Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.

June 6th through the 9th I visited a good ol' friend John who recently relocated from Seattle to Denver (technically Arvada a suburb of Denver). I decided to take off right when school ended for a little rest & relaxation and explore Denver!

Upon arriving after my early flight on Frontier (I was not impressed with their customer service but loved the leg room ;-)) I arrived at the Denver Airport. What's amazing is that you land in a dry flat field but there are mountains on the horizon only 30 minutes or so from the airport. Walking to baggage claim, there was a little Museum of Denver over the sky bridge. I was drawn in by one of the displays that asked, "Why Denver?"
I thought this question was a good question because why is this rather large, attempting to be metropolitan city which actually has a NBA team (unlike Seattle) doing in the middle of the middle of the Western half of the US. After all Colorado is a square. So how did they choose where to place their largest city and capital? Do people place the large cities and create metropolitan areas or does the city just grow miraculously and mysteriously over time?

The suburbs of Denver are beautiful! The airport may be a flat prairie field, however, as you approach Denver you see the mountains which are called Flatirons. We spent my first afternoon chillin' by the pool (forgot about altitude and was a wee bit sunburnt). That afternoon we explored Boulder. On our way to Boulder we passed Broomtown which I was rather impressed with. It used to be a field but has grown in the past 5 years into a suburb where technology companies have settled. The Silicon Valley of Denver if you please! Now Boulder, I was told by a fellow Houstonian is where people value their several thousand dollar bicycles over their cars. I was expecting Bellingham but instead found a cute, small and darling little town on the frontier of Colorado. I love Pearl Street! The vibe was very pleasant. For having such a liberal hippy town, the woman were dressed quite well and the boutiques full of beautiful summer dresses. Of course, the largest University of Colorado is located in Boulder so it sends off the college vibe. The book store was phenominal and the coffee was great! Did you know that Celestial Tea is from Boulder?

On Monday afternoon, I explored Downtown Denver as well. The folks working during the week dress a lot more casual than in Houston. I liked the downtown area. It was very clean and they have converted many old historic buildings or kept several of them alive. Men playing chess on 16th Street Mall (no not a mall but the name of their main street)

The Court House across from the Capital Building

Exploring Arvada was fun as well! Arvada is about 15 minutes North West of Downtown Denver on your way to Boulder. John works for the City of Arvada so I got the inside scoop of all of the up and coming projects. There is an old town Arvada ... and a new town Arvada where they have built quite a nice and modern combination of town homes, condos and apartments. There is a train track which seperates the old and new town that John explained will eventually serve commuters who wish to find alternative means to travel downtown for work. I found that Colorado was very progressive when it comes to their energy reforms which could possibly explain why Obama has visited Denver a few times! As you are driving away from the airport on your left there is a solar farm.

All in all I enjoyed Denver! How fun it must be to work and drive under an hour in the winter time to go play: ski, board, snowshoe. Texans have called Colorado their playground. I think the city is nice but a little too small and slower paced for my taste. It is definitely more affordable than Seattle and there is a lot more to do outdoors than in Houston!

The last place I would like to mention is the Tajik Tea House located in Boulder called Dushanbe. According to our server, all of the pieces were imported from Tajikistan and assembled by Tajiks from Boulder's sister city. In exchange, the city of Boulder gave them a wireless cafe. It is exquisite and unlike any teahouse I have visited anywhere in the U.S. Their teas are potent and deserts rich. So check it out next time you are headed to the mountains for some winter or summer outdoor fun!