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Denver (1995 – 2006)

Before arriving in the US, we were told we would be sent to Cedar Rapids in Iowa. Since neither of us knew much about the country, it didn't matter much where we lived. Cedar Rapids seemed harmless enough from what we could determine but Lan got sick and so we had to delay our departure.

By the time we arrived, someone else had been sent to Cedar Rapids so we waited for Lan’s company to decide what to do with us. It turned out to be Denver and that turned out to be a stroke of luck. As you’ll see from the photos below, it is a beautiful place and there are lots of interesting places to visit within driving distance. Read about our travels in the Coming to America section.

Metropolitan Denver has about 2 million inhabitants making it about half the size of Sydney.

Come and take the tour. Click on any photo, including the one at the top left for a bigger picture and an explanation.

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Looking west across the city toward the Rocky Mountains early in the morning. The mountain in the center of the picture is Mt. Evans which is 14,260 ft (4346 m) tall. Remarkably, there is a sealed road virtually to the top though it is closed in winter.

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The Denver City and Council building faces the Colorado State Capitolbuilding.

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The Columbine is the State Flower of Colorado. It grows wild in the mountains but is fragile.

Sadly, most Americans now associate Columbine with a deadly school shooting in Colorado because it happened at Columbine High School.

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I've always liked towers but the D & F Tower in downtown Denver is especially attractive. It was once the corner of a large department store but the store was demolished. Fortunately the tower was saved and it is now a very thin office block.

The tower sits on the 16th Street pedestrian mall. A free bus (shown) runs up and down the mall which makes it easy to get around and to/from the main city bus terminal which is at the southern end of the mall.

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This is our building looking north-east. Although it looks like five townhouses, there are separate units upstairs and downstairs. We live in the one hidden by the tree near the other end.

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Ours is the upstairs unit, or condominium as Americans call it. You can see Lan on the balcony.

It looks most impressive from the front but a walk around the back reveals that the building is actually largely wooden and poorly built. Actually, it's falling apart. When we moved in as renters, the ceiling was opened up to install some beams to stop the center of the building sagging. We now need to deal with the supports for the garage roofs which are sinking into the dirt because proper foundations were not built.

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[2020 update: Note that this photo was from 1999, six years before Google Maps launched and made aerial/satellite views commonplace. At the time this seemed remarkable. At the time I was considering kite aerial photography using a shutter release mechanism based on a melting ice cube! However I never got that far and it was soon apparent that it was aerial photography was available by other means.]

This photo from the US Geological Survey was taken from a site that has photographs of most of America and some places in other countries. The arrow marks where we live. It appears that this photo was taken from an aeroplane, not a satellite. Denver residents may be interested to see this picture of downtown (95k).

[Nov 2008 update: with aerial views available from Mapquest, Yahoo Maps and Google Maps, this isn't so special now. In fact, check out the "bird's eye" view on maps.live.com.]

For something really impressive, have a look at Space Imaging's web site and look at samples from their IKONOS satellite that has a 1m resolution.

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Lan in front of the Colorado State Capitol. The roof is covered with real gold, a reminder of the gold rush of 1859 that brought a flood of prospectors into the state, many of whom stayed when the gold ran out. The top step is supposed to be exactly one mile above sea level giving the city its nickname, the "Mile High City".

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Interstate 70 is the main road heading west out of Denver and it travels through the 1.5 mile (2.4 km) Eisenhower Tunnel at 11,013 ft (3356 m). Vehicles carrying hazardous loads must take the old road over Loveland Pass at 11.990 ft (3654 m). At these altitudes, cars are noticably less powerful since there is less oxygen in the air.

This shot is remarkable because there are no vehicles in the picture. Normally it is carries heavy traffic and every attempt is made to keep it open in winter but once or twice each season a heavy snow closes it for a half-day or so.

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The Colorado Rocky Mountains get a lot of snow such as this from some unidentified place. I believe the ski fields can get 30 ft (10 m) of snow in a season so it is not surprising that people come from everywhere to ski here.

Despite the reputation, Denver itself gets much less. Normally we get a snow storm which may leave perhaps 2" (5 cm) of snow but then within a few days, it has all melted and the roads are dry until the next storm.

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Mining has played a big part in the development of Colorado. Many of the bigger mines were served by narrow-gage railways but all but a few have closed down. This one at Georgetown is a short drive from Denver and carries tourists during the summer. Our friend Steve works there on weekends which is handy as we can ride for free!

The line is interesting because of the loop used to gain height (no room on the mountain to turn back and forth) and the locomotove is interesting because the steam cylinders are vertical with a drive shaft powering the wheels, much like a rear-wheel drive car.

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Denver International Airport was opened just a few weeks before we arrived in 1995. The old airport was unable to operate at normal capacity when it snowed. A completely new airport was built out on the plains and the old one closed. It opened late and way over budget and even then the automated baggage handling system did not work properly.

The main terminal has an unusual roof made of translucent canvas. The planes dock at separate concourses so arriving passengers must take a shuttle train to get to the main terminal to collect their luggage.

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Red Rocks amphitheatre. The seating area is below the letter "s" and it holds five or ten thousand people. The huge rock formations either side keep the sound in.

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