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Best Tennis Court -- Urban

Blake Street Bath and Racquet Club

Few people know it, but deepest concrete LoDo boasts its own tennis court. Available by invitation only, the Blake Street Bath and Racquet Club was built as part of a condo project in the 1970s. Now surrounded by new lofts with iron-fenced balconies, the court is just barely visible from the street. "There is more playing space on the ends and sides than most urban residential courts, but sharply angled volleys and serves still produce excitement and results," a tennis historian wrote about it a couple years back in Colorado Tennis.

Best Tennis Court -- Leafy

If you're looking for perfect bounces and ideal lighting, the solitary, hidden tennis court at 10th Avenue and Olive Street might not be for you. But if you want atmosphere, you'd be hard-pressed to find a better place to play a few sets. Encased by beautiful mature, ivy-covered fences, the court was built by the grandfather of Denver tennis doyenne Mary Silverstein in 1891. For the next half-century, the family used it as a private court, as well as a bike-riding training ground and an ice-skating rink. Today it's known to only a handful of locals, most of whom use its undulating surface to ride skateboards and bicycles. Still, if you can find it, it's worthwhile to stop and hit a few strokes, just for the quiet history.

Best Tennis Court -- Leafy

If you're looking for perfect bounces and ideal lighting, the solitary, hidden tennis court at 10th Avenue and Olive Street might not be for you. But if you want atmosphere, you'd be hard-pressed to find a better place to play a few sets. Encased by beautiful mature, ivy-covered fences, the court was built by the grandfather of Denver tennis doyenne Mary Silverstein in 1891. For the next half-century, the family used it as a private court, as well as a bike-riding training ground and an ice-skating rink. Today it's known to only a handful of locals, most of whom use its undulating surface to ride skateboards and bicycles. Still, if you can find it, it's worthwhile to stop and hit a few strokes, just for the quiet history.

Best Private Tennis Courts

Denver Tennis Club

Plenty of new tennis courts have sprung up around the metro area as wealthy residents have pushed into the suburbs. But after a layer of Har-Tru and a chain-link fence, what really distinguishes one place from another? The answer is feel and tradition; after all, Wimbledon without history is just another place for Brits to frolic on the lawn. For this reason, the Denver Tennis Club's dozen courts (two of them clay) get the nod. This past year, the club celebrated its 75th anniversary. Since 1928, the Denver City Open has been held there every year except 1950, when a spat among members temporarily forced the tennis tournament back to City Park. The only downside to the place? No lights -- and the cost of joining has climbed somewhat since the first $5 initiation and $15 annual fees were levied. Today it'll cost you $675 to sign on and $465 per year for membership.

Best Private Tennis Courts

Denver Tennis Club

Plenty of new tennis courts have sprung up around the metro area as wealthy residents have pushed into the suburbs. But after a layer of Har-Tru and a chain-link fence, what really distinguishes one place from another? The answer is feel and tradition; after all, Wimbledon without history is just another place for Brits to frolic on the lawn. For this reason, the Denver Tennis Club's dozen courts (two of them clay) get the nod. This past year, the club celebrated its 75th anniversary. Since 1928, the Denver City Open has been held there every year except 1950, when a spat among members temporarily forced the tennis tournament back to City Park. The only downside to the place? No lights -- and the cost of joining has climbed somewhat since the first $5 initiation and $15 annual fees were levied. Today it'll cost you $675 to sign on and $465 per year for membership.

Best Golf Course

Fossil Trace

Let's just agree that any golfing experience is enhanced by the presence of a genuine triceratops footprint etched into the rocks dotted about the course. This summer will mark the first anniversary of the opening of Fossil Trace, the city of Golden's entrance into the lucrative business of civic golf. The public course ($36 per eighteen holes for Golden residents, $41 for Jeffco residents, $46 for everyone else) has garnered numerous awards for its unique setting and use of local features. Most notable: the twenty-foot high sandstone rock formations pocked with fossils that ring the twelfth hole.

Best Golf Course

Fossil Trace

Let's just agree that any golfing experience is enhanced by the presence of a genuine triceratops footprint etched into the rocks dotted about the course. This summer will mark the first anniversary of the opening of Fossil Trace, the city of Golden's entrance into the lucrative business of civic golf. The public course ($36 per eighteen holes for Golden residents, $41 for Jeffco residents, $46 for everyone else) has garnered numerous awards for its unique setting and use of local features. Most notable: the twenty-foot high sandstone rock formations pocked with fossils that ring the twelfth hole.

Best Skate Park

Denver Skatepark

Hate to be obvious, but as the city boasts, the Denver Skatepark is the largest free public skate facility in the nation. With over 50,000 square feet full of planters, curbs, rails and a half-pipe, the park was envisioned and designed as a way to lure away the hordes of young skaters who descended on the 16th Street Mall and other city streets every day looking for a fee-free place to grind. It's lit, so the park is open from 5 a.m. until 11 p.m. every day of the year. Heck, someone else might even cite it at the next HUD gathering: Best Solution to an Urban Problem That Has Actually Worked.

Best Skate Park

Denver Skatepark

Hate to be obvious, but as the city boasts, the Denver Skatepark is the largest free public skate facility in the nation. With over 50,000 square feet full of planters, curbs, rails and a half-pipe, the park was envisioned and designed as a way to lure away the hordes of young skaters who descended on the 16th Street Mall and other city streets every day looking for a fee-free place to grind. It's lit, so the park is open from 5 a.m. until 11 p.m. every day of the year. Heck, someone else might even cite it at the next HUD gathering: Best Solution to an Urban Problem That Has Actually Worked.

Best Use of a Horse

Arapahoe Hunt

Tired of guiding your old nag around and around the indoor arena? Then ride him like he was meant to be ridden -- hurtling across field and stream alongside a pack of baying hounds in search of a varmint to shred. Most weekends from October to April, as well as on the occasional Wednesday, the Arapahoe Hunt pursues coyotes across a 22,000-acre spread on the site of the old Lowry bombing range. Now in its 75th year, the hunt is one of the oldest in the West. It was started in 1907, took a short break during World War I, but resumed coyote-terrorizing operations in 1929 and has been going full gallop ever since. Anyone with a horse can join in the fun, as long as he's willing to ride well and follow local customs.

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