Rocky Mountain High

I hinted at it in my earlier concert post, but yesterday it was confirmed Dave Matthews Band will be playing three nights at Red Rocks in Colorado this September. Though these will be the hardest tickets to get ever, you better believe I'm at least going to try.

So, thinking about Red Rocks coupled with leaving for a vacation for Colorado this evening, I've been thinking about the old stomping grounds quite a bit lately. So I thought I'd put up some pictures of the happy place where I grew up and lived before I knew any of you.

You have probably heard of Red Rocks Amphitehatre. You've probably seen pictures of it. But what you don't know is how hard it is to get into that place. Diana got lucky. When she visited, my parents drove straight to the top of the place. Can't do that for concerts. The parking lots are below the venue, so you have to walk up the mountain. And then you get to this ramp, which is steep enough that it can just about kill you. Oh, and it's a good 6,000 feet of elevation there. I almost killed my roommate Vern who was from Louisiana walking him up this thing. And even then you're only at the bottom of the place.



The coolest place in Denver (certainly as a kid) used to be Elitch Gardens which started back int the early days as an actual gardens and slowly became an amusement park. It was the most lush amusement park you've ever seen, though. At least for a desert place like Denver. Then it got too big and they moved it next to downtown to a much bigger place, but it was basically a parking lot with rides and there was no shade anywhere. It took a few years, but that park grew up pretty nice, too. And then Six Flags bought it. Still, to this day they have the Twister II (a replica of the original Mr. Twister from the first Elitch's), which is my favorite wooden rooler coaster anywhere. Can't beat the view, either, downtown to the east and the mountains to the west.



One of the things I have always loved about denver is that it's really a city with a thriving downtown, like New York or Chicago or San Francisco. A lot of places (cougPhoenixcough) in the West don't have that. But Denver's downtown is awesome. Notice the trademark building on the left there. That's called the cash register building by most people (I think it was originally built as a bank headquarters) but wehn I was little I always called it the mailbox building.



This is not my personal favorite of all the golf courses in the Denver area, but its pretty much the coolest one to look at. It's called Arrowhead and in in the southern foothills.



This is the main terminal at Denver International Airport. The tent you see is not the actual roof, but it's there for dramatic effect. Diana think this is the funniest looking building in the world. Back when the airport was new, some PR schmuk said the tented roof was meant to suggest the snowcapped Rockies, which is a line of PR bull I doubt even he believed when he said it. Still, that's the only reason I've ever heard to explain it.



Last one. Downtown is a long street blocked off called 16th Street Mall. It's basically just a long series of buildings and shops and theatres and good stuff. It's mainly pedestrian but there is a free shuttle thats runs the full length of it and sometimes you'll see horse-drawn cabs, as well. Every city needs a downtown distination like this.






I'm feeling sort of guilty and thinking I should go back to work, so that's all for now. Maybe more when we get back.