We got home from Denver late late late Monday night and I still have some unpacking to do, both literally and figuratively. I’m too lazy to do the former right now, so let’s get down to tacks of brass: I’d be happy to have the opportunity to live in the Mile High City one of these days. It was a wonderful and wholly exhausting experience.
This is a thing that exists in Denver.
Most of our vaguely-defined plans fell through, which left us a ton of time to just walk around town. In retrospect, it seems a little weird, but at the time we felt perfectly safe walking around a city we’d never visited. I don’t even remember hearing sirens. A big part of that is that fact that there were people walking pretty much all the time. It’s easy to feel comfortable when there are a so many people out and about at the same time.
I’d also like to mention that the people we met were friendly. I mean really friendly, almost disconcertingly so. I’ve heard other people experience the same thing, so I’m starting to suspect that it’s just a genuinely friendly area. I’m not sure why this would be the case (apparently, this predates the legalization of certain plant-based products), but it’s a very charming trait for a city to have.
Of course, it’s really pretty there too. If you like mountains, the horizon is chock full of them. When we were there, the air couldn’t have been cleaner, the roads were well-maintained, and the city itself was cleaner than any downtown I’ve visited. My sister taught me to understand the value of living someplace beautiful and that’s something I’ve yet to do.
It’s not all roses, of course. Denver isn’t a no-kill city, they seem to have a complicated relationship with their homeless, and the climate is a mixed blessing, especially for those of us for whom dry skin is a chronic issue. For our next visit, we’re going to go in the middle of winter just to see if it’s something we’d be OK with. I’m a big fan of snow when I’m at a comfortable distance. It’s been some time since I’ve experienced it in any quantity and I probably ought to do that before even considering making a move.
I love visiting places which are doing things that seem right to me and fit my vaguely-formed ideal image of what a city should be like. Even if we don’t ever live there, it makes me think of what my current home could be doing better, and it helps me work out my own priorities as to what’s important, to me, in a city.
That’s quite enough (and then some) about our visit, but I needed to get it out of my system. I love travel, but it comes at a high cost, both financially and physically, so when I do it, I tend to obsess about it. Not for the first time, I’m like that guy who finds out about a band about five years after everyone else and gets way too into them. Just smile and nod and I’ll be on about something else soon enough.
-RK