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Best Second Coming of Santa

Downtown Aurora

Not to be outdone by anyone, the Northern Aurora Business Association ships its Father Christmas in by helicopter, in wind-whipping style, stirring up a racket that no number of flying reindeer could ever hope to make. Each December, Aurora's Santa Claus arrives from the heavens by chopper, with Mrs. Santa in tow, before heading over to Fletcher Plaza to confer with his eager young constituents. Next thing you know, the old guy will be flying a stealth bomber.

Best Second Coming of a Sports God

Michael Jordan

Most fans -- and ticket scalpers -- had given up on the idea of a bonanza for the head Washington Wizard's sole visit to the Pepsi Center this season. While the hapless Nugs limped into oblivion, MJ was hobbled following mid-season arthroscopic surgery on his 39-year-old right knee. Still, he suited up on March 20, and while he publicly said he treated the contest like a practice, flashbulbs lit up the return of the twice-retired Airness. Jordan didn't score much, but "ticket brokers" did. Any bets on a third coming next year?

Best Way to Feel the Breeze

Ski-A-Thong
Telluride Ski Resort

Bikini skiing has been around for awhile, but on March 30, Telluride unwrapped its male version in tandem with its Bikini Slalom. Men dressed in thongs competed for awards while letting just about all of it hang out.

Best Place to Become a Peak Cross-Country Skier

Frisco Nordic Center

Americans cheered not just Olympic medalists, but those overachievers who ventured where no American ski or blade has gone before. In the latter category: the American men's Nordic relay team, including Coloradan Matt Dayton, whose fourth-place finish brought the team closer to a medal than ever before. For years, Dayton's family has run the Frisco Nordic Center, which offers 43 kilometers of groomed trails for potential Olympians. While the Daytons can't guarantee international glory, they can give you plenty of room to roam.

Best Colorado Peak Performance at the Olympics

Mt. Wilson

John Williams's American Journey, a CD on the Sony Classical label, was released in conjunction with the Salt Lake City Olympics; it's kicked off by "Call of the Champions," the official theme of the Winter Games, and the disc features the Olympic insignia on a cover distinguished by a snow-covered mountain. However, the lovely scenery pictured is Mt. Wilson, a crag that can be found in Colorado (near Telluride), not in Utah. According to an article in Salt Lake City's Deseret News, officials from Sony mistakenly believed the photo depicted a portion of the Wasatch Range, but Internet gossips were able to prove otherwise. Give that mountain a gold medal.

Best Way to Bag Two Fourteeners in a Day

Grays Peak/Torreys Peak

Summiting Colorado's fourteeners -- the 55 peaks that rise above 14,000 feet -- has become so trendy that the Saturday crush up a Front Range trail can sweep a hiker along, boots barely touching the ground. So even if you aren't Sir Edmund Hillary's nephew, you can bag two peaks in one day by heading to Grays Peak and Torreys Peak, mountains named for a couple of Harvard dons. Located three miles south of Exit 221 on I-70, the 14,267-foot Torreys is linked by a saddle with Grays, just three feet taller. Depending on the season, it's a fairly easy hike and a fine way to double your bragging rights.

Best Trail Named for a Blind Mountaineer

Erik Weihenmayer Trail for Health
Lookout Mountain Nature Center and Preserve

Erik Weihenmayer, the first blind climber to conquer Everest, has teamed with the American Hiking Society to promote outdoor hiking, even for folks with allergies and disabilities. His namesake trail on Lookout Mountain is an easy walk for almost everyone, making Weihenmayer the perfect poster boy in the campaign to get folks off their butts and into the great outdoors.

Best Mountain Park

Genesee Park
Jefferson County

For sheer accessibility and versatility, it's hard to beat Genesee Park, Denver's first -- and largest -- mountain park, just off of I-70 at Exit 254. Created between 1912 and 1937, this park has all the outdoor amenities, from grills to softball fields, as well as the most-gawked-at section: an elk and bison enclosure. Also noteworthy is the Braille Trail, with signs in Braille and waist-high guide wire.

Best City Park

Washington Park

Folks are passionate about their parks. City Park-lovers rave about the zoo, the museum and strolling in the fall. Pro-Cheesmanites cite the glories of their turf; others tout locations along Cherry Creek. Some whisper of undiscovered gems. Well, nobody's going to claim that Washington Park is undiscovered; after all, according to the Denver Department of Parks and Recreation, Wash Park has the most heavily used rec center in the city. Since that center restored its Sunday hours and last year's road rehab smoothed the way, this landmark keeps gathering accolades just as its beloved squirrels gather nuts.

Best Riverfront

Central Platte Valley

We didn't need to read Sunset magazine to recognize that Denver has the country's best riverfront. But a visit to the South Platte River wasn't always a day at the beach. Over a century ago, it was "a miserable yellow melancholy stream," according to Mark Twain. "I wouldn't leave it out at night. Some dog might come along and lap it all up." And three decades ago, before the Platte River Greenway Foundation started cleaning up the riverfront, the stretch of the South Platte running through metro Denver was a noxious mess. Today, though, miles of walking/biking/running paths course along its pristine banks, leading you on an urban adventure under viaducts, past arenas and ballfields, and right into the heart of the Central Platte Valley. There, the Platte now anchors a stretch of parks ranging from the Denver Skatepark on the north end to Bee Hive Park on the south, near the new stadium. And thanks to some new public art, we even have a ship's mast reaching out of the valley toward downtown.

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