#SheTravels Denver, Colorado

In the 1990’s we lived in Colorado so a recent visit to Denver felt a little like coming home. Everything was familiar, but much more developed, we have friends here and memories lurk around every corner. Our Denver stay began at the Westin, Downtown which is a comfortable and spacious hotel right in the centre of the city.

We arrived and immediately headed out to explore 16th Street which was sadly a bit of a construction site due to the ongoing light rail construction. We strolled the streets exploring the downtown area, full of shops and restaurants, before deciding to pay a visit to the Molly Brown Museum.

The ‘Unsinkable’ Molly Brown is a Denver icon. She survived the sinking of the Titanic and used her knowledge of many languages to help the terrified women who survived along with her. Molly and her husband had gained their wealth during the Gold Rush, and she used her money and power to do good works.

Margaret or ‘Molly’ was a suffragette, an actor, a writer, philanthropist and scholar who once ran for Senate. She was a simply remarkable woman, and her home is filled with memorabilia, art objects and stories of her life and the Titanic tragedy. It is much bigger and more lavish than it looks on the outside and we happily whiled away a few hours in this wonderful museum.

In the evening, we met friends at Elways Downtown for dinner and drinks. It was a lovely, classy bar and restaurant owned by former Denver Broncos player, John Elway. In a funny twist John Elway had been playing at the time we lived in the city, so we knew what an icon he was. I ordered the Colorado lamb rack, and it was one of my favourite meals of the trip paired with a lovely selection of sides including cauliflower, spinach, asparagus and scrumptious truffle fries. Everyone else ordered the signature steaks and were equally delighted.

I’d left any shopping until the end of the trip so that we could visit one of my favourite malls, Cherry Creek. This mall has all the big department stores like Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus and Macy’s plus some of our old favourites like The Gap, Banana Republic and J. Crew. We shopped up a storm and walked our legs off in this spacious shopping mall.

In the evening, we first headed to the hip rooftop bar, 54thirty for sunset drinks before heading to the famous Brown Palace to listen to some Jazz in the historic surrounds. Such a treat and somewhere I had always wanted to visit for the history and ambience.

Our friends had recommended the Mexican restaurant, La Loma for dinner and it did not disappoint. This family run kitchen celebrates the best of the Southwest, and the service fast and friendly. We enjoyed our spinach and chicken tortillas and beef chimichangas with all the sides, think rice, beans and salsa. The skinny margaritas were excellent, too. A great recommendation!

Our hotel was abuzz on Sunday as there was a Las Vegas Raiders vs Denver Broncos game on in the afternoon. The Raiders were staying in our hotel. The streets were lively and filled with NFL fans wearing their team’s colours. Denver won the game, and celebrations lasted long into the night.

In the evening, we met up with neighbours from our Denver days at the convivial View House where the sunset views, relaxed atmosphere, great food and company were magnificent. It was as if we had never left and the thirty years between my visits melted away.

For our last day in Colorado, we rented a pickup truck and headed out into the Colorado countryside. Our destination was Pike’s Peak, America’s mountain, whose beauty inspired the song ‘America, the Beautiful.’ You can drive up via the two laned highway, hop on the cog rail, hike or bike your way to the top. At 14 110 feet it has magnificent views, amazing foliage and changing topography on the drive up.

The drive is not for the faint hearted though as there are some crazy corners and at times you are driving remarkably close to the edge. It goes up and up with the beauty of the autumnal leaves to distract you and once you have passed the tree line the barren and rocky landscape reminds you of a desolate moonscape.

At the top there is a visitor’s centre, café and gift shop plus plenty of places to capture the sweeping mountain views. It is chilly up there even on the warmest day so dress in layers. Along the way look out for bears, cougars, bobcats, coyote, eagles and long horned sheep. You might even see Bigfoot. We spied the long-horned sheep blending in beautifully with the rocky boulders and several birds of prey soaring above.

We were reminded of some of our favourite places to visit when we’d lived in Colorado as we drove along. There was the Garden of The Gods, Santa’s Workshop and the amazing Cliff Dwellings as well as Red Rocks Park.

We stopped at Old Colorado City on our way back to Denver and it reminded me of Maleny with its artisan stores, historical buildings and quaint cafes. One of the best coffees of our whole trip was here at the Carnelian Coffee Co. A lovely history – filled town with a Wild West feel about it.

One of the loveliest things about this visit was seeing the changing Autumn leaves. Denver has four distinct seasons, and many people ski in the nearby mountains in the winter season. For our visit the weather was warm during the day but cooled off in the evenings making it very pleasant to get around.

Denver is a liberal and welcoming city with great shopping, plenty of nature pursuits and a vibrant restaurant and nightlife scene. Many Australians choose to live and work here comfortably. It was fun to go back and see how the city has grown and grown up in so many ways. It was a lovely way to finish our USA adventures. So, tell me do you have a favourite USA destination to visit? She Society would love to hear your recommendations.