View to a Chill

There's still time for a road trip this holiday weekend. Head up I-70 to the Buffalo Bill Museum on Lookout Mountain, a Denver facility that features not only fascinating displays devoted to William F. Cody's life and times, but a terrific gift store and a spectacular view of the plains below. That view is reportedly why Cody wanted to be buried on this site. But the master showman actually passed away at his sister's house in downtown Denver in January 1917, and his body was put on ice until the ground thawed. So after you've paid homage to Cody's final resting place, you can chill back in Denver at Cody's temporary stop: Vita, the hip Italian restaurant at 1575 Boulder Street, which occupies part of the old Olinger Mortuary. Vita opens at 5 p.m. today, its patio has a view of downtown almost as spectacular as the one from Lookout Mountain, and it pours drinks powerful enough to wake the dead. For more on the museum, go to www.buffalobill.org; for Vita, go to www.vitadenver.com.