At the end of August I had the opportunity to attend a conference in Denver. As per usual I went down a day early so that I could take in some of the tourist spots. The flight there was uneventful and I got to my hotel around 1:00p. Unfortunately, most of the things I wanted to go to closed at 4:00p so I had to wait until the next day to go to the zoo. It's not a bad zoo as zoo's go. The habitats were all quite natural though I found them a bit small. It was also a little sad to hear all the kids talking about which animals had recently died. Not sure if it's above average but it was definitely on their mind.
My next destination was the Museum of Nature and Science. On the science side it was much like Science World with interactive exhibits on various topics including the human body, rocks and minerals and global warming. Was a pleasant surprise to find a US city like Colorado reporting on the science side of things instead of selling us on the 'we need oil for a while' message. On the nature side of the house there were hundred's of stuffed animals in vignettes of their natural habitat. It was very well done though I wonder how they got a hold of so many animals to stuff including polar bears, buffalo and eagles.
My favourite destination was the Denver Botanical Gardens. You can tell a lot of donation money went into this place. There were ponds, atriums and art galleries throughout the property. It would be a lovely location for a wedding though I think they cater to mostly larger groups. There was a permanent tent that was about 500 feet long with pinpoint lights throughout. The atrium was made of concrete which must of been fun to engineer. I finally got to see a Chihuly statue in person. It was an enormous sculpture in yellows and oranges. I'm surprised it manages to make it through the winter. It looks so delicate.
After my day on my own I headed to my other hotel to start the conference. It was being held on a golf course / retirement property where one of the founders of the company hosting the event lives. The whole area was very nice but definitely car centric. You would need to take a car just to get to the closest corner store. The conference was a bit of a different experience for me because there were only about 200 attendees. Most conferences I attend have thousands of participants so it's easy to hide and concentrate on the sessions. With so few people there was always someone that wanted to talk directly to you. Still fun though with some great food.
As a team we managed to break away from the conference for a team building event. The Atlanta Braves were in town to play the Colorado Rockies. It was effectively one of the top teams in the league against one of the worst teams in the league though it wasn't exactly a blowout. A few runs every couple innings and no major mistakes. The weather was perfect in the high twenties with sunny skies. The game goes quickly with the new pitch clock. I didn't bother getting any food but we did go out for wings afterwards. The whole trip was a lot of fun. I wouldn't recommend Denver as a destination but if you need to go there it's a very nice city.
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