Mile-High

Listen to this while reading: Kneebody - Dr. Beauchef, Penguin Dentist

So the conductor prompted us to look out the left side of the Zephyr amtrak train we were on in order to see the exact moment when we crossed from the wide, expansive state of Utah in the lovely state of Colorado. There was no brand spanking new sign or anything, it was painted in white on the side of a hulking big rock face.  Can't beat that really.

We arrived into Denver at dinner time on a Friday night and went straight down to the 16th street mall for some sushi.  To this day, it is the best sushi I have ever had.  If anyone goes to Denver (or Omaha, they have a branch there too) hit up Blue Sushi Sake Grill.  Denver is, surprisingly, relatively expensive to stay in for a tourist.  We were staying at a Quality Inn on the outskirts of town, which was a huge difference in price than the swanky hotels in the city centre.
My number one tip for anyone going to Denver, is to hit up the Art Museum down by Civic Center Park.  It does cost to go inside (only $13 each) but there are plenty of exhibitions to look at and they have many hands on areas also.  I made many thing at the art museum, which you can see on this blog.

A fair walk from the Art Museum, through Cheesman Park, are the Botanical Gardens.  Again, they cost money to enter, but are pretty nice.  I'm not really one for scenery and whatnot, but these have different themed areas and a nice lemonade stand which I very much enjoyed.  There was also a really great cafe not far, ReCyclery.  All the furniture is made from recycled bikes and there is a repair and service shop right next door. Really good coffee too.

While I was living in San Francisco at the end of last year, the Giants baseball team won the World Series - and so when I found out they were playing the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field (Yeah, it's named after beer brewed just outside of Denver) we absolutely had to go.  The Giants lost (but they are doing that a lot at the moment), however it was still amazing to see so many people make it out to a game on a Sunday and really get into it.

Denver is known as the mile-high city, and no, not for the awesome reasons you think.  This point on the Capitol building steps marks exactly 1 mile above sea level (5,280 feet or 1,609 metres).  Denver was a fantastic place to visit, and May was a great time to go - it rained a little one day, but was nice and warm anyway. The train station is right in town, so is unbelievably convenient for backpackers as well.  There's plenty to do during the day and even more into the night in this city.