Let's start with a few negatives - because to me its nicer to start with the bad and work our way up. And the bad isn't necessarily all that bad. First thing: there is a weird inconsistency in how Covid is treated. In most areas, it's treated as I expected, people will honor mask guidance if the guidance is given but other than that no real masks. Other than not doing clubs or anything like that (which are open), there were very few things that are off-limits.
However, there were a couple instances of it absolutely getting in the way. First, there are restrictions on accessing Rocky Mountain National Park, which I didn't realize until it was too late - this is actually an adverse impact as more people are traveling to places like Denver because the non-US is still so off limits. Secondly, the Denver Art Museum, which is well reknown as an art museum in America, has dramatically reduced its footprint, basically opening up one half of one of its two buildings. They still show off an impressive collection of impressionist paintings (like a dozen Monet's) but it was a quick visit.\
Second on the slightly negative side, and this isn't so much about Denver but about the rest of the world: One of the most appealing parts of Denver is the craft beer culture in Colorado is amazing. That was certainly true in 2015, and at the time Left Hand, based in Longmont, Colorado, was my favorite craft brewery. It's still up there, and Denver's incredible diverse, wide, plentiful collection of craft breweries is still great, but in the intervening years a lot of cities have built up well in this area. Just recently I took a trip with my family to the Shenandoah Valley, and with some friends to Pittsburgh, and both places had multiple awesome craft brewery spots. I just went to Phoenix in April and will honestly say enjpy3ed the beer tehre better. Denver's not bad, but not unique in this anymore.
Finally on the negative side, and this is unfair as it isn't Denver's fault, due to wildfires in California and Canada apparently, there is a haze in the sky that makes the incredible mountain views, whether a far back vista from the city center, to an awesome imposing facet of drives out of the city, a complete nonentity. It isn't smog, the air is still clear, the short ot medium term views are still fantastic, but instead of seeing snow-capped peaks way in the background below Colorado's notable true blue sky, its odd, haunting silhouettes.
Anyway, after feeling like I've slammed Denver way more than I shouild, let's get to the good side: Denver remains maybe the most perfectly constructed city in America. It's very drivable, has multiple distinct neighborhoods, be it everything about RiNo, or LoDi, or the CBD, or Colfax. There is a wide range of food including a bevy of incredibly authentic Mexican spots which help for added sustenance. Denver's remained a bit 'in the wild' despite becoming something of a tech hub over the intervening six years - still no fuss, no stress. Just a great place.
The sites in the city are fine - I went to the Natural History museum for the first time and found their Paleontology exhibit to be the best I've seen outside of New York and Salt Lake (no lie). The main cultural center area has some lovely architecture. The street art in RiNo is great. But the real beauty lies in what is 30-90 minutes away, the amazing hikes and ability to just get lost in nature so easily. Even despite not having proper access to Rocky Mountain National Park, we went to two 'secondary' State Parks - and both were great, especially Golden Gate Canyon State Park, which if not for the haze and my surprising bout of carsick-ness, would have been nearly as good as Rocky Mountain National Park.
The food in Denver as mentioned remains great, even if we couldn't snab a table at the 'trendiest' spots. Our two dinners were at Rioja, a lively meditteranean restaurant right in Larimer Square (another lovely oasis amidst Denver's more urban areas - and something I somehow completely missed last time), and Safta, an Israeli restaurant which was excellent. Safta is one of the restaurants in The Source Market Hall, a really well made, still growing, food & arts space adjoining a hotel - these are the things that may one day tip Denver too far into the upmarket direction, but for now remain just lovely.
As for the drinks, while I gave some indifference towards Denver's craft beer creds, I should say their overall nightlife is still good. They have some great cocktail spots - Middleman was a particular favorite. My friend took me to P S Lounge which is across the street from Middleman, on Colfax Ave (one of Denver's many different 'districts') which he promised me was a must go. And it was - a true old school bar that is so good, and so genuine at what it does - presenting a 1980s type bar experience - that millenials flood the place. Everyone gets a shot on the house when they enter - all women who enter get a fake rose. The jukebox pounds out 1970s - 1990s rock - Van Halen's "Women in Love" was playing when we got there which to me was astounding - a great track, but a B-list Van Halen track is not what I thought I was going to get.
The one place I want to give a shout-out to was The Black Box, a house/EDM club that just recently re-opened with limited sized shows where you ahve to show proof of vaccination to go. We went - I pushed for it partially because it would FINALLY give me an opportunity to actually use that vaccine card. The crowd was maybe 40 people in a setting that would traditionally hold about 200. It was great, and a nice little throwback to earlier days. The place it reminded me a lot of was Habitat Living Sound, a similar EDM club in Calgary (which I have learned has closed) that I frequented on my trip there in 2019. That actually made me go a step further and think to say this: Denver is America's Calgary - and that is a high compliment.
Actually, coming back to Denver got me thinking about this series of 'Mountain Time' cities that I've visited over the years - starting with teh trip to Denver in 2015. There was Salt Lake City in 2018, Calgary in 2019 and Phoenix earlier this year. There all similar in some ways, good ways. Phoenix is different as while there is natural beauty abound in the desert, its a desert. The other three are all quite similar.
I don't know which is best - Calgary probably has the best scenery, though admittedly the main sites in Banff are further away than either what we have in Denver or Salt Lake. They're all very drivable, which isn't a huge surprise in the case of Salt Lake, but considering both Denver and Calgary are cities of over one million people it is a notable achievement. The food is great in each, though I do think Denver has a bit more variety with the Mexican influence. Anyway, that discussion is for another day when I update my US & Canada cities ranking, which did have Denver at #2 (behidn Montreal) It isn't moving up for sure - that said Denver has done a lot to justify my love of it at the time, but there are a few cracks showing.
