This week has a photograph header not part of their recommendations but I clicked on the photo anyway because that's how they get their photographs for their reviews. The photographs used in Yelp's mailers are provided by people who made Yelp reviews and sent cell phone photographs. Sure enough, the email header was a link, and this one went to a souvenir shop on the mall. One I had been in decades ago. All the souvenir shops were crap places selling junk trinkets. The best things offered were rough-hewn things made of buffalo, sketches burned into wood, fake Indian clothing, headdresses, moccasins and jewelry and the like.
I worked at the FRB on 16th St. when the mall was built. When I first started I could sail down 16th, turn left on Arapaho and right into the bank parking lot. Then they built the mall and the whole street was turned to mud. For years! Then, right as they were finishing, they tore up what they built and re-built it and this went on another few years. Then finally, after half a decade of mud the mall was finally finished. Now it's mature, the trees are grown out, and the whole thing is beautiful. And now beyond that is all quite beautiful. The bus terminal, the train station, the sports arena, new skyscrapers and tall apartment buildings, restaurants and businesses, the confluence of Cherry Creek and Platte River, the parks, bike trails, the whole area is beautifully redeveloped.
The best souvenir shops, gift shops actually, are the one at the base of Dinosaur Ridge and the one in the carriage house behind Molly Brown's house a few blocks away on Pennsylvania St. between 13th and 14th.
The boys went nuts in the Dinosaur Ridge gift shop that has a lot of unusual dinosaur-related things along with Colorado mining related things. You can even buy dinosaur coprolite.
"Uncle Bo, what's coprolite?"
"Fossilized dinosaur poop."
"S-q-u-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e."
"S-q-u-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e."
Both boys at once.
And the Molly Brown gift shop has an unusually large amount of Egyptian-related things and Titanic related things because those are connected to Molly Brown. They had one of the best model boats that I've seen. It could actually float. A replication of a Titanic lifeboat. With oars and a rolled up sail (I didn't know the lifeboats had sails). Elaborately detailed and large. Four feet long. It could have fit nicely on top of my aquarium. And only $100.00. But I already had too many model wooden boats. So many I had to give some away. Very good models. But I had just whittled it down to my two favorites. So I didn't buy it. And I kind of resented not snatching it up ever since. I still think of that thing. The ladies there got tired of seeing it so they marked it down to a ridiculously low price.
They pack a ton of stuff in that carriage house.
This Yelp issue is about adventures.
* DAGAR 2000 Lawrence St.
Lawrence St. is 1 block beyond Arapaho, and 20th is obviously 4 blocks beyond 16th. Maths!
“Just throwing the axes is fun, but the real fun begins when you start doing competition among your group to see who can get to a certain amount of points. We had a blast.”
What? Throwing axes? Okay, now I have to go there.
* Denver Art Museum
Golden Triangle, 100 W 14th Ave
“I'm blown away by the enormous amount of activities provided for children... if you're bringing along a kiddo, it makes the trip so much more fun when they have things they can create and do along the way.”
Blessed are the little children for their angels see in them the face of God.
This is half a block from my apartment and there are a lot children being escorted to and fro. The various programs really are excellent. While frankly their gift shop is wanting. Some unimaginative adults gave it the short shrift. While the gift shop at the Museum of Natural History is far more interesting with a million things that interest little kids. It's up there with the top three.
* Dark Side of Denver Ghost Tours
1701 Wynkoop, Lodo. This is the redeveloped area beyond the mall near the the confluence of Cherry Creek and Platte River. This particular area is a like a refurbished cowboy town. The original old buildings are all restored. This was brilliant redevelopment instead of tearing down everything. It really did revitalize the whole area.
"All of us had a great time listening to the stories... learning about Denver's past. He is an amazing story teller who kept us engaged the whole time and was able to show us parts of Denver that I would have never otherwise been able to see."
Before Yelp, the Botanic Gardens also emailed with upcoming events. And this time it's not just some dud performer.
* Bumblebee Jamboree
Family-friendly concert is the perfect winter escape for children ages 0-12 and their parents. Sing along and dance to original and traditional songs by Doctor Noize.
* 60th Annual Colorado Garden & Home Show
Find inspiration from the latest ideas in landscaping, gardening and more. Stroll through more than an acre of professionally landscaped gardens. Two people gain free admission to the show upon showing current Gardens’ membership card.
* Volunteers Needed for Art Installation
This spring, help create an art installation with artist Patrick Dougherty at Chatfield Farms. We are now accepting applications for volunteers to work alongside the artist, weaving flexible saplings into a large-scale architectural sculpture.
The Botanic Gardens itself has outstanding displays. They have a spectacular greenhouse, a splendid Japanese teahouse and pond, and an incredible cactus garden, lily pond, outstanding seasonal displays, dedicated staff, art installations, fountains, home garden training area, children's programs, yearly rose displays, orchid displays, and the like, summer outdoor concerts on their lawn and endless perennial courses on xeriscaping, spring gardens, vegetable gardens, tulips, and the like. The Denver Botanic Gardens is a valuable living outreaching educational civic asset.
2 comments:
The Wynkoop — wasn’t that the name of whatshisname’s brewpub back in the 90’s? I saw a number of great shows at the old Mercury Cafe in LoDo.
I think so. I've been in there for pizza. I recall large paintings by local artists covering red brick walls. I must have been there a couple of times because I'm recalling the seating situation downstairs and upstairs.
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