Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Met a woman I am dating for the May 5th-7th weekend in Denver. She flew in from Oregon, and I flew in from Maryland. I'm 53, waiting for a job offer with a salary on-par with what I make in MD (programmer / contractor / DoD work) and it'll either be Denver or San Antonio (small chance of Colorado Springs or Austin). Here are my musings on the visit, while it's still fresh in my mind. A lot of it is backed-up by comments I have read on this board.
Took the advice of many, "Visit Denver before deciding".
Also will take the advice, "Find a job here before relocating". Fingers are crossed.
Denver Airport is huge. Overwhelmingly so for a casual traveler like myself. It seems at least to be a major hub for United, and strikes me as being too small for the huge number of travelers it sees pass through. Having to take a train/rail to get from the concourses to baggage claim/ground transport (and, it being so crowded it took until the third arrival to squeeze into the damned thing), as well as the mass of humanity trying to be the next one up the escalators caused some frustration. Upon departure, the TSA lines were a mess, the bag scanner along the roller belt was a huge bottleneck. Once through, though, the shops and food places and waiting areas were clean and comfortable.
Overall: DIA: C
First time in my life I've ever seen a 75 MPH speed limit sign. MY rental (Jeep Patriot) couldn't keep up, I gave up trying. The Toll Road, even if pricy, seems worth it over Gun Club Road (the little I saw of it). Roads were in great shape, wide, well marked.
Overall: Roads A-
The mountain range to the west was simply beautiful, I remarked that it would take many years before I looked in that direction and didn't marvel. Plus I always new what direction "west" was. As I drove I noted the dotting of housing developments looked kinda cool, on the hills, from the highway, you could get an idea of the neighborhood's dimensions. And their cookie-cutter-like nature.
Overall: View A+
Friday night, took the train from the airport (hotel was up in that area) down to Union Station. Nine bucks apiece ("A" line). Not a great experience, it was rather slow, and took forever to leave the Airport station. Took over an hour and fifteen minutes from buying the tickets to arriving at Union Station. Uber'd back for $20.
Overall: RDV C-
Walked around the Coor's Field/Market St area, LoDo (Lower Downtown?) Okay, it was Cinco de Mayo but not my scene at all. 20-somethings clustered everywhere, yelling and swearing, long lines at the bars, loud car stereos, roof top music, public urination, reminded me of Spring Break on the strip or something. My date wanted to "walk around downtown", but it was a mistake and we left after about 30 minutes. On the plus side right outside Union Station we ate at a grill that had outdoor seating and one of the best burgers I've ever eaten.
Overall: LoDo D (maybe this isn't fair because of the "drinking" holiday and proximity to a college)
Saturday drove down the see the Garden of the Gods. Long ride, why on I25 did the traffic slow to about 25 MPH a couple of times for no apparent reason ? No speed trap, police activity nor accidents. It was ... odd. No way could I tolerate that ride as part of a daily commute, not even from Castle Rock. You posters are, again, exactly right ... folks do it but it sucks. Garden of the Gods - the gigantic red (and white) rock formations - were gorgeous, we loved the hike, and I even saw some Cacti (you are of course correct it is a high-altitude arid desert).
Overall: GotG A+ (not Denver, but in my purview)
Then to the Denver Botanical Gardens. It was 85 Freakin' Degrees but I listened to you all about keeping hydrated, we drank like fish, got some sunblock at a 7-11 on our way to GotG. Overall, not too impressed, it was a nice way to spend two hours but the offerings were just a bit ... meh. The drive took us through some nice neighborhoods, some old homes of varying styles, from reading here I knew they must be in the $600K-$750K range. Some were under renovation. I felt claustrophobic driving through these areas.
Overall: Botanical Gardens: D+ (Not at all like the pics on-line, did we hit it too early in the season?)
Next we went to the World-famous Denver Zoo. Pretty much a waste of time, but we were in the vicinity, so whatever. Pretty darned crowded, and pretty forgettable.
Overall: Zoo D
Had dinner at a restaurant named "Jeb's", up near the airport (Pena Road?) of which I am not sure if it is a restaurant chain or a single instance. The guy that waited on us was one of the best ever, he instantly got points for not saying he "would be taking care of us" but rather "would be our server" that evening. The prime rib au jus with horseradish sauce, mushrooms, and baked potato (and the bottle of Oregon red) merit this dinner's listing in my Denver musings. Even though the wine was from Oregon. I can still taste this savory meal.
Overall: Jeb's A+
The high altitude didn't affect me while out hiking and walking around, but while I was lying in bed it felt like someone was sitting on my chest. It felt like I was only half-filling my lungs, likely from the thinner atmosphere. I did drink a lot of water, and worked up a good sweat out in the blazing sun. My sandals gave me some nasty blisters, though.
Overall: Altitude sickness N/A
Sunday morning the two hour time zone change caught up with me, slept in rather than seeing the Red Rocks ampitheater (next time). I suspect it would have paled in comparison with GotG. Instead we took advantage of our free noon-3PM span of hours by riding back to Union Station (in the rental, this time!) and parked in a garage. Walked downtown in a straight line across a bridge with a sailboat design (angled cables), a park, a creek, and some apartments named "Commons"-something-or-other ($1200/mo 1BR apts). Lots of young couples with one or two dogs, running, playing in the park, walking ... it is true, posters who have mentioned the dog-friendly nature of the city (if this is a good example). I only saw an occasional baby in a stroller and no kids from say 2-18 yrs old. Assume when they get to that age the tiny cramped apartment gets traded in for a home in the suburbs and a minivan. This time downtown it occurred to me that there were construction cranes as far as the eye could see, with chain-link fences blocking folks from walking/driving where debris could fall, and cinder-block stairwells rising like chimneys as part of the first phases of such structures.
Overall: Downtown, Part Two: B (lots of small places to grab a meal, snack, cup of coffee, smoothie ...)
tl;dr: Did I love Denver ? Could I live there ? Will I keep looking for a position there ? Yes, to all three.
The reasons I-25 backs up between Tomah Road and the top of Monument Hill are terrain, volume, and capacity. It's a narrow, twisty, 4-lane section of highway that's mostly uphill going southbound and semis and other slow vehicles clog the left lane trying to get around even slower vehicles. When that happens the volume's heavy enough that it doesn't take much to stack traffic even in sunny & dry conditions.
I'm not sure but I suspect yes, you're just too early for the Botanical Gardens - growing season is barely getting underway here. Glad you enjoyed Garden of the Gods - I live down in the Springs and work right next to it and it is a view that never gets old!
I will only comment on DIA, because your first impression repeats mine almost to a "t".
My first time in Denver I really don't recall noticing how big DIA was. My second time in Denver was for a job interview, where I actually already had an offer, but asked to fly in and meet the team before making my decision. Of course, I was scrutinizing everything I could scrutinize on that trip. I, too, came back with an impression of how huge DIA was.
Fast forward 6.5 years. I didn't fly much my first 5 years here, but starting in 2016 I started travelling for work relatively regularly. I have to say, despite being big, DIA, at least, makes sense. Compare, for example, with LAX. Same size, but completely disjointed, infrastructure that needs to be connected, is spread across multiple levels. Of course, DIA is a newer airport and it is much better organized.
Once I "learned" DIA, I realized it was easily manageable. For example, if you are departing from an A concourse, check to see if security checkpoint on the "bridge" is less busy than main checkpoints in the main hall downstairs (there are monitors on level 5, I believe, showing the wait time for security). There is also flydenver.com that has the same info.
The train arrives every 2 minutes, so even if you just missed one, there will be another one along very soon. And I've never had trouble getting into one, and I've been to the airport during some busy times. (I'm not arguing with the OP, but just stating that his experience - not being able to take the first or second train - is unusual).
RTD "A" line does have issues (which are, hopefully, about to be solved).
New Westin hotel is beautiful.
I kinda like arriving at DIA after a week of travel - it spells "home" now .
P.S. In addition to United hub, Denver is also big Southwest hub. Also, being (almost) in the middle of the country helps, lost of non-stop flights to either coast.
I will only comment on DIA, because your first impression repeats mine almost to a "t".
My first time in Denver I really don't recall noticing how big DIA was. My second time in Denver was for a job interview, where I actually already had an offer, but asked to fly in and meet the team before making my decision. Of course, I was scrutinizing everything I could scrutinize on that trip. I, too, came back with an impression of how huge DIA was.
Fast forward 6.5 years. I didn't fly much my first 5 years here, but starting in 2016 I started travelling for work relatively regularly. I have to say, despite being big, DIA, at least, makes sense. Compare, for example, with LAX. Same size, but completely disjointed, infrastructure that needs to be connected, is spread across multiple levels. Of course, DIA is a newer airport and it is much better organized.
Once I "learned" DIA, I realized it was easily manageable. For example, if you are departing from an A concourse, check to see if security checkpoint on the "bridge" is less busy than main checkpoints in the main hall downstairs (there are monitors on level 5, I believe, showing the wait time for security). There is also flydenver.com that has the same info.
The train arrives every 2 minutes, so even if you just missed one, there will be another one along very soon. And I've never had trouble getting into one, and I've been to the airport during some busy times. (I'm not arguing with the OP, but just stating that his experience - not being able to take the first or second train - is unusual).
RTD "A" line does have issues (which are, hopefully, about to be solved).
New Westin hotel is beautiful.
I kinda like arriving at DIA after a week of travel - it spells "home" now .
P.S. In addition to United hub, Denver is also big Southwest hub. Also, being (almost) in the middle of the country helps, lost of non-stop flights to either coast.
Agree. I have flown every week since mid January. DIA is a very nice airport to travel from.
As for the OPs comment on a $20 uber ride from downtown to the airport, that seems really low. My uber rides to the airport are double that. I do them weekly.
I know this might sound crazy, but for me, DIA was one of the best things about living in Denver. Just prior to moving to Denver, we had lived for 10 years in two different small cities that were a 2 hour drive away from any major airports. I can't tell you how depressing it used to be to spend hours on a plane, only to land and know you had to face a 2 hour drive home.
So, when we moved to Denver and the airport was only about 15-20 minutes away, it was a godsend. We used to pick people up and not even leave our house until they had texted us that their plane had landed!!! And with small kids, I actually found the enormity of DIA to be a benefit, not a hindrance. So may things to do kept them engaged and interested, and so much walking tired them out before getting on the plane.
I love these "see ourselves as others see us" posts. They force us to look outside of our own little bubble.
That said, WRT DIA-I have traveled through a lot of airports, from the tiny Williamsport, PA airport to the "big kahunas", e.g. Newark/La Guardia in NYC, SFO and LAX in Cali, and been through Chicago O'Hare too many times to even count. Each airport is its own "adventure". I remember at one airport (I think Boston but may be mistaken) having to take a shuttle bus from one concourse to another to catch a connecting flight. In Cleveland and LAX, we had to take shuttles to the car rental agencies several miles away from the airport proper. Minneapolis has two terminals and is a bit difficult to figure out. Pittsburgh International is rightly named "PIA". It is a PIA. The Cincinnatti airport (actually in Kentucky) is quite similar to DIA with its train system.
Ironically, I was at DIA on May 5 to pick up my daughter around noon. I thought DIA seemed quite empty compared to its usual activity.
The Minnesota Botanic Gardens are bigger, covering more ground, but they told us Denver was a model for them with their glass exhibits, and I noticed their gardens were more traditional while DBG has a more "out of the box" approach. Omaha's Lauritzen gardens are neat on a hill overlooking the Missouri River.
The zoo, yes, is a basic zoo.
You will love Red Rocks!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
