Blanche & Lucy visit downtown Denver

Where we live in Arvada, Colorado is only about 10min west of the downtown area of Denver - so we really enjoy running into the city to discover little neighborhoods that make up the great city of Denver.

For this outing we decided to travel to downtown Civic Center Park. Here Blanche & Lucy sit in front of the Denver City & County Building.

We walked through the Civic Center Park to the far end to find that they were in the midst of working on the State Capital building.  But still a beautiful building.

Blanche & Lucy sit on the step at the State Capital building that put us 'One Mile Above Sea Level'.  From this step one mile high we can see 120 miles of Mountains (on a clear day). 

Unfortunately - this was not a clear day - it was overcast and threatened to rain - so we could see the mountains but they were not clear enough to come out well in the photo.

This was my view from 'mile high' across the front of the State House and Civic Center Park to the City & County Building and byond.

The Veteran's Memorial stood tall.

The 'Bronco Buster' Statue.

This is The Denver Library - Cheryl's favorite.

The front of the Denver Library Complex

Long passageway of the Library.

And this stands on the back lawn of the Library.

Across from the Library stood the Denver Art Museum - a beautiful structure.

One of the sculptures outside the Denver Art Museum.  On the first Sat of every month, admission is free for residents - yeah!  We'll be back.

Yes - you are reading this right - this is CELL which stands for the Counter Terrorism Education Learning Lab - freaked me out - but is a center that has tours and speakers that educate people on how to spot potential for terrorism - their motto is "stay alert" - you can check it out at - http://www.thecell.org/

And this is a building we hope never to have to be called to - the Denver Supreme Court.

After leaving the Civic Center Pk we walked north to the 16th St. Mall.

With a backdrop of towering modern buildings was a charming tree lined 1-mile shopping area - Deadly!

No cars are allowed down this one mile stretch - bikes, and a free trolly-like shuttle bus are the only people moves that you will see.

There are several pianos scattered around this one-mile strip that encourage people to make music - this was one of the great piano players / singers we heard along the mall.

In the middle of those high rise skyscrapers are these wonderful older structures that house the many shops and restaurants.

All the shops allowed Blanche and Lucy to come in and visit - which was great!

And all the cafe's and restaurants had outdoor seating that also welcomed pets... we would have stayed all day except this as one of Cheryl's days without her crutches so we had to leave before we really wanted to.