Posted on 02/02/2013 6:23:07 AM PST by w4women
My daughter is transferring from DC to Denver and she is taking me to Denver next week to look for a place for her to live. We plan to make it a mini-vacation so any help with restaurants, landmarks, must-sees is greatly appreciated! We will have a car. Thanks in advance.
Thornton is a reasonable area to live...northside.
Not much to see in February.
Colorado Springs is a great day trip. Then head up the mountain to the old mining town. Cripple Creek is fun too.
USAF Academy
Yep....ditto on the AF Academy (my alma mater). It’s beautiful, and it happens to be the #1 tourist attraction in the entire state, believe it or not. It’ll be roughly an hour’s drive south and well worth it.
While you’re around that area, visit Garden of the Gods. Also very beautiful.
The Fort restaurant is expensive but affords the opportunity to try buffalo, elk and other game meats. It is set on the edge of the mountains and has great views. Opus restaurant is flat out amazing and is located in the heart of old Littleton. Do the recommended wine pairings with each course. The chef is unbelievable. Your screen name indicates you are a woman. My wife recommends the 16th street mall or the Pearl street mall in nearby Boulder (the Peoples Republic) for quirkier shopping. A worthwhile tour is Celestial Seasonings Tea also near Boulder. It’s free and worth checking out.
The downtown area is fairly condensed, so if you got a self guided walking brochure, you could spend a few hours there. It’s very clean and attractive.
Red Rocks Park, between Denver and Colorado Springs
The 16th Street Mall is fun, plus lots of art museums downtown.
There is Nature/Science Museum by the zoo, which I really love.
A really good breakfast place is Snooze. The whole area has some good restaurants. My favorite Italian is a place called Luigi’s, next door to a wine tasting room called Water to Wine (Centennial).
I would say look towards SouthGlenn area in Centennial or Highlands Ranch (lots of services and families)
Have fun and it will be cold.
Stay off the toll roads. From what others have said, if you drive a rental car without a transponder, your $1.50 toll will end up as $15.00 on your credit card, due to a “camera fee” from the toll road, and a “convenience fee” from the car rental company (the toll road doesn’t accept cash).
I’ve been through Denver a lot, but I won’t participate in that scam, either on personal travel or business.
However, Boulder has some good eateries, including the Rio Grande Mexican restaurant, the Dushanbe Tea House, which serves Tadzhikistani cuisine, and one simply known as The Kitchen. Boulder also has a good bookstore. On the negative side, Boulder is the Berkeley of the Midwest, and FR fans wouldn't like its politics.
If you want to eat at a good steakhouse, take a road trip to Centennial, Wyoming, about an hour and a half to the north, and visit the Old Corral.
was in the Denver area last September. Went to Colorado Springs to the Air Force Academy, Pikes Peak and took a trip to Durango (about 6 hours from Colorado Springs if I remember correctly). Beautiful state!
Another vote for the Air Force Academy. Don’t miss the Chapel there.
Garden of the Gods : )
Garden of the Gods : )
Isn’t Colorado a pot friendly place? We used to ski there every Spring Break at one of the best ski places ever, Monarch Pass.
However, like DC, Colorado is a godless country.
Go to Idaho Springs (up I-70) and eat at Beau jo’s pizza. There’s one in Denver but the one in Idaho Spring’s is worth the extra effort if the roads aren’t bad. We liked Benny’s Mexican restaurant in Capital Hill on Logan. There’s always a lot of homos there though.
Red Rocks is a good place to go this time of year because it’s not way up in the mountains. If you go to the Springs as someone suggested you’ll want to go to Garden of the Gods.
As far as retail. Denver has some great places that some cities don’t have. I don’t know where you’re from but if you don’t have a Gander Mountain, Sportsman’s Warehouse, or REI, you should check those out. Go to the REI in downtown Denver and the others in Aurora.
For places to live. Suburbs except Aurora. I like Littleton and Highlands Ranch because the lightrail went down there. I think it goes down to Parker now too. The north Suburbs are cool too.
Denver has horrible traffic so the closer you live to work and Church, the better.
First Baptist in Englewood is where you want to go to church.
Don’t eat yellow snow. Never been, but friends have and the area is beautiful with idiosyncrasies depending on where you’re at. Same rules apply as when going anyplace else - do research and know where to avoid.
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