Awake: 5:43am Temp 65 sleep 6+20 high thin clouds
overnight @ Denver, CO.
I call Katrina @ 8:35am….she returns my call @8:55. We planned to be
downtown Denver by 10:30 this morning for a free guided walking tour of
the city. When we picked Katrina up, she reported that it’s already too
late for the guided tour. The internet site she read stated the tour
started @10:30 but when she called the visitors’ center this morning, she
was told the tour started @ 9:30. Oh well, we wanted to avoid parking fees
& do more walking anyway.
So we park the Suzuki in a suburb about 17 blocks from downtown on Emerson
Street & start walking the nearby bike trail. It took us 55 min to get
downtown using that bike trail; no light signals to slow us down; no
dodging traffic, in fact it was very relaxing walking alongside the Cherry
Creek.
Our first stop was the visitors’ center on the downtown Mall & they
strongly encouraged us to make reference to the Denver downtown walking
brochure & see it all @ our own pace.
1st touring stop was the State Capital building where we joined Marc’s
tour in progress for the 2nd & 3rd floors. He showed us the Senate & the
House chambers & talked about their typical schedule & how much money +
per diem they get paid for their service. This Capital building is
beautiful: lots of granite & plenty of heavy brass. The security was
invisible: plain clothes men & hidden cameras we were told. We came too
late for Marc’s tour of the 1st floor but we were happy with what we saw &
learned.
Next: the Denver Public Library & the civic center. A few blocks further
up the street @ the Brown Palace Hotel, a lot of ladies were having “High
Tea.” This B. P. H. was built in 1892 with a (9) story atrium topped by a
stained glass ceiling. It was a classy sight to behold.
Our next attraction was only minutes away: the Daniels & Fisher Tower.
Finished in 1911, this 325 ft tower was the highest building west of the
Mississippi @ that time. We didn’t know who to talk to about going up to
the top floor to see the view. There was an elevator, there were buttons
to push in the elevator & we like to push buttons. Number 20 seemed to be
our choice so up & away we go. @ floor 13, the elevator stops, the door
opens & a workman asks us what are we doing here? We explain that we are
curious to see the view & the building. He explained that this building is
undergoing renovation & is owned by private businesses….but, maybe it
would be alright to let you see the remodeled 14th floor & the view from
there. Special keys are necessary to go higher than the 13th & he just
happened to have a key & used it to make our day. We thanked him
profusely. We enjoyed seeing @ least one of the remodeled office floors &
the 360 degree view we had by walking around the outside structure. It was
also easy to “get a head’s up” on the local weather moving in from the
southwest. Our tour time could be shortened by this recent awareness. This
Daniels & Fisher building has loads of historical facts that we spent time
reading when descending down to the 1st floor again.
Hoping for a little more time before the weather moves in, we walk (2)
blocks to Larimer Square, a restored section of Denver’s oldest street
where 18 eloquent Victorian buildings that were once home to Bat Masterson
& Buffalo Bill Cody are located. It was wonderful to see these beautiful
old building being active again. After walking up & down the street &
admiring these classic structures, we stop @ a coffee & café shop for a
late lunch of tuna & chicken sandwiches. While sitting outside under a
large umbrella & enjoying the moment, light drizzle begins……time to get
out of town.
With Katrina’s experience of downtown procedures, we hop the free bus on
Broadway to the civic center, & then continue walking Broadway all the way
to Speer Blvd where we make the transition to the bike trail which follows
the Cherry Creek to 1st Ave & Emerson where our Suzuki is waiting for us.
We tried ignoring the drizzling rain but a few times we stopped under a
viaduct to avoid those heavier rain drops. We drop Katrina off @ her
place……then meet later @ a small restaurant called: “Mustards Last Stand”
on University Blvd for dinner & more gabbing. This is a restaurant that
Kathy and I discovered quite by accident a couple years ago where they
have authentic Chicago style Italian beef sandwiches; unfortunately to
satisfy their Denver customer base they have switched from hard crusted
Italian rolls to soft hoagie style buns. We talk until 8:45pm. It was a
terrific day of spending more time with Katrina, seeing the downtown area
& getting some good talking & walking in.
Today’s high=80 Lights out: 11:00pm
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