The East Coast of the United States is familiar to me. It is the side of the country where most of my family vacations and travels so far have happened. It was time to head out west and spend more time there than just a layover at the airport.
So I ended up in Denver. I blindly moved to this location knowing nothing more than the elevation and the laid back lifestyle of those that reside there. I just knew it was time to experience the magic of the mountains.
Let’s jump right into transportation shall we. Week two of being in Denver after finally getting my traveling feet back under me after being with my family for six weeks, my vehicle was stolen.
Gone. Never to be found again.
I was forced to navigate Denver’s public transit out of necessity more than curiosity. Much like Chicago, Denver did have a light rail train system and city buses. I did not have the opportunity to use the train as I found that it did not service the areas I most frequented. However, I was able to utilize their city bus system and found it to be very efficient and user friendly. The one thing that did surprise me was the price of the public transit fare. It was $114 for a monthly local pass, which was considerably more than Chicago, especially when you think of the portion of the city it services.
Of course I took some time to be emotional and distraught over the loss of my vehicle, but I did my best to not let it take away the excitement and curiosity I had for exploring my new location. Fun fact and one important thing to note, Denver is the number one city in America for stolen vehicles right now.
Plan accordingly.
When I did get back on the road in another vehicle I quickly learned just how terrible traffic in and around the Denver area was. If you were traveling on I-70 anytime on the weekends or really any time period, it would take hours to go 50-60 miles. This was a huge drawback for me, as sitting in traffic is a waste of time and was very frustrating for it to take so long to get to somewhat close destinations.
To be honest, I am not a nature gal. I can appreciate the outdoors but have never really gone out of my way to be in nature. So it came as a surprise to my family, friends and self when the majority of my free time was spent outside of the city limits of Denver and in the Rocky Mountains. The landscape of the state of Colorado was so very different from anything that I was used to. I even picked up a new hobby, hiking! Spending time outside and seeing all of the sights I possibly could was actually a ton of fun.
My favorite part of Colorado were the small mountain towns that I came across on my travels. It became a fun weekend activity for me to pick a new town to take a day trip to.
I am extremely glad that I chose the fall to spend in this destination. Fallorado is absolutely breathtaking. The gold color of the leaves in the Aspen trees was unlike anything I experienced in all of my falls in Michigan. The weather when I first arrived at the end of August was so hot it was almost unbearable, topping some days at nearly 100 degrees. Which was certainly unexpected but by the time that I was leaving mid-October, it was in the mid-50s to 60s.
The food in Denver wasn’t anything that I was overly impressed with. I did enjoy the restaurants that I tried while there but I would not say that it was a city that I would travel to solely for the purpose of good eats.
I was pleasantly surprised with just how friendly the people in Denver and in Colorado in general were. This was a breath of fresh air after Chicago. I found the city to be very young and fun but because again the majority of my time was spent outside of the city limits I did not have the opportunity to make a lot of great connections while there.
I really was able to experience and see so much during my time in Denver. I am happy with my choice to stay in the city to allow me the opportunity to get my feet wet when it comes to experiencing the west. I do have to say that if I were to vacation to Colorado or spend an extended period of time in the state again, I would not choose to stay in Denver, but maybe Colorado Springs or another smaller mountain town.