There are plenty of things to do in Denver while you're still alive. It's one of the great cities that allows you to get out of the city and enjoy the wilderness. Hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding, mountain climbing, skiing and kayaking are just a few of the things you can do on the weekends easily.
There are plenty of things to entertain you within the city itself as well. Here are eleven reasons why Denver is awesome:
1. Hiking
Hiking is good for the soul. Here's a day - hike and then go see a concert at Red Rocks. Perfect day. You have a long time of exploring as there are many, many trails including the Wigwam Trail, the Tanglewood Trail, the Payne Creek Trail, the Colorado Trail, the Beaver Meadows Trail, the Beartracks Trail, the Jean Luning Trail, the Indian Peaks Wilderness, Resthouse Meadows Trail and Devils Thumb Trail.
2. The Tattered Cover Book Store
If you like to camp out at a good book store then this is a great place to do it. Tattered Cover is one of the country's largest independent book stores. The store was opened in 1971 and the current owner has been the same one since 1974 so there is a lot of personal pride in the store. The store stood up to the cops when they asked to see what a customer had bought who was suspected of making methamphetamines. Tattered Cover refused on the grounds that it went against the First Amendment. The case went to the Colorado Supreme Court and Tattered Cover won. After they won, they revealed that the questioned book was about Japanese caligraphy and not a book on drug making.
3. Lakeside Amusement Park
One of the things that makes a city cool is its self preservation. Too many times developers come in and tear down the old structure and build the new structure. More often than not, these structures are visually lame and lack the soul of the previous building. Granted, some dated amusement park rides are dangerous but its true of current rides as well. Playland Park in San Antonio is a skeleton of its old self and Opryland in Nashville is now a mall. What a great step back in time is Lakeside Amusement Park. This is truly a gem of a place.
Other old family attractions include Tiny Town, which is just that. Built in 1915, the tiny town has a tiny train ride for the kids.
4. Beer
What does making love in a canoe and drinking beer made in Golden have in common? They're both f**king close to water. There are plenty of alternatives to the Silver Bullet in this town. Rock Bottom Brewery, Falling Rock Tap House, Breckenridge Brewery, Wynkoop Brewing Company, Tivoli Brewery and Flying Dog Brewery. The Denver Microbrew Tour can take you on a $20 beer crawl covering 1.5 miles of beer trek. You get samples at each brewery and a pint at the end of the tour.
5. Red Rocks Amphitheater
This place is beautiful. Usually, watching a show outdoors during a festival isn't great since open fields are not good for sound. Not so with this place. It was picked especially for its acoustics nestled in the rocks of the surrounding mountain park. It became a venue before there was electric amplification. The first show here was in 1906 and it continues to put on good shows. A beautiful backdrop with beautiful music is good for the soul.
6. Casa Bonita
Ask anyone from this city about this restaurant and usually their eyes will light up. They'll have plenty to tell you. This is theme-park eating, not unlike The Magic Time Machines in Texas or Dante's in Atlanta. This place not only has a waterfall for your dining enjoyment but has cliff divers as well. One diver juggles fire and then dives with his torches. Before your meal arrives you can go through Black Bart's Hideout, a pirate-themed haunted house. There are also old-school videogames, a puppet show, animatronics and other live shows. And no Mexican restaurant would be complete without a mariachi band complete with accordion.
7. Mountains
If you like big mountains, then look to the west of Denver as it is at the foot of the Rocky Mountains. Mount Evans is a good place to go mountain biking. Williams Fork Mountains, Indian Peaks, Comanche Peaks aren't too far.
8. Biking
Speaking of biking, this is a great place to do it. Cherry Creek Bike Path is 15 miles along Cherry Creek. There's also the Platte River Greenway. And REI has a great bike repair shop.
9. Cowboys
Not Denver's football nemesis, but the real ones. This is the city where the cowboy snap-button shirt was created and you can get one at the source which is at Rockmount Ranch Wear. This is the city where you can get ticketed for riding your horse while drunk. Also, go pay homage to the man who capitalized on the cowboy culture, Buffalo Bill Cody. Or go to the Electric Cowboy. Or the Atomic Cowboy. When you're finished drinking like a cowboy, you can get a late-night Denver Omelette from Denny's.
10. Skiing
You can't technically ski in Denver but there is skiing close by. For those who like to cross-country ski, there is the King Lake Cross-country Ski Trail and the Grizzly Gulch Cross-country Ski Trail.
11. Rapid Screen Mobile Emissions
Mayor Bloomberg would be wise to buy one of these. Cities like New York City are trying to find ways to combat vehicle emissions and raising the price of the entry tolls is not working. These work in the same manner as those machines that tell you how fast you are driving. Donald Stedman of the University of Denver found that 5% of the vehicles in Denver were producing 55% of the pollution and the solution to finding these cars was implementing this test off the side of the highway.
