Mr. & Mrs. Vandebilt + kids

We were completely surprised by Denver in a number of different ways – the weather, the city, the nudity. Like so many of the places we have been on this trip, we put effectively zero research into where we were going, what we would do when we were there, and if there was anything really important that we should know. The list of places we have chosen has been based mostly on whether we recognize the name of the city or attraction and how out of the way it is.

Turns out, Denver has the fifth highest population of people experiencing homelessness and Denver ranks in the top 10 U.S. cities for crime, including: 3rd motor vehicle theft; 6th property crime rate; 10th rape crime rate. 

The funny thing is, we didn’t get any of that vibe when we were wandering around downtown, until it started to get dark. We spent the afternoon walking down the 16th street mall, which was unfortunately fully under construction. We found an awesome coffee shop, something I’ve come to really appreciate. We wandered along the water and eventually made our way to the arts and brewery district. We spent an awesome evening on the rooftop patio playing Poetry for Neanderthals.

When we started walking back to the car, it was getting to be later in the day. We managed to see at least two shelters/soup kitchens that had lines out the door. We even managed to see two people with no pants. Like full moon no pants.

Our other two days in the Denver area we spent enjoying the amazing weather. It’s not actually cold in Denver, it turns out it’s actually a desert and so it was around 23 the whole time we were there. We discovered an amazing park where the kids had a blast, and some delicious brews on the way home.

After having explored the park and the downtown we headed to Boulder for our final day. It was super cute, and again we found a great beer (Colorado has a lot of breweries) and coffee!