Downtown Denver

My youngest brother Tyler works in downtown Denver along the 16th Street Mall, so we had time to kill while he finished his work week. I had heard good things about a big blue bear that lives downtown, so we decided to swing by the Convention Center to take a look. Turns out, we were the ones being watched.

This 40-foot bear just towered over us. The sculpture, actually called I See What You Mean, is an eye-catcher. So much fun and so cute! I still regret that I didn't purchase a mini blue bear from the souvenir shop. Next visit, I suppose.

Denver invests in many public art installations. I think it may be tied to building regulations and/or public financing of some sort. Anyway, here are a few more.

Art is everywhere. This particular walkway was lined with sounds of Colorado, just piped straight up through the sidewalk. It took us awhile to figure out what was going on, but Adam finally got it.

Time to find the State Capitol.

I loved this fat little red squirrel! So much cuter than the giant gray beasts we have at home.

There is, apparently, some debate about which step is actually one mile above sea level, but I'm not too picky about labeling. Geologic forces and time will continue to mess with us.

The Denver State Capitol, like all state capitols, is fascinating. This one was unique in that they were able to source most of the building materials locally: granite from Gunnison, sandstone from Fort Collins, marble from Marble, and rose onyx from Beulah.

I know there is a story about why this horse is in the governor's office, but I didn't ask. The rose onyx wainscoting contained many different images throughout the building. This section, below, displays George Washington. Searching for these images is quite popular among the school kids crowd.

The hall of presidents. Someone did a very nice job on the portraits.

The House and Senate were currently on recess, but the galleries were interesting regardless.

 

Adam loves this photo. I look like such a punk. (Really, I was just tired from sight-seeing.)

Free money! Yes, please! 

If you've ever wondered what 30 million looks like, well, here you go. I wish I could grab a few bundles of that cash. Would it even be missed? Of course, then I would be paranoid that I would lose it, and the bank would ask too many questions, I'm sure. Better to stick with what I've got.

We finally found Tyler and had a quick happy hour along Larimer Square before heading out of the city.

I think this is in front of Tyler's workplace, somehow. He was not excited to have his picture taken, but Adam sure was.

Tyler's ride along light rail picks him up in front of this grand building. It's at least a 45 minute ride out of the city, but worth it. You have the beautiful sunset and mountains to the west the whole ride home.