Denver

This was a stop which we reduced to a night due to budget but we had decided to make sure that we made the most of our time there.

Denver is the State Capitol of Colorado. It was founded in 1858. It was a frontier town. We decided to do a tour. So of course we picked the Banjo Billy Bus Tour:

There's a saddle if you want one

We learnt that money talks in Durango and were regaled with some tales of some of the colourful residents of the city (included Margaret Brown aka Molly Brown (played by Kathy Bates in the film Titanic - or so I'm told as I haven't seen it).

We also learnt that the wealthiest streets and park were actually built on a cemetery and people were a bit careless about moving the bodies before doing so, with the result that when a new pavement was laid a short time ago work kept having to pause when an arm or a leg popped up.

The history of Denver seems to be about personalities as opposed to "events" as, after all, 150 years is not very long at all. It is an interesting city with a really nice vibe. I was particularly interested in the public arts program. Since 1988 any capital improvement project over $1 million must spend 1% on the inclusion of art in the construction and design. The result of this is that there is arty stuff every where in the city which I think is pretty great. Then arty stuff makes more arty stuff and arty people go to live with the arty stuff so more arty stuff is made and then the airport is made all arty so that the underground bunker will be pleasant for all the toffs.

We also decided to hang out in the hip and trendy area. I had interesting cocktails and we chatted to the locals. The end.

(It tasted like cucumber.  The other one I had tasted like Christmas)