Since when I was in Arkansas about 8 years ago, I have always wanted to go to Denver. I wanted to the train during spring break to see the wildflowers along the mountain. For some reasons, I didnt do it. Well, it took me almost 8 years to finally go to Denver (labor day weekend). The airpoirt is hugh. It is the biggest in the US. My first impression of Denver was not a pleasant one. Denver is actually located on the west side of the Rocky mountain foothills. It looks more like a desert praire. Its plain (a contrast to the picture perfect scene that I always see at magazines of what Colorado is like). My first day, I walked around downtown. I was staying at the Grand Hyatt which is centrally located at downtown. I went walking around 16th St Mall (an open shopping area on 16th St). Then I went to the State Capital. The west entrance stairway is exactly 5280 feet high (1 mile) thus giving Denver its nickname Mile High City. I found the city dead. Even on Friday there werent a lot of people. Also there wree a lot of homeless people at the capital building area. Coming from DC, I am very comfortable surrounded by homeless people. But I didnt feel comfortable in Denver. So I just went back to the hotel and rest.
On the next day we drove to Colorado Springs. Colorado Springs is only like 1 hour drive south of Denver. The first attraction was the Garden of the Gods. This remarkable 1,360-acre park is so full of weird and surreal red sandstone rock formations that it looks like Mother Nature teamed with Salvador Dali in forming it. Numerous well-maintained nature trails, some of which are paved, fan through the park and offer great photo opportunities. Educational markers are numerous and enhance your understanding of the who, what, where and why of these one-of-a-kind formations. Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, located across the street from the north entrance, offers hands-on exhibits, tours, a cafe and more. Admission is free. Next we took the Pike's Peak Cog Railway up Pikes Peak. The journey up the mountain took almost 1.5 hr. The landscape changes from pine trees to aspen trees to ponderosa pines to no trees. By the time we got the peak, It was 26 F. The temperature at foothill was in the 60s. It was snowing and we couldnt see anything but fog. Also, at 14110 ft (4300m), I was suffering for high altitude sickness. I felt dizzy. lightheaded and just want to get the hell out of there fast. After eating the infamous donuts at 14110 ft, we were on the way down. At night time, we drove back to Denver for dinner. We went to BUCKHORN EXCHANGE STEAKHOUSE. This steakhouse is the oldest in Denver and is famous for its exotic meat (elk, ostrich, buffalo, yak, etc). I had my first rocky mountain oysters (bull's testicle). omg, they are sooo goodddd. I ordered the elk and yak meat combo. yummy. The restaurant looks more like a museum. On the second floor, there are local performers playing music for the locals. they were playing "u are my sunshine" It was a good moment.
The next day, we went to Rocky Mountain National Park. It is about 1.5 north of Denver. On the way there, we stopped by at Boulder for lunch at Panera Bread. Then we headed to the infamous Stanley hotel which is located juat right outside of the east entrance to the park. The Stanley Hotel is a 138-room Georgian hotel in Estes Park, Colorado. Located within sight of the Rocky Mountain National Park, the Stanley offers panoramic views of the Rockies. It was built by Freelan O. Stanley of Stanley Steamer fame and opened on July 4, 1909, catering to the rich and famous. The hotel and its surrounding lands are listed on the National Register of Historic Places
The Stanley Hotel also hosted Stephen King, inspiring him to write The Shining. (Apparently he stayed there and had a haunting experience which later inspired him to write the book). Since we couldnt go into the hotel, we just drove around it. Then we went into Rocky Mountain National Park. Rocky Mountain National Park encompasses approximately 265,770 acres (1,076 km2) of land in Colorado's northern Front Range. The park is split by the Continental Divide, which gives the eastern and western portions of the park a different character. The east side of the park tends to be drier, with heavily glaciated peaks and cirques. The west side of the park is wetter and more lush, with deep forests dominating. We we lucky as the the Trail Ridge Road (the highest paved road in the world) opened 2 days ago. We were literally driving for 30 min ab0ve 13000 ft. Above tres line, at approximately 1100 ft, trees disappear and the vast alpine tundra takes over. I have never been on tundra habitat before. that's pretty cool. Later we drove to the Apline Visitor Center which is located at the very end of the Trail Ridge Road. It the highest visitor center in the world. By the time we got there, it started to rain and hail. On the way back to Denver, the weather changes dramatically. At times it was raining, snowing, hail and the we saw rainbow. And by the time we get back to Denver its all sunny.
On the last day, we took it easy. We drove to the Red Rocks Ampitheater. Red Rocks Amphitheatre is a rock structure in Red Rocks Park near Morrison, Colorado (west of Denver), where concerts are given in the open-air amphitheatre. There is a large, tilted, disc-shaped rock behind the stage, a huge vertical rock angled outwards from stage right, several large boulders angled outwards from stage left and a seating area for up to 9,450 people in between. The amphitheatre is owned and operated by the City and County of Denver, Colorado. Famous performers include the Beatles, Bjork, Ella Fitzgerald, and etc have performed there. We went to this small restaurant rigth outside of the Ampitheaters for lunch. But the service was so slow. We had to cancel out orders and go to the airport. Overall, it was a nice trip. I didnt like Denver but I do like everything west of Denver. 15 min drive to the west and everything looks exactly like what you see in magazines - a picture perfect colorado rocky mountain scenery.
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