RODEO GA GA
Northern Colorado the cool place to be
Yee-haw! Unleash your inner cowboy in Colorado.
You join me seated at a table positioned in the middle of the 16th Street Mall in downtown Denver, Colorado.
The sun is shining, the heat is dry and I am glad of the rest, as over the past few days I have walked 45 miles as I wandered around. It is something of an annoyance to me that when at home I can barely walk the length of myself, but put me somewhere different and I become a veritable Forrest Gump and just keep on going.
Now, before you think I have taken leave of my senses, the Mall is a pedestrianised, mile-long shopping street in the milehigh city. The only vehicles are the free buses which transport shoppers around the area.
At one end, 16th Street is topped by the incredible Union Station, often the first and last building that travellers see as they journey to or from the city. The station is truly stunning and is reminiscent of the great days of rail travel. It’s like walking into the 1920s when you go through the door.
If you follow American sport, nearby is Coors Field, the home of baseball in the city, and not too far away is the Mile High Stadium, base of the Denver Broncos.
At the other end of 16th Street, the State Capitol is a beautiful building surrounded by a great park. On the day I visited, the area was full of food trucks, which are big business in the USA and I quite happily meandered around trying samples of the wide variety of dishes available.
The city is, of course, very close to the Rockies so they allow for an easy day trip. I highly recommend the Lariat Loop, a 40-mile trip into the mountains. Attractions include the Coors Brewery, the Colorado Railroad Museum and Buffalo Bill’s grave site. Bill Cody was a bison hunter and showman who took his Wild Westthemed show on tour all over the USA, UK and Europe in
the late 1800s. He is buried at the top of Lookout Mountain, overlooking Denver and the Great Plains.
Red Rocks, not too far below Lookout Mountain, is a natural acoustic amphitheatre which has seen performances by some of the world’s best-known artists. The Beatles performed there in 1964 and were followed by the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Sonny & Cher, and the Blues Brothers.
I am not one for cliches, but I did find my inner cowboy on this trip. I hired a convertible Mustang, bought a Stetson and drove off into the wild blue yonder to find some bison. Cheyenne, Wyoming, is only an hour away from Denver, but it is a different world altogether.
The Terry Bison Ranch is a well-established working farm of 30,000 acres where you get so close to the bison they literally eat out of your hand.
There is a real sense of heritage when you stand in the centre of Cheyenne.
The railroad building flanks one side of Depot Plaza, with the famous Wrangler western-wear shop on another.
Every summer more than 500,000 people descend on Cheyenne for Frontier Days. Known as “the daddy of ’em all”, it is a 10-day rodeo and country music celebration which has run annually since 1897.
While I had the car, I took the chance to visit another city which was ingrained in my head from an early age. The city of Boulder, Colorado, was the base for the classic series Mork And Mindy.
While it is a private residence, the current owners are all too used to seeing random tourists appearing at their fence to get a quick snap. You can continue your own Mork and Mindy trail by visiting the nearby Pearl Street Mall, where the music store and deli were set.
It was while enjoying a meal and beer at the West Flanders Brewing Company that was I was told that within a 10-minute walk from where I was seated I could be hiking in the foothills of the Rockies.
With its temperate climate and easily walkable cities, Northern Colorado and Wyoming are an ideal location to enjoy quite a chilled out way of life.