and would be getting dark in a few short hours. We stayed and watched as the emergency vehicles started to arrive.

No one seemed to know exactly where the hikers were. We, and a few other spectators, spent over an hour searching the mountainside with loaned binoculars. Meanwhile, a major rescue operation was being mounted, with multiple teams hiking up to different areas to search. It was amazing how quickly and efficiently they worked. They practically ran up the mountain! From where we were sitting we could hear all the up-to-date information over the CB radio.

Now, maybe we should have stayed to the bitter end, but after about two hours we got bored and left. We did hear that they knew where the hikers were -- and seeing that there were about 10 emergency vehicles with dozens of rescuers about -- we were hardly needed. (We were told, rather rudely, to move...but, saving lives does take precident over our parking space.)

All in all, it was the most exciting drive/tour of Mt. Evans I''''ve ever casually/innocently suggested!