Winter Wind on the Mesa

Here's another sculpture you can experience in downtown Golden.  Winter Wind on the Mesa, by artist Marie Barbera, was placed on the Clear Creek Trail in 2004.  It honors the Native American people who called the region home, primarily the Arapahoe, Ute and Cheyenne.  You'll find this piece on just east of the Washington Street bridge on the Clear Creek Trail.

Alamo Drafthouse Littleton

I love movies.  Look over at the sidebar, you'll see that my other blogging and podcasting endeavors are all focused on movies.  However, I rarely get to actually go to the theater.  Yesterday, though was an exception.  I was due to appear on a podcast discussing the new Pixar film Onward, so I had to venture out to the theater for the first time in about two and a half months.  We have many theater options in the area, but yesterday I decided to visit our local Alamo Drafthouse.

We now have three Alamo Drafthouse locations in the Denver area.  There is one in Denver near Sloan's Lake and one in Westminster, but the one in Littleton was our first, opening about seven years ago.  The Alamo Drafthouse is well known to movie fans for being a theater that has a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to noise and rude behavior.  You light up your phone during the flick, you're out of there!  I whole-heartedly approve of this policy!  The theater is also known for doing special screenings of older films.  My son and I have taken in a Shaw Brothers kung fu movie at the theater in the past.  It truly is a theater aimed at movie lovers.

The location in Littleton features some strange decor in the lobby, featuring an abominable snowman hanging out of the ceiling.  Not sure what the motivation was for this, but I can get behind it. 

There are a few things I don't care for as much about Alamo.  They put a lot of emphasis on their food.  It's not just popcorn and Milk Duds.  This means that the seats all have a large table attached, which somewhat gets in the way for me.  It also means that often servers are duck walking through your aisle to fill orders and such.  For a theater that puts so much emphasis on respecting the movies, I find this to be the opposite of their goals.  Still, there aren't many other theaters that beat the experience that Alamo offers.  I have yet to visit their other Denver area locations but hope to at some point.  The Sloan's Lake location hosts Denver's Silent Film Festival, which is coming up in just a few weeks.  Perhaps I'll be able to catch a screening or two this year.

Stanley Marketplace - Maria Empanada

This morning my daughter had an interview in a part of town that she's not familiar with.  The interview was enough of a stress by itself, so I did the good dad thing and offered to drive her.  That meant I had some time to kill while waiting for her, so I decided to grab some breakfast over at the Stanley Marketplace in Aurora.

The Stanley Marketplace is home to over 50 businesses, including several interesting eateries.  Once upon a time, the building was a manufacturing facility for Stanley Aviation.  The facility opened in 1954, right next to Denver's original airport.  It was once the largest employer in Aurora.  Among the innovative products created here were ejection seats for planes and an escape capsule which was tested with the aid of, believe it or not, bears on loan from the Denver Zoo!?  Many reminders of the building's past as a manufacturing plant remain, including the sign pictured above celebrating the union the workers belonged to.

The airplane parts are now long gone, but plenty of tasty food has shown up instead.  As it was early in the morning, I decided to sample a breakfast empanada at Maria Empanada.  For all the Latin American delicacies we have in this part of the country, I must admit my shame that I have never sampled an empanada before.  It was pretty dang tasty. 

The Stanley Marketplace is a great gathering place, with many more offerings that I just didn't have time to sample this morning.  A return trip will be on the horizon.

Cowboy's Day Off

If you love public art displays, especially ones with a western feel, Golden is the spot to visit.  Many corners in downtown Golden feature art displays.  One of the most dramatic is Cowboy's Day Off, which can be found on the northwest corner of 11th Street and Washington Avenue.

Created by artist Michael Hamby, this piece depicts a cowboy pulling a fish out of the water.  This particular sculpture has occasionally had need of repairs.  Apparently, people think it's a good idea to swing from the cowboy's fishing rod.  People are dumb sometimes.

Colorado Freedom Memorial

We had a beautiful, sunny and warm day today in Denver.  Of course, snow is on the way tomorrow.  So, I felt the need to get out a bit, especially since I've been couped up in the house for the last few weeks.  I managed to twist my ankle recently and so I haven't been able to be out and about.  But, now that I'm walking a bit more normal again, it was time to explore.  So, I decided to head over to Aurora to take a look at a site I'd never seen before, The Colorado Freedom Memorial.

The Memorial's glass panels display the named of over 6,000 Coloradans killed in battle or missing in action.  It is the first memorial in the United States dedicated to all wars and all branches of service.  Many of the names contained are for individuals who were buried overseas.  The memorial provides a place for families to honor those who were laid to rest far from their Colorado homes. 

The memorial was dedicated on Memorial Day weekend 2013, so it is still a very new addition to the Denver area.  The memorial is easy to find, half a block north of 6th Avenue on Telluride Street.  Stop by sometime and honor those Coloradans who made the ultimate sacrifice.

Howdy Folks!

Lookout Mountain, overlooking the city of Golden, Colorado, is the final resting place of famous wild west showman Buffalo Bill Cody.  As a result, Cody has become a symbol of Golden and the town loves to celebrate him.  This includes the city's annual Buffalo Bill Days celebration and an iconic statue of Cody in the heart of downtown Golden.

The statue, titled Howdy Folks, was created by artist Jeffery Burnham Rudolph.  It depicts Cody walking down the street carrying a child on his shoulders.  Of the many sculptures that can be found in downtown Golden, it is probably the most iconic.  You can find the statue in the median on Washington Avenue between 10th Street and the Clear Creek Bridge.  It's right across from the Golden Visitors & Information Center.

A Night at the Symphony

Every year my family and I try to go to Door's Open Denver.  This is an event run by the Denver Architecture Foundation where various buildings around town open their doors for the day so people can come in an experience the architecture and history of the structures.  During this event few years ago, I was able to step inside the Boettcher Concert Hall, home of the Colorado Symphony, for the first time.  It was a great experience to see the concert hall, but not quite the same as experiencing a concert there.  I felt kind of pathetic touring the building but realizing that I had spent over twenty years in Denver without taking in a concert there.  Well, over the last few months I have been able to change that.

This past Friday, Valentine's Day, my wife and I took in A Symphonic Valentine at the Boettcher.  The concert featured selections by Mozart, Strauss, Tchaikovsky, and more.  Several of the selections featured vocals from soprano Laquita Mitchell.  This was actually my second concert at the Boettcher in the last few months.  Last fall I went with my kids to see a screening of The Goonies with the score performed live by the Colorado Symphony.

Even without experiencing the music, the Boettcher is quite an impressive hall.  Built in 1978, it was the first symphony hall constructed in the round.  From most spots in the hall, you end up feeling quite close to the musicians.  The Boettcher is just one of no less than eight theaters that make up Denver's Center for the Performing Arts.

A Symphonic Valentine was a great concert, but the best part was just getting to spend the night out with my wife on Valentine's Day.  We don't get to do that as much as we would like