One of the benefits of doing home exchanges is that the opportunity for a fun exchange comes up when you aren't expecting it.
We wouldn't normally be looking for a
Lower Downtown (LoDo) Denver exchange, but when someone asked if we'd be interested in a long weekend exchange, we jumped on it. They were interested in using our home as a basecamp to do winter hiking in Rocky, and we had the chance to spend a leisurely Valentine's Day weekend in a more urban setting.
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| Rush hour on I-25; glad we were on foot! |
So on Thursday, we drove to Denver, parked our car in the underground garage, and left it there the entire weekend, walking or taking public transport everywhere we went.
We had a wonderful and modern downtown loft as our home for the weekend.
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| Dining room |
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| Living room |
When we arrived, we visited Union Station where we had dinner. We also explored the area around our place near 17th and Wazee.
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| Union Station |
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| Susan inside Union Station |
We visited the 16th Street area, the Denver Art Museum grounds, the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, the Capitol building (including a tour and visit to the top of the rotunda), took in a play a the "Space Theatre" at DCPA, and had some very nice meals at several fun restaurants.
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| Denver Capitol building |
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| Colorado house in session |
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| Looking west from the top of the Capitol |
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| Looking down from the rotunda |
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| One of the hearing rooms at the capitol |
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| Along 16th Street |
And we worked off our calories by walking at least 5-6 miles every day we were there.
We also visited the Byers-Evans House near the Art Museum and took in a nice pub meal at Pints Pub.
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| Front room at the historic Byers-Evans House |
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| Pints Pub. We had one each. :-) |
Our only non-walking adventure was when we decided to take a ride on Denver's Light Rail system, starting at Union Station and going all the way to the south end of the line, and then stopping off at the Park Meadows Mall for a little shopping.
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| On the Light Rail |
We also walked the trail along the Platte River to the Confluence Park and shopped at the huge REI there.
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| Climbing wall in REI |
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| Shoppers in REI |
We really enjoyed the walking and exploring, and did some people-watching and photography.
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| Our walk to Little Man Ice Cream was well worth it! |
Here are more pictures from the weekend.
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| Denver Center for the Performing Arts, looking west |
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| Denver Art Museum |
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| Detail of the ultra-modern Denver Art Museum |
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| My name is Awsum :-) |
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| Larimer Square |
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