Things To Do In Denver...

The most recent out of town jaunt for BowlingWidow and myself took place a few weeks ago as we had a wedding to attend in Cheyenne, Wyoming.  Cheyenne is just 90 minutes or so north of Denver, so we figured, why not extend this trip a little bit and hang out in Denver and environs for a couple of days?  After all, it had been nearly 30 years since our first and only visit to that city.

Some of the Denver Skyline

I had forgotten that the “majesty” of the Rocky Mountains from the Denver city vantage point actually pales in comparison to what we have in the Pacific Northwest in the Olympic Mountains or Mount Rainier.  You are, after all, already a mile high and gazing up only another three-quarters of a mile.

Our first stop after picking up our car at the airport was to head into town for an early dinner at a dive restaurant we read about called Sams #3.  We know it’s a dive because it was featured on Food Network “Diners, Drive Ins and Dives”.  I indulged in one of my favorite dishes, a chile relleno Mexican plate while my wife had the relatively healthier Greek salad.   And a local beer of course.

One of the Best Dive Restaurants We've Been to:  Sam's #3

Speaking of that, here’s a word about Colorado beers.  There are a lot of them.  A really large number of small breweries.  But they seem to have yet to discover the use of hops and malt, and tend to shy away from bold flavors.  Maybe drinkers are slow to give up their Coors Light habit?  I don’t know the answer to that, but clearly Seattle, Portland and San Diego have nothing to worry about when it comes to wearing the craft brew crown.

Best Tap House in Denver:  Mostly Beer from Other States

Copper Kettle's Mexican Chocolate Stout:  Spicy and Interesting for Denver Beer

Speaking of Coors, one night we went to a Colorado Rockies baseball game at Coors Field.  We met Mike (the groom to be on Saturday) and some of his friends.  These guys are serious baseball geeks and keep score on every play without fail.  Bachelor party?  Yes, this WAS the bachelor party as far as he was concerned.  The stadium reminded me a lot of our Safeco Field in Seattle.  I should actually say the reverse is true since it was built before Safeco.  I like the fact that in both stadiums you can see what’s happening on the field from anywhere on the first level concourse.

Mike and BowlingJoe Hanging Out at Coors Field

But the real beauty of the Denver area is clearly not in Denver.  As a city, it has no real identity and the traffic sucks.  It’s worse than Seattle’s.  And Seattle’s is painfully bad.  The beauty is clearly in the mountains.  We took a couple of nice drives and did some walking around at places like Red Rocks (complete with superhuman athletes exercising at altitude by running up and down the amphitheater stairs!) and Echo Lake, at 10,500 feet and on the way to Mount Evans which boasts the highest paved road in North America.  We also took a day trip to college town of Boulder.  Nice place with a vibrant downtown area.  I can see why Mork and Mindy chose to live there.

The Lovely Red Rocks Amphitheater

Leaves Starting to Change in The Rockies

Echo Lake:  10,500 Feet Above Sea Level

The Small Town of Idaho Springs

Finally, we did decide to stay an extra day so that we could watch the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks play the Broncos in Seattle from a Denver sports bar.  Yes, I did wear my game jersey in enemy territory as Seattle chalked up an overtime victory.  But judging from the number of different teams represented in the establishment, we really could have been anywhere in the country.

An All-Star Team of Fans at a Denver Sports Bar

Brushes With "C" List Greatness

I've met people whose passion it is to get their pictures taken with the famous.  They garner photos of themselves with musicians, actors, politicians or whoever has been in the news cycle for longer than 20 minutes.

While I've never been inclined to pursue that particular hobby, there have been a few occasions when I've found myself able to have some photos taken with "C" list greatness.

My earliest one is from 1973.  During a family trip to Southern California we went to an LA Dodger game.  It happened to be Camera Day on the field so before the game my little brother (left) and I got our pictures taken with such players as C-lister Dan Driessen of the Cincinnati Reds.  All Stars Pete Rose and Johnny Bench wanted nothing to do with crowd mingling on that day.



Fast forward quite a few years to November of 2005 and we have one taken at Husky Stadium in Seattle at a tailgating party before, during and after the football game.  We happened to have parked in the huge lot next to Steve Emtman and his buddies.  Emtman is a legendary defensive tackle for the University of Washington and went to play in the NFL for a few years before injuries ended his career.  He apparently had enough alcohol that day for me to talk him into staging a photo with me holding him in a headlock.  I don't think he'd have been that friendly if he knew how many cans of Guinness I stole from his cooler on that day.

I'm fortunate to have a friend, Dave Nachmanoff, who is the touring guitarist for Al Stewart (known mostly for the 1970s hits "Year of the Cat" and "Time Passages").  They played a show in Edmonds, WA a few years ago which was sponsored in part by travel guru Rick Steves.  One of the entertainment highlights of my life was singing Al Stewart songs back stage with Al himself and Steves.

A couple of years ago, I seized the opportunity to meet Ken Levine at a book signing at Safeco Field in Seattle.  Levine isn't a household name but I find him to be one of the sharpest and funniest people around.  His resume includes winning Emmy Awards writing for shows such as M*A*S*H, Cheers and The Simpsons.  He is also an accomplished Major League Baseball announcer, and in his spare time is a blogger - where he posts every single day without fail.

Two of my favorite encounters took place at a PBA tournament in Kirkland, WA in October of 2002.  First, I'm so glad I was able to meet and chat with the great Dick Weber before he passed a way a few years later.  Weber deserves to be called "great" not only because of what he accomplished on the bowling lanes, but because he was a class act all the way and was an amazing ambassador for the sport.  I only wish that my eyes were open during the picture and that I didn't have that stupid pen in my pocket.

I had an opportunity to meet Walter Ray Williams, Jr.  He's arguably the greatest bowler in history when you tally up all of the titles he's won both nationally and regionally.  And at age 54 he's still tearing it up on the PBA Senior Tour.

So there you have it.