Tag: Denver

DENVER M– USEUM OF NATURE AND SCIENCE  (Check out Photo Gallery for more pics!)

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This museum will enlighten, delight and inspire you. The museum has 3 levels of displays and interactive activities. This facility is a smoke-free environment. Food and beverages are not allowed in the exhibits. From mummified bodies, flesh-eating dinosaurs and black holes this museum is a definite ‘Must See’ while in Denver!

The entrance is Level 1.  Start out the day with a meal in the T-Rex Deli and Cafe and check out the museum shop. On Level 1 are the Insects and Butterflies exhibit, Space Odyssey, Gates Planetarium with your ticket to the Universe and Gems & Minerals. In the IMAX 3D Theater, I explored the world through an amazing experience. The 3D movie is viewed with special slip on glasses for the ultimate journey.

Level 2 includes the Discovery Zone where you can interact with computerized programs. The Expedition Health sends you on a journey through the human body. Large glass enclosures display North American Wildlife, Edge of the Wild, Bears & Sea Mammals, South Pacific Island, Australia and the North American Indian Cultures. “Full size”, authentic appearing animals and life-like enclosures will have you experiencing wildlife like you never have before. Every display is depicted in its own building area accessed by walkways and open atrium settings.

Level 3 displays Birds of the Americas, Prehistoric Journey, Egyptian Mummies, Northern & Rare Birds, South America, Bostwana, Africa and Explore Colorado. The Sky Terrace is the best view of Denver.

The exhibits are unforgettable. The massive enclosures and the research to re-create every scene is quite remarkable.

The museum department consultants can assist in scheduling meetings or other events which can accommodate 15 to 3,500 guests. Events are catered in with award-winning menus created by on-site culinary professionals.

www.dmns.org

DENVER MICROBREWERIES AND LARGE BREWERIES

Everywhere you walk in Denver, it seems like each area has microbreweries, pubs, restaurants and shopping.

While in Denver, we took a side trip to Golden, Colorado to COORS BREWERY. We took the tour of the huge brewery. We received a hand-held touring recorder and learned the history of Coors and how it has grown over the years. We were able to see the large kettles for brewing, the bottling process and sample three beers in the Coors Pub.

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Back in Denver, we visited the 16th Street Mall Rock Bottom Microbrewery.

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The Prost Brewery outside of downtown Denver.

 

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Colorado in the Fall

Colorado’s scenery is breathtaking.

I will always treasure the trip to Denver for the 2015 International Travel Writers Conference. The flight from Ft. Lauderdale to Denver on Southwest Airlines gave me time to catch up on some much needed sleep. Upon arrival, my husband and I took a shuttle to pick up our rental car. Prior to leaving Ft. Lauderdale, we had purchased a GPS and immediately set our destination. Of course we missed an exit leaving the airport and ended up circling the airport.

When we entered Denver, the Mile High City, I eagerly awaited our arrival at Castle Marne Bed and Breakfast. This Victorian built castle was indeed a castle, Luxurious with a ‘feeling of royalty”.
We were given a tour of the entire B&B.

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The city has multiple neighborhoods, urban, historic, modern, eclectic. Each distinct in character. Capitol Hill is where the government has its office and where the capitol is located. While in Denver we spent a night at The Capitol Hill Mansion B&B. It was a beautiful ‘Mansion’ both inside and out. The Victorian Era decor was elegant and each room was named after a Colorado wildflower.

 

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The Urban Area was a very ‘green area’ with a large park. We slept at the Queen Anne Urban B&B for an evening. All their vegetables and fruits served during the morning breakfast came from a plot of land where individual’s were able to grow ‘organic’ food.

 

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Denver is a very walkable city and bike friendly. In the Mall area, there are trolleys which travel from the Union Station to the end of the Mall area. Union Station is the Amtrack Station. Inside the station are shops, restaurants and the Historic Crawford Hotel.

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DENVER BOTANICAL GARDENS     (Check out Photo Gallery for additional photographs)

The Denver Botanical Garden in Denver is considered the largest and finest botanic garden in the country. Located in downtown Denver on York Street between 9th and 11th Street, Denver’s Botanical Garden transformed an old cemetery in the center of the city. The gardens opened in 1959 as a year round attraction. The Boettcher Memorial Tropical Conservatory was dedicated in 1966 as a tropical and sub-tropical exhibit building. It became a Denver landmark in 1973.

The gardens and conservatory buildings continued to grow remaining environmentally friendly with water conservation and biological pest control. Today, there are three locations; Denver Botanical, Chatfield and Mt. Goliath.

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The Denver Botanical Gardens was my choice to explore. I have been to other gardens in the past but this landmark was immense, educational and beautifully designed.

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  • There are eleven Facilities from the Visitor Center to the Discovery Center, Waring House, Greenhouse Complex and Science Pyramid to name a few.
  • There are 17 Gardens of the West with floral species all named by plaques next to the variety.
  • The Internationally Inspired Gardens housed the Bonsai Pavilion and Tea Garden surrounded by a Tea House and Japanese Garden. The Rock Alpine Garden and South African Plaza had indigenous plants representative of that locale.
  • The Ornamental Gardens is the largest collection of fragrant flowers, herbs, rose garden, orangery with indoor waterfalls, scripture garden, romantic gardens with seating under a canopy of fragrant floral vines defining an alcove area, a sensory garden and the victorian secret garden.
  • The bees and birds walk through the oak grove, shady lane and woodland mosaic was the Shady Garden. On a warm day, this area was a welcome relief.
  • The Water Gardens with the garden waterways, four towers pool and the Monet pool was soothing with the sound of movement of the water.

While at the Gardens was an exhibit THE NATURE OF HORSES by Deborah Butterfield; (May 23-Oct,18, 2015). Deborah connection to horses traces back to her youth. She attended the University of California and received an MFA. Her focus and inspiration in art was with horses both abstract and in a unique way. Her ‘horse sculptures’ are abstract and combines sticks, mud, metal and wood. The use of these natural materials led her to bronze casting. Excluding one, all the horse sculptures throughout the Gardens are bronze cast from her original wooden assembled horses. They are a marvel to behold. The intricacy of her work is unlike any other in design and emotional aesthetic appeal.

Like really STINKY, rotten eggs smells? You should have been at the Gardens to experience the CORPSE FLOWER and Garden. This plant began as a seed in 2002 and was transferred to the Gardens in 2007. It was  repotted on 5/2015.  After May, it began to grow more than 2″ per day and reached a height of 5’3″. The Corpse Flower (titan arum) opened on August 19, 2015 with a foul odor that lasted 48 hours and then closed. A video of the progression of this ‘blooming’ can be seen at their website.

The Offshoot’s Cafe provides food and beverages with picnic tables under enormous trees. Shady and a great place to converse with others from all over the world.

Study programs and services are offered year round…’see, smell, touch’….

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The Denver Botanic Gardens and two other Gardens have activities planned seasonally the entire year. I highly recommend that you place these Gardens on your ‘must see bucket list’ if you travel to Denver, Colorado.

Denver Botanical Gardens

www.botanicgardens.org

10th and York Street

Denver, Colorado