Does your life feel about as exciting as watching grass grow? Don't underestimate that! Alek Komarnitsky, an Air Force vet and former systems administrator whose 1992 MBA thesis was titled "The Internet: The Information Superhighway of the 21st Century," has turned the lawn of his suburban Denver home into an international superstar via watching-grass-grow.com. Komarnitsky first installed his webcam during the very dry summer of 2002 to monitor his grass while he was on vacation. He soon began leaving it up for Halloween and Christmas, and by 2005 it had become a permanent fixture at his home; he started his grass blog the next year. Today, people avidly track (and comment on) the action in Komarnitsky's front yard — not just the growth of the grass itself ("1/25th of an inch/hour," the website advises, "that would be hard to see in the webcam"), but also visits from the mailman, passing cars, shoveling missions and special holiday displays. Sometimes the action is so intense that Mr. Grass, as he's known, adds other videos, including "December 14, 2016 — my son learning to parallel park." Bonus: The theme to Rocky plays throughout (but you can also switch to bluegrass).
Watching-Grass-Grow.com
You expect to check out books and movies from the local library, but did you know you can also check out experiences? If you have a Denver Public Library card, you can visit the DPL's website to book a free pass to the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver or the History Colorado Center up to thirty days in advance. Each museum offers different plans for families, but they typically start with free admission for two adults; at the DMNS, the one-day membership also includes discounts on ticketed exhibits and IMAX shows. You're more of the outdoorsy type? You can also check out a free, one-week Colorado State Park pass and activity backpack at any DPL branch. Way to go.
denverlibrary.org
Readers' Choice: City Park Jazz
With Chop Shop Casual Urban Eatery, chef/owner Clint Wangsnes and co-owner Christian Anderson gave residents of Park Hill and Montclair exactly what they needed: a casual hangout for lunch and dinner where families could feel comfortable and order from a menu that doesn't stoop to the usual fast-casual tricks but still keeps prices low. Sure, you can grab a burger, a salad or a sandwich here, but those sandwiches are stacked with housemade meats like smoked chicken pastrami and slow-roasted sirloin shaved paper-thin. And thanks to Wangsnes's penchant for sous-vide cooking, favorites like the 48-hour short rib and 72-hour onion soup benefit from long cooking times without adding to customer waits. Peppered with flavors from Thailand, China, Japan and the Mediterranean, Chop Shop's menu captures the international spirit of Colfax Avenue.
Readers' Choice: Solera
The folks at Coors Field prefer to use the term "holding rooms" rather than "jail cells" to describe the enclosures to which stadium security personnel takes fans who may have edged over the line of acceptable rowdiness. But they're definitely not places where anyone would like to hang out, especially during a game. The spaces are small and narrow, with the main decor being a metal bench. And while there are no locks on the doors, people placed in the rooms aren't going anywhere, as they're routinely handcuffed to a bar until Denver police can arrive and spirit them off to real jail. Anyone who spends time there will definitely think twice about returning.
Blame it on the legal weed, the constantly growing music-festival offerings or Denver's proximity to Boulder, but the Mile High City is quickly becoming infested with wooks. Don't know what a wook is? Imagine every bad, mooching quality possessed by a stereotypical hippie, and there you go. Fortunately, Colorado has a Facebook group of rangers who protect us from this growing horde of dreadlocks and corndogs: Colorado Big Game Trophy Wook Hunters. Admission into the selective online hunting squad is by member invitation only, and group administrators still check your profile afterward to make sure you don't exhibit any wookish behavior. Bagging and tagging (photographing) these beasts in the wild can become addicting after your first catch, and the group's hilarious captions only up the ante. Hunters don't tolerate laziness: Photos taken at wook breeding grounds, like String Cheese shows and Sancho's Broken Arrow, are too easy and strictly prohibited. But if you have a camera and half a joint at Civic Center Park, you've got the makings of a perfect wook trap.