Thanksgiving Weekend in Denver
Nov 30th, 2014, 03:42 PM
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Thanksgiving Weekend in Denver
I am an exchange student studying at the University of Utah and trying to see as much of the US as possible. Thanksgiving seemed like an excellent opportunity to go away for a long weekend. Colorado had been on my travel list for a while, so with a good flight deal to Denver, I was off.
I flew with Frontier Airlines. We arrived in Denver 30 minutes early (scheduled 1.5 hour flight) which was a nice bonus! (I flew out on the Thursday) The flight home was delayed 1.5 hours unfortunately, but travelling home on Sunday evening, I knew the airports would be busy!
I travelled from the airport into downtown Denver using the local bus. It costs $11 (need to have exact change) and takes about 50 minutes. Very easy to use and much cheaper than the shuttles or taxis! (RTD Sky Ride)
I was staying at Hampton Inn and Suites Downtown. It was very clean, spacious and great value for money. Breakfast was a buffet with cereal, toast, bakery items and cooked options. Also cookies, fruit and hot drinks were complementary throughout the day.
I had half a day on the Thursday. Being Thanksgiving, I arrived knowing that most things would be closed. Just explored 16th Street Mall and got my orientation of town.
I had booked two tours with Colorado Sightseer – one was the Winter Rocky Mountain Tour and the other was Pikes Peak Region and Manitou Springs. I had read reviews that they cancelled the tours when numbers are insufficient. I therefore called up two days before hand to confirm my tours. I was unable to get through to a person so left a message. I received a reminder email from them about my tour and pick up time. Needless to say, I was not impressed when 15 minutes before scheduled pick up on the Friday I received a call telling me that my Pikes Peak tour was cancelled. No apologies, but did confirm the Rocky Mountain Tour was going ahead. I was then scrambling to work out what I was going to do with my Friday (more on this later).
The Rocky Mountain Tour was very good. My tour guide was Mark, and there were six other people on the tour. As I didn’t want to drive, particularly not with the chance of snow (I am from Australia so drive on the left and no snow!) a tour was my best option for seeing the mountains. The tour was 8 hours from pick up to drop off. We were given plenty of opportunities to take photos. Most of the tour was photo stops, though we did have a short walk out to Bear Lake. A beautiful lake, which I gather normally includes a walk around it in summer, but since there was snow we just admired the lake and took some photos. We were given an hour and a quarter for lunch in Estes Park before heading back to Denver. Mark was an excellent guide, with a wealth of information and very chatty.
On Friday, after a quick search on the internet, I decided to hop on the local bus out to Boulder. The town was bigger than I realised. I browsed through the main tourist/shopping strip in downtown and walked through the University of Colorado, which was a beautiful campus. I would have liked to hike up into the mountains, but the information office wasn’t open.
On the ride back to Denver, the bus stopped outside a big shopping centre, so being Black Friday I decided to go shopping. The centre was called FlatIrons and had a Macy, Nordstrom, H&M, Blue Navy, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and Forever 21 along with many other stores.
On Saturday evening after my tour I walked to 16th Street Mall to look at the Christmas lights. Lots of people about and the lights were pretty. The Friday was the official ‘lighting’ ceremony at Union Station. Celebrations included a German market and an ice skating rink which was free to skate on ($2 skate rentals if needed) which was pretty busy!
Sunday I headed out to City Park, where I believe there are good views of Denver skyline. However, by the time I had reached the park, the clouds had rolled in and the view was very uninspiring. You get a pretty good view when driving into Denver from the airport though!
I also visited the Cathedral Basilica of Immaculate Conception. It is a beautiful church. Since it was chilly outside and a service was just starting when I arrived, I sat down and joined the service whilst admiring the organ music and the architecture!
Despite the disappointment of not going to the Garden of the Gods or Pikes Peak, my long weekend in Denver was an enjoyable experience!
I flew with Frontier Airlines. We arrived in Denver 30 minutes early (scheduled 1.5 hour flight) which was a nice bonus! (I flew out on the Thursday) The flight home was delayed 1.5 hours unfortunately, but travelling home on Sunday evening, I knew the airports would be busy!
I travelled from the airport into downtown Denver using the local bus. It costs $11 (need to have exact change) and takes about 50 minutes. Very easy to use and much cheaper than the shuttles or taxis! (RTD Sky Ride)
I was staying at Hampton Inn and Suites Downtown. It was very clean, spacious and great value for money. Breakfast was a buffet with cereal, toast, bakery items and cooked options. Also cookies, fruit and hot drinks were complementary throughout the day.
I had half a day on the Thursday. Being Thanksgiving, I arrived knowing that most things would be closed. Just explored 16th Street Mall and got my orientation of town.
I had booked two tours with Colorado Sightseer – one was the Winter Rocky Mountain Tour and the other was Pikes Peak Region and Manitou Springs. I had read reviews that they cancelled the tours when numbers are insufficient. I therefore called up two days before hand to confirm my tours. I was unable to get through to a person so left a message. I received a reminder email from them about my tour and pick up time. Needless to say, I was not impressed when 15 minutes before scheduled pick up on the Friday I received a call telling me that my Pikes Peak tour was cancelled. No apologies, but did confirm the Rocky Mountain Tour was going ahead. I was then scrambling to work out what I was going to do with my Friday (more on this later).
The Rocky Mountain Tour was very good. My tour guide was Mark, and there were six other people on the tour. As I didn’t want to drive, particularly not with the chance of snow (I am from Australia so drive on the left and no snow!) a tour was my best option for seeing the mountains. The tour was 8 hours from pick up to drop off. We were given plenty of opportunities to take photos. Most of the tour was photo stops, though we did have a short walk out to Bear Lake. A beautiful lake, which I gather normally includes a walk around it in summer, but since there was snow we just admired the lake and took some photos. We were given an hour and a quarter for lunch in Estes Park before heading back to Denver. Mark was an excellent guide, with a wealth of information and very chatty.
On Friday, after a quick search on the internet, I decided to hop on the local bus out to Boulder. The town was bigger than I realised. I browsed through the main tourist/shopping strip in downtown and walked through the University of Colorado, which was a beautiful campus. I would have liked to hike up into the mountains, but the information office wasn’t open.
On the ride back to Denver, the bus stopped outside a big shopping centre, so being Black Friday I decided to go shopping. The centre was called FlatIrons and had a Macy, Nordstrom, H&M, Blue Navy, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and Forever 21 along with many other stores.
On Saturday evening after my tour I walked to 16th Street Mall to look at the Christmas lights. Lots of people about and the lights were pretty. The Friday was the official ‘lighting’ ceremony at Union Station. Celebrations included a German market and an ice skating rink which was free to skate on ($2 skate rentals if needed) which was pretty busy!
Sunday I headed out to City Park, where I believe there are good views of Denver skyline. However, by the time I had reached the park, the clouds had rolled in and the view was very uninspiring. You get a pretty good view when driving into Denver from the airport though!
I also visited the Cathedral Basilica of Immaculate Conception. It is a beautiful church. Since it was chilly outside and a service was just starting when I arrived, I sat down and joined the service whilst admiring the organ music and the architecture!
Despite the disappointment of not going to the Garden of the Gods or Pikes Peak, my long weekend in Denver was an enjoyable experience!
