Mile High Top Ten
- ESWIL
- Sep 10, 2016
- 3 min read
I did promise I would follow up with my Colorado top ten so here it is!
Free range children – I truly cannot remember the last time we visited a town that felt so safe for kids and so family oriented, but Vail delivers it in buckets. The centre of Vail is essentially traffic free with a creek running through it. The main mode of transport is bikes. Kids were everywhere playing like kids used to when I was young; paddling in the creek, riding their bikes, running around but never, ever a nuisance. Even if you weren’t their parent, you could feel the collective parenting from the adults around. A tacit understanding that we all have a responsibility to keep kids safe. Take your kids there and let them off the leash.
Free music concerts Vail – every Tuesday evening in the summer season at the Gerald R Ford Amphitheatre, there is a free concert. The auditorium which is part outdoor, part covered seats around 1,000. Bring your own picnic (no alcohol you have to purchase that). We saw Devon Allman when we were there, son of Greg Allman, two hours of bluesy music which just swept us away.
South Park, Fairplay – not South Park as you probably know it, and I love the idea of a town being called Fairplay! South Park was once a prosperous mining town which as the mines became exhausted was abandoned. It has been brought back to life with some of the original buildings and other buildings reconstructed from other parts of the state. So if you want to know what Little House on the Prairie really looked like this is for you. You wander through the houses, livery stables, saloon, mine and railway station, trust me you will forget that this is in the middle of modern America.
Strawberry Park Hot Springs, Steamboat Springs – we all love a hot tub. At Strawberry Park the pools are fed directly from the hot water springs pouring out of the mountain side. Seriously hot but seriously relaxing!
Breckenridge Main Street -yes the sky really was that blue!
Breckenridge Main Street – established in 1859 as a mining town, Breckenridge’s Main Street has retained all of its charm. Independent local retailers still have a prominent presence alongside international retailers such as North Face, Patagonia and Starbucks. We stayed at the Hyatt Main Street Station and had the choice of 54 bars and restaurant all within one mile’s walking. Which brings me to….
Breckenridge Brewery – not even 200ft from the apartment, just across the road. Like many of the local micro-breweries, the beer is made and served in their Brewery Pub.
St Mary’s Glacier, Alice – why is this in? Because of the huge personal triumph I felt when I hiked up to the glacier and its lake. The equivalent of climbing 15 floors up a dried-up rocky riverbed, I knew I could do it I just needed to convince my head I could do it. The view at the top was worth it and gorgeous hubby is the most amazing cheerleader when you need one!
Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Morrison - made famous by U2 and their ‘Under a Blood Red Sky’ album. We joined 10,000 other people to watch Ryan Adams. It must be said the Americans do like to talk over musicians at gigs, but Ryan Adams’ cover version of Wonderwall stunned them all into silence! We sat high up in the Amphitheatre watched the Denver lights go on and were bathed in the light from a full moon…. Magical.
Guitar Town, Copper Mountain – so how’s this for a free music event, a whole weekend of bluegrass, blues, rock and acoustic music. Rock up with your picnic chair or borrow one from a restaurant like we did, slap on sunscreen (you’re two miles closer to the sun here than at home), don your hat and let it all wash over you. In its 12th year international guitar heroes regularly play this festival as well local heroes.
Denver – where to start, urban and urbane. A city that promotes walking, rare in American terms. Denver could have its own top ten, but here’s the absolute highlights. Public access pianos, up and down 16th Street Mall, there are pianos, anyone can sit down and play, never vandalised and always respected. Street art that could rival Bristol. State Capitol building with its golden dome. Converted warehouses that still carry the advertising from their original days as warehouses, Coors Field, home of the Colorado Rockies and beer, glorious beer!
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