Urban Life in Denver

Snow in the plaza

I do.  While others are cursing, swearing, complaining, whining, venting, ranting and raving about the misery of this snow… I’m celebrating.

Of course I don’t have to drive.   Living downtown does have its perks.  But for those of you who do live downtown, and this blog definitely does focus on life downtown, you know what I am talking about.

Last night I rallied up a few friends to pick a local restaurant within [Read more →]

AaaaaAAAARrrrrgggggGGGGGHhhhhhhh!!!  BRAINS!!

That was the chant during Saturday Night’s 4th annual Denver Zombie Crawl.  I was right in the middle of it.

There were a couple, maybe a few, thousand zombies in all stages of decomposition.  There were the political messages zombies (health care is dead), and the humorous zombies.  But the most common was the pure gore it up shock value horror zombies.  They came in blue, green or grey and blood red all over.  There were Zombie dancing such as Thriller or an orchestrated Zombierana (Macarena, get it).

Now I’m someone who has already seen Zombieland, watched Night of the Living Dead as a kid, and read World War Z.  Yep, you guessed it… Nerd.

The event itself had “victims”.  Victims were people who marked themselves with a big X across their chest.  Once spotted the Zombie hordes would set out to feast on their brains.  This meant circling them and most likely spraying them with fake blood.  Lots of fake blood.  Innocent  bystanders were safe of course.  As were the diners in the various restaurants along the 16th street mall who gazed from their glass of Pinot Noir and dinner salad at the horde of zombies leering into the restaurant windows.  Note to the window washers out there, I feel SO BAD FOR YOU.  All those makeup and fake blood costumed hands and faces looked like they had been smeared across some of those windows.  Some windows were just plain gross.

I stuck around for the crawl and to take in all the creative costumes.  I did not take my camera and decided to simply participate in the event but you can check out the collection of photos on flickr at http://www.flickr.com/groups/zombiecrawl/pool/.  As with all large groups of people there is always someone who ruins the fun and when signs of malevolent Zombies started I decided to go change venues and take my zombie self to get an ale.  Walking home, surrounded by many other zombies I heard one couple comment “Geez, everyone’s wearing the same costume this year… they are all zombies”.  Maybe they will read the news the next day.

So the Zombie Crawl was a perfect excuse to dress up in costume and be creative.  It’s make believe.  That’s fun.  It didn’t involve anything other than letting yourself have fun and I highly recommend you add it to your calendar for next year… if there is any of that little kid inside of yoiu.

The battle of the ski resorts to see who opens first has been won by Loveland Ski Area with their opening today, October 7th.

I’ve been caught by surprise.  I was expecting an early opening, but not this early.  My skis are still up in the mountains awaiting their first coat of wax.  Most of my gear is as well, meaning any effort to take advantage of opening day would mean a drive up to the Vail Valley and then back down again (ouch).  It looks like I’ll have to pass.

But that’s okay by me.  I have never been the biggest fan of the white ribbon of death days at any mountain.  One run open, bare spots, and the entire overly enthusiastic mob fighting for a small square footage of skiable terrain.  Nope.  That’s when I am most likely to have something stupid occur either by my own cause or a fellow snow rider.  I’ll wait patiently (or impatiently) for a bit more space, a bit more snow, and an easier commute.  But for those of you who do brave opening day of the first resort please swing back and let us all know how the snow is and enjoy what, even with the limited snow and space, is always a fun day.

It’s official folks, the 2009 / 2010 ski season is upon us.

I love running in the fall.  The leaves are changing and color the scenery around you while the cool crisp air carries the scent of autumn in on every breath.

So lately I’ve been checking out the various running groups around town.  I’m a fan of the Nike night run’s and plan to start those back up this week and got a chance to join in on a meetup run this weekend.  Great groups, great people.  But I’ve been hoping to find something a bit closer to home and so many of these running groups take off from Wash Park or City Park.  I don’t blame them, those are beautiful places to run.  However right here in the CPV we have some of most gorgeous scenery in Denver for a run.  My personal favorite is to go running from REI down along the Platte River beside Elitch’s and the Bronco’s stadium.

If you haven’t run by the river while the sun is either rising or setting and illuminating the wooden roller coaster rails you really have missed one of the most beautiful sights of Downtown.  The trail going out that direction has the benefit of being above grade surrounded by trees and wild grasses.  The Cherry Creek Trail, as beautiful as it may be, does have a slight disadvantage of being below grade without as much open scenery.  I won’t twist your arm to try my favorite running path but if you are looking for a beautiful spot give it a try.

My point was that since most running groups don’t take off from my backyard I decided to start one up with the first run coming up on Monday October 12th.  Following the sound wisdom of other group leaders the run can be followed by some fun.  My watering hole of choice will be Lola’s to take advantage of their $2 taco night (aren’t we all on a budget) and drink specials.  If you are interested in running or biking sign up for the meetup here…

Denver Urban Run and Bike Group

And by the way…. I am NO expert in the best bike paths so if someone wants to take the lead on scheduling a bike ride or two please email me.  I’ll add some, but someone with more knowledge than me would sure be helpful.  And you KNOW there will be Cruiser rides.  In fact my new cruiser should be coming in this week.  More on that later.

Go BRONCOS!!  Waaaahoooooooo!!!!   I’m happy and impressed, what about you.

It’s that time of year again.  Time to get scared.  I am a scary movie fan and this time of year means the thrills come in the form of Haunted Houses.  The question is.. who has the best haunted house.  I don’t have the background on this one to give an opinion so I’ll ask all of you to let me know who has the best haunted house.

Share stories too… we want to know why you like or don’t like the haunted house you went to.

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Well, at least for one year.

I know it has been awhile since I have done a post but this merits it. Amtrak has agreed to pick up the Winter Park Ski Train route to allow our great city to continue the tradition of the Ski Train. This follows up from the previous post about Iowa Pacific Holdings LLC requesting to take over the Ski Train route. While they didn’t get their complete plan together to take this over long term they did get an approval to have Amtrak operate the route on their behalf. For me this is a vote of confidence that it will continue over time, but knock on your old wooden skis for good luck just in case.

How much would you bet that this is now the busiest year for the Ski Train. So many folks through this blog or in conversation shared regret that they had never taken the Ski Train or that they had not done it for a looooooong time. With the “take away” effect I’ll bet my ski wax that they will be lining up to buy at least one trip this year.

So Cheers to everyone out there and I will see you on the train!

Denver Post Article

Special update – I called Iowa Holdings to get some more details and they are planning to start operating the Ski Train effective the day after Christmas and continue through March 28th on Weekends only. It will most likely operate under the name Rio Grande Scenic Ski Train but all of these details are pending. They are keeping me posted and I’ll keep you posted as well… and they didn’t have any idea what the final ticket cost would look like.
But I sure told them I was rooting for them!!

I’m going back to basics and doing a little road trip with the pup.  Sometimes it is nice just to clear your head, maybe focus on a little writing, painting, drawing and reading.  Throw in the sound of the ocean, some good food and wine, and of course friends and loved ones and you have a magical little adventure.

Time to dust off the GPS.. Here we go..

Well that remains to be seen, but while dining at Ted’s Montana Grill for lunch today and perusing the Denver Post I found this hopeful tidbit mentioning that there might be someone coming to save the Winter Park Ski Train from ending on what would be the 70th anniversary for both the resort and the train experience.

Of course, hurdles remain to see if the train can be revived and mention was made that the previous ski train operator finally threw in the towel facing some threatening new fees and uncertain planning for their hub.  Let’s hope more reasonable minds prevail and something is done to encourage and support this new venture, what a shame it would be to truly lose such a wonderful downtown amenity linking our urban heart to the Colorado mountain retreat in our backyard.

The rescuer would be Iowa Pacific Holdings, LLC.  Let’s keep our fingers crossed that they or someone else prevails to bring the Ski Train back to life before even one ski season can be missed.

Here is my previous post on the Ski Train from the sad day it’s ending was announced.

Sometimes I get jealous of my friends who live in Seattle, or Portland, or New York City.  Why… because they have a tradition of heading down to the local farmers market every weekend and picking up fresh heirloom tomatoes, onions, greens…  mmmmmm so good.  I consider a plate of farm fresh tomatoes with some salt and pepper to be all I need for a happy meal.  And let’s not forget fresh bread… oh in this area I really am jealous of the New Yorkers with their local bakeries every few blocks.

So it is with excitement I announce that a new farmers market is popping up in LoHi and here are the details…  and don’t snag all the tomatoes before I get there please.

Highland United Neighbors, Inc. (HUNI)
Farmers Market

June – October
Saturdays 9am – 1pm
Boulder Street (in front of Lola)

Just west of downtown this Farmers Market will be the only market in Northwest Denver and is easily accessible from downtown, Sloans Lake, Sunny Side and the Highlands. A neighborhood that is committed to supporting local businesses and leading sustainable lifestyles the neighbors have been eagerly awaiting a Market. The Farmers Market will be on the 1500 block of Boulder street in front of well-known local restaurants Vita, Lola and Shangri-La, the merchants and the restaurants bring a great Saturday morning crowd and with the addition of the HUNI Farmers Market this will be the place to be on Saturday mornings.

It seems like getting a taxi license may be the most difficult thing to do in Denver, but Union Taxi has done it. For the first time in 15 years Denver has a new taxi company founded by a group of existing taxi drivers who say that the existing license holders charged daily fees that put them at below minimum wage.

So they decided to branch out on their own. I have to admit I root for the underdog and I don’t know all the details of this story but I wish them well. So I thought I would share their phone number for you all to give them a try and I’ll update my best taxi company poll to include them. Share your feedback if you give them a try.

And here is the Denver Post most recent story…

The yellow and purple taxi cabs pull into the parking lot every day now, mere shells of their former selves, their meters gone and roof lights snatched off, the final indignity being the large, black block letters reading “Not In Service” spray painted on all four sides.

From each of them, a driver emerges, a wide smile on his face. They always, always smile.

This morning, most of the cabs will have returned to the streets of Denver, the block letters covered by a fresh coat of bright tangerine-orange paint, a new roof light and meter installed, the man behind the wheel smiling widely.

Today is the culmination of a four-year, bitter and often-tearful struggle by nearly 300 Denver cabbies to form their own company.

Most are immigrants from East and northern Africa, many of whom have driven for the city’s big three cab companies for a decade or more. They joined together out of frustration over the long shifts they worked to make ends barely meet, who believed together they could do so much better.

... read full Denver Post Article

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