Best Of Denver® 2006 Winners
Sports & Recreation
BEST UNOFFICIAL SKATEPARK
Little Dry Creek drainage ditch Westminster
The large drainage ditch that runs through the Harris Park neighborhood near West 72nd Avenue and Sheridan Boulevard in Westminster resembles one of those huge, concrete arroyos in Los Angeles that are notorious for suddenly filling with flash-flood waters -- along with abandoned El Caminos, stray dogs and Huffy-riding children. But Little Dry Creek lives up to its name and is usually no more than a foot-wide flow relegated to a narrow channel bordered on each side by large, banked walls. That's why the sections at the top, with a series of tall, concrete wedges and an oversized launch ramp, have been a prime unofficial spot for local skaters since the '80s. But ever since the site popped up as a major destination on Thrasher magazine's King of the Road tour, pros and bros from all over are heading to the ditch -- and keeping an eye out for storm clouds.
BEST PROOF THAT DENVER SPORTS FANS ARE PRETTY DAMN POLITE
"Suit up, you chump!"
Denver is one of America's great sports cities, in large part because the majority of the fans here are much less abusive than their peers in other towns. As evidence, consider the incident that took place at the February 8 game between the Denver Nuggets and the Chicago Bulls: High-priced forward Kenyon Martin was sitting out yet another game with a sore knee, and when a man yelled something at him, he sent a pal into the stands to express his displeasure. But as it turned out, the offending remark -- "Suit up, you chump!" -- had to be one of the mildest insults in NBA history. Not only did the line make K-Mart's over-the-top response look even more idiotic, but it captured the polite restraint of Denver fans. And if you don't agree, you're a chump!
The Montbello Warriors may have fallen to the mighty East High Angels when the two basketball powerhouses clashed this winter, but when it came to school spirit, Montbello blew East right out of the arena. East's meager handful of cheerleaders were no match for the all-out battalion of Warriors at the opposite end of the floor: all eighteen of the school's silver-clad cheerleaders, various horn-playing troubadours from the marching band and, of course, the knockout-punch line of drummers, who flipped their sticks and danced in the bleachers with more zeal than that of any Nick Cannon flick. "This is my first full year at Montbello High School," explained cheerleading coach Andrea Mathes-Dynes. "The cheerleaders and the spirit club, they don't just represent the high school, they represent the community itself. Our hope is that the region can look at us and say, 'Hey, they're not just Mont-ghetto, they're a real school.' It's about getting that old Montbello spirit back." By bringing the whole crew out for every home football and basketball game and as many away games as possible, Mathes-Dynes, the cheerleaders and the spirit club might do just that.
The most nimble, most entertaining mascot in professional sports, Rocky the Mountain Lion has won this award so often that we might have to retire the trophy -- or at least provide the high-leaping, slam-dunking feline with the lightning-bolt tail a lifetime supply of Meow Mix. Even NBA refs love Rocky, as evidenced by their tolerance of his comic hectoring and anti-authoritarian hijinks. A Western Conference title would suit this all-time all-star just fine; he'd be sure to drain a couple of rainbows from half-court.
When versatile, multi-sport broadcaster Drew Goodman -- now in his sixth year with the Rockies -- calls a baseball game, you don't get flash or fulmination or partisan outbursts. You get good, solid reporting, well-grounded in fresh facts and delivered in the modulated, New York-accented tones of an old pro. After all, this is a man who used to double as the TV voice of the Denver Nuggets, working more than 190 games per year between hoops and baseball. The young Rox may lose ninety-plus games again this year, but Goodman's a clear winner -- not least when he greets with diplomatic silence the cackling inanities of his "color man," ex-relief pitcher George Frazier.
That Carmelo Anthony, the Nuggets' third-year shooting star, was left off the 2006 All-Star roster was a travesty commented upon even by NBA commish David Stern. The seventh-leading scorer and sixth-best foul shooter in the league, 21-year-old Melo may still toil in the shadow of his even more famous 2003 draft-mate, Cleveland Cavalier LeBron James, but for the Nuggets, the 6'8" forward out of Syracuse is the one essential building block for a solid future.
For a while there, the controversial trade that sent Broncos running back Clinton Portis to the Washington Redskins for cornerback Champ Bailey looked like Shanahan's Folly. But the six-time All-Pro certainly lived up to his rep this season. Despite a painful shoulder injury that kept him out of two games, Bailey racked up eight interceptions and a slew of tackles in the regular season, and his dramatic, 100-yard return of a Tom Brady pass in the Broncos' playoff victory against New England sealed the deal. Never mind that heartbreaking near-miss of an errant Ben Roethlisberger throw early in the AFC title game with the Steelers: Look for Bailey to lead a beefed-up Broncos secondary again next season.
A first-ever trip to the disabled list and a mysterious, self-acknowledged mental funk compromised Todd Helton's ninth season in purple pinstripes, but by the end of 2005, the steady first baseman wound up the fifth-best hitter in the National League at .320. This year he remains the rock of the Rockies, the foundation on which Clint Hurdle's inexperienced club is built. Helton has enjoyed just one winning season (2000) since joining the club, but at 32, the .337 career hitter sees happier times ahead for the league's youngest team. "If we don't get in the way of ourselves," he predicts, "we have a chance." Just call the team Todd and the Toddlers.
In mid-March, Quebec-born Alex Tanguay was leading the post-Peter Forsberg Colorado Avalanche in goals, assists and points. A left-handed stick with quick moves and a powerful slapshot, the sixth-year winger is also blessed with good size (6'1", 190 pounds) and unshakable will -- appealing assets as the NHL tries to skate back into the public's heart after a near-fatal work stoppage last season. Look for Tanguay and team captain Joe Sakic to shine in the playoffs.
For the second straight season, Colorado Rapids coaches and players named their 6'2" goalie, Joe Cannon, as most valuable player. Along with his penchant for acrobatic saves -- he sported a 1.25 goals-against average last year -- Cannon was lauded for his leadership on and off the field. Major League Soccer's 2004 Goalkeeper of the Year returns for this third season in a Rapids jersey and, at age thirty, looms a top choice to be the starting goalie for the U.S. National Team in the World Cup.
In the high-scoring Arena Football League, gaudy offensive statistics come as no shock, but try these on for size: 122 catches, 1,486 receiving yards and 41 touchdowns. Those are the 2005 numbers for Colorado Crush offensive specialist Damian Harrell -- enough to earn him the league's Offensive Player of the Year award as the Crush won its first Arena Bowl title. The 6'3" former Florida State wideout has been on the Crush roster since the beginning, back in 2003; in tandem with quarterback John Dutton, he's running up the yardage again.
John Elway has long known the taste of pay dirt, but when the Arena Football League team he co-owns (with a couple of guys named Bowlen and Kroenke) won the Arena Bowl championship on June 27, 2005, in Las Vegas, the famous ex-quarterback took special satisfaction. The Colorado Crush had been a member of the league for just three seasons -- in 2003, the team's record was a dismal 2-14 -- and it wasn't until Elway replaced original head coach Bob Beers (a longtime Elway family friend) with AFL veteran Mike Dailey that the Crush's fortunes took a turn for the better, culminating with the 51-48 win over the Georgia Force in Arena Bowl XIX. Last year Elway explained the new pressures of being an owner: "When you get to the game, you feel helpless.... I'm used to touching the ball every down. When you're up in the box, you think about what could go wrong." On June 27, almost nothing did. And the team's 6-2 record so far this season bodes well for a shot at a championship repeat.
BEST SPORTS TEAM -- COLLEGE
University of Denver Pioneers Hockey
Going into last year's NCAA playoffs, the Denver Pioneers (of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association) were underdogs -- even in the eyes of their archrivals from Colorado College. Little matter that the Pis had won the 2004 NCAA championship in a 1-0 nail-biter over favored Maine; this wasn't the same team -- not without star goalie Adam Berkhoel, now lost to graduation. But when the ice cleared at the 2005 Frozen Four, DU had secured its second straight NCAA title with a 4-1 win over North Dakota. Last week, the Pioneers failed to earn a bid for the 2006 NCAA tournament, but their two straight titles earn them top honors.
If they were playing in the softer Eastern Conference, the Denver Nuggets -- led by Carmelo Anthony, Kenyon Martin and Marcus Camby -- might really be flying high. As it is, though, they aren't doing too bad (first in the NBA West's Northwest Division), and much of the credit goes to no-nonsense coach George Karl, who hasn't posted a losing NBA season in fourteen years and who has a knack for turning struggling franchises around. After Karl took over from Jeff Bzdelik at mid-season last year, the revived Nuggets went on a 32-8 tear, winning 19 of 20 at the Pepsi Center before falling to the eventual world-champion San Antonio Spurs in the first round of the playoffs. This year? The team still lacks a reliable outside shooter, but if Karl has anything to say about it, the Nuggets won't lack for toughness as the season winds down.
BEST COACH -- COLLEGE
George Gwozdecky University of Denver Pioneers Hockey
In the first nine years of his tenure as the University of Denver's hockey coach, George Gwozdecky's scrappy Pioneers had their brief moments of glory. For example, the 1998 team won 26 games after losing 25 the year before. But now the Pioneers remain on top of the college-hockey world. With Gwozdecky (University of Wisconsin, class of 1978) behind the bench, they won the sixth NCAA national championship of their 55-year history in 2004, and their seventh title last year. The 2005 crew was the first WCHA team since 1997 to capture the MacNaughton Cup, the Broadmoor Trophy and the NCAA national championship in the same season, and Gwozdecky is the only coach in NCAA history to win national titles as a player, an assistant coach and a head coach. Does anyone now dare to think "three-peat"? At the Ritchie Center on the DU campus, the whispers have already started.
Sleek and blond, she looked lovely in her February 2004 photo spread for FHM Magazine, and she clearly had a ball as an honorary starter for this year's Daytona 500. But 25-year-old Gretchen Bleiler, a native of Ohio who's lived in Aspen since she was ten, is at her best in the half-pipe, throwing spins, flipping and getting good air. Prior to the 2006 Winter Olympics, she suffered a nasty black eye while perfecting her signature move, an inverted spinning trick called, ominously, the "crippler" -- but that didn't keep her from winning silver in Torino, one of four medals won by American women in the snowboarding events.
BEST SPORTS BARGAIN
University of Denver Pioneers Basketball
Sure, it's fun to go to Avalanche or Nuggets games -- as long as you've got a wallet the size of Stan Kroenke's. For those of more modest means, DU's men's and women's basketball teams offer plenty of bang for your buck. The teams are improving, and they play in a gorgeous venue, Magness Arena, yet ticket prices begin at just $6 and top out at $11 for women's games, $15 for the men's. And groups of twenty or more receive a $3 discount per seat. As a bonus, DU offers up such freebies as thunder sticks at many games and launches T-shirts into the stands any time a player on the home team sinks a three-pointer. This is how to net a good deal.
BEST ADVENTURER GONE
GLOBAL
GLOBAL
Josh Bernstein Boulder Outdoor Survival School www.boss-inc.com
Since 1968, the Boulder Outdoor Survival School has offered wilderness-based life-changing experiences to people around the world. But the life that BOSS may have changed most is that of Josh Bernstein, who today is the outfit's president and CEO. BOSS has become the go-to source not just for individuals, but also for publications and moviemakers looking for survival experts. Last year the History Channel tapped Bernstein himself to host Digging for the Truth, which became the channel's top show. Bernstein became such a celeb that not only did he have a spread in the debut issue of Men's Vogue last fall, but he's now the star of a comic book, "Josh Bernstein and the Search for Shangri-La: A Digging for the Truth Adventure," which is billed as the first in a series. The adventure continues.
BEST CHAMPION WITH
LOCAL ROOTS
LOCAL ROOTS
Ulmus Americana Cheesman Park
Denver Forestry keeps a list of champion trees, the largest examples of their species found in the state. Of the 73 champs rooted in Denver, 25 can be found at the Denver Botanic Gardens, another 17 in the city's parks system. The tallest of all is the American Elm located by Cheesman's east entrance at Ninth Avenue, adjacent to the road. Just a few inches under a hundred feet, this baby is too hefty to hug, so just stand back and admire those big shoulders.
Round a lush bend on the Bear Creek Greenbelt trail and you'll find yourself smack-dab in the middle of a thriving prairie dog town. Little heads pop up and out of burrowed holes that dot the wide, open meadow; elsewhere, the cheeky varmints stand still as statues, hoping not to be noticed. This is one of the delightful surprises that make the 340-acre Greenbelt the best urban nature fix in town. Although the 'belt occasionally dives under a busy surface street, most of its approximately two miles of paved and unpaved trail winds around little ponds and through swaths of grassland; horse trails hug the mossy banks of Bear Creek, which flows beautifully in the spring. Start at the Stone House, wander east, and let yourself pretend that the trail goes on forever.
The Urban Farm, located on a reclaimed corner of the former Stapleton Airport, is one of the city's hidden treasures. It's a real farm with all kinds of animals -- cows, sheep, goats, chickens, a gorgeous hog the size of Kansas and lots of horses -- where urban kids can get a feel for rural life and learn to ride, too. The Farm also offers fabulous birthday parties, complete with a tractor-drawn wagon ride to visit the animals, a ride around the ring on a handsome pony, and a free hour for cake and games in the farm's arbored garden and big red playhouse. What little kid wouldn't love to feed hay to a llama, rub a palomino's nose or stroke the silky-soft coat of a rex rabbit? The parties are pure child's play and a boon to the farm, which uses the fees to help feed and care for its residents.
BEST WAY TO FEEL LIKE A KID -- WITH A HANGOVER
Denver Kickball Coalition www.dkbc.org
The Denver Kickball Coalition started as a drunk-Sunday league on the fields of Morey Middle School, but over the past four years it's grown into a sporting powerhouse. Today the league has a draft, numerous teams with crazy names and even crazier uniforms, bachelor auctions to raise money for charity, and cutthroat competition. Although the original Commish, Joe Phillips, headed for L.A. last year, he left the group he founded in the capable hands of Marc Hughes. There's still lots of boozing before, during and after games, which means spectators and players alike will enjoy a sporting good time.
Golden Goal works as an indoor soccer facility for the simple reason that it lets you play. While some indoor joints assault you with snack bars and gear shops, promotions and spam e-mails, Golden Goal merely ushers you past walls lined with outdated soccer posters, leads you onto one of the facility's two playing fields and lets the games begin. The turf is the state-of-the-art stuff you can wear cleats on, not the flesh-hungry carpet that ripped your childish skin. The referees are typically players, or ex-players, who call the bad fouls, but they generally let the game go on. And if someone's friend who wasn't on the team the week before shows up for a coed-league game, nobody says a thing. In operation for a little over a year, the facility is open to everyone from four-year-olds to forty-year-olds, seven days a week, from eight in the morning to around midnight. With plans to add basketball and volleyball leagues in the near future, Golden Goal is sure to get busier. But for now it remains a place where future Ronaldinhos and washed-up Tony Meolas alike can leave it all out on the field.
Like just about everything else at oh-so-hip Belmar, the rink couldn't be just a rink. This slick facility, complete with a rental kiosk housed in a refurbished, 31-foot vintage Airstream trailer, proved to be enormously popular with visitors to the shopping center this winter, and also served as the site for such loony, Belmar-style retro events as the Dated Holiday Sweater Skate Night. As if that weren't enough, all skating and rental fees went to Jeffco schools. We can't wait to start skating on thin ice again next season.
Designing, building and maintaining a terrain park is as much an art as it is a science, and Copper Mountain displays the right blend of physics and beauty with its snow sculpting. Dubbed "Catalyst," the park runs beneath the American Flyer lift and is separated into three zones that run parallel to each other down the mountain. The left side, with mini-kickers and small rails, is reserved for beginners. The center area is a step up in skill level, allowing boarders to progress on kinked rails until they work up the cojones to hit the giant tabletops, hips, tall rainbow rails and eighteen-foot quarter-pipe/wall ride on the right side. But all roads lead to Copper's 430-foot-long Main Vein Superpipe, with seventeen-foot-high walls set on a sixteen-degree pitch. This is your ticket to ride.
Arapahoe Basin already appeals to the independent skier, the person who'd rather power down the slopes than vamp through Vail. And while there are plenty of challenging runs -- including the classic Pallavicini -- on A-Basin's official map, the area also boasts great out-of-bounds skiing. A short walk from the top of the Lenaway Lift and through the U.S. Forest access gate, there's a mile-long stretch known as the Beavers, which starts at about 12,500 feet and drops you down below the base at 9,000. The wide-open slope faces north, which means it gets less sun -- so the snow sticks around a lot longer. Getting back up to the base is easy, too: The run ends right at the road that leads to A-Basin. So after laying down some turns in the fresh pow-pow, all you need to do is stick out your thumb to get a lift to the lift so you can shoot the Beavers all over again. And do it soon: A-Basin has set its sights on expanding into the area.
BEST OUT-OF-SIGHT DEAL
Schussbaumer Ski Club www.schussbaumer.com
In 1952, early fans of skiing banded together as the Schussbaumer Ski Club, even opening a crash pad in Georgetown. That had to move when I-70 came through, so in 1965 the members built a chalet in Breckenridge that was close to the only game in town -- back when that town was a sleepy old mining burg just beginning to turn into a resort. Now, of course, Breckenridge is an international destination brimming with pricey condos and hotels, and the 72 hostel-style beds (divided between a men's floor and a women's) at the club's Breckenridge Chalet, located right at the base of Peak 8, may be the best ski deal in the state. Membership in the club -- it's limited to 150 active members, plus alumni -- is $495 a year and buys you both access to the slopes anytime and one giant slumber party.
Winter Park is rich in history from the early mining days of Colorado, but at thirty, Mary Jane is still young at heart. Over the past three decades, the area's runs -- Rail Bender, Trestle, Needle's Eye -- have become infamous for their great fall lines and the Volkswagen-sized bumps that keep lots of knee surgeons in business. And if you're fortunate enough to stumble on one of the huts hidden in the trees off Mary Jane, your skiing adventure will reach a new high. Bump and run!
BEST CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARDS
Ben Anderson Icelantic AT Boards www.icelanticboards.com
A Best of Denver award may seem like small potatoes after your brainchild was just named Best New Product at the 65th International Trade Show for Sports Equipment and Fashion, but Ben Anderson knows where he comes from, and he beamed with Colorado pride when he accepted that honor in Germany in February. An Evergreen-based entrepreneur, Anderson wants to revolutionize the ski industry with his AT Boards, a fat ski/snowboard hybrid with just as much surface area as most long skis. The shorter Icelantics allow for great maneuverability in the trees, they can cut through just about every condition a mountain throws at a skier, and they're ideal for hiking in the backcountry, because they're much less awkward to carry. Anderson's just 23, but it looks like he's already won his uphill battle.
Founded in 1995 by snowboard-company pioneer Jake Burton, Chill started as a simple idea: to introduce inner-city kids and at-risk youth to snowboarding. Today the program has spread from Vermont to cities and states across the country, including Denver. Organizers work with 25 youth-service agencies -- including foster care and group homes -- to identify kids who might benefit from some time on the slopes. As local Chill outreach coordinator Daniel Ritchie explains, many teens have lived in the Mile High City their entire lives, yet never set foot in the mountains. This ski season, Chill had a roster of 170 kids who hopped on buses once a week to learn the ins and outs of boarding -- and got the chance to see life from a whole different perspective. Chill out.
BEST FREE WAX AS YOU
HEAD FOR THE HILLS
HEAD FOR THE HILLS
Maison De Ski 2804 Colorado Blvd., Idaho Springs 303-567-2044
By spring, all that wax you lavished on your board or skis at the beginning of the season has long since disappeared. Halfway up I-70, you realize that you're going to be stuck on anything that's flat, with the sticky snow pulling at your skis or board like a nagging child pulling on his mother's skirt. But a quick trip to Idaho Springs will fix all that. Maison De Ski will run anyone's board or skis through the wax machine for free. It's also fast -- just like your skiing and boarding will be after this stop.
The only thing that sucks about going to the mountains for the weekend is coming home in Sunday-night traffic. Giant SUVs struggle along like lumbering mammoths, and at the slightest trace of snow or ice, traffic often snarls to a halt. Frustration sets in fast: People want to be out of their cars, into their homes. A small ray of hope appears just pass the turnoff for Golden, where a third lane opens on the left side of eastbound I-70, giving savvy drivers a chance to pick up speed. It's an uphill stretch, but anyone who anticipates the break and has enough horsepower under the hood can stomp on the gas pedal and leave at least a dozen grommit cars behind. You may not go as fast as you did on the slopes, but it'll feel like you're flying.
Ready to ride? Hop on your Harley and head hell-bent for leather on Santa Fe Drive 25 miles south of Denver, then hang a right on Highway 67, zip past Bud's (home of the Best Burger) and turn left on Highway 105. This backcountry road takes you on a sixty-mile route through the foothills, along excellent winding curves, hills and beautiful straightaways. There are several worthy side roads to explore, or make tracks to Palmer Lake, where you can refuel at O'Malley's. From there, head north through Larkspur or Castle Rock -- but be sure to end your trip at the Sedalia Grill, one of Colorado's best biker bars.
BEST MOBILE ASS-KICKING
Rocky Mountain Rollergirls www.rockymountainrollergirls.com
Broken bones, rock and roll, foxy girls knocking the hell out of each other -- and on roller skates, no less. Is it any wonder that the Rocky Mountain Rollergirls are the hottest ticket in town? A motley crew of bad-ass babes in miniskirts, with gobs more guts than the Colorado Crush and the late-season Avs combined, the Rollergirls revive the long-lost art of the flat-track, all-female roller derby, and look damn good doing it. This is no catwalk show, however. Team members train year-round to maintain the strength and skill they need to stay competitive in intra-league games, and the Rollergirls' travel team, 5280 Fight Club, takes on challengers from other cities during prime derby season. This is a real, scrappy, sometimes bloody, often thrilling sport for women -- which is also why it's so sexy. You go, girls.
The quarter-mile is a great equalizer, and Bandimere Speedway is happy to oblige drivers who need to prove just how fast and furious they can be with "Take It to the Track." On Wednesday nights through the summer, you just bring your own car, sign up to race it and put pedal to the metal -- best time wins. Of course, every great racer needs a cheering section, and the bleachers here are no different than those at the Indy 500: filled with hot chicks, short skirts and the occasional bared breast. Go, speed racer, go.
BEST SPOT FOR CRUISING
Regis Square Mall 5100 block of
Federal Blvd.
There's no place that better captures Denver's northwest side than the Regis Square strip mall, with its cut-rate hair salons, a carnicera, El Nuevo Time-Out Billiards, a Rent-a-Center and Tequila Le Club. A big part of northwest Denver culture is cruising, so it's no surprise that on warm nights, most Federal Boulevard cruisers -- mariachi pop music blasting from their custom vans and trucks -- make this address a must-stop. Since the massive parking lot of the defunct Kmart next door has been blocked off by a chain-link fence, it doesn't take long for the Regis Square lot to fill with teens and other revelers flashing their rides, smashing bottles and, on occasion, shooting pistols into the air. Talk about a block party! This is everything a hot night of cruising should be.
BEST OFFICIAL SKATEPARK
Aurora Skatepark Iliff Ave. east of Chambers Rd., Aurora 303-739-7160
The Aurora Wheel Park complex is big and round, shaped like a pizza, with one slice featuring a BMX dirt track, another housing a BMX ramp course, and another piece reserved for three roller-hockey rinks. But by far the most popular topping is the 20,000-square-foot skatepark that opened in 2002 to the excitement of riders throughout the metro area. Designed by SITE Design Group out of Arizona for a total cost of $300,000, the Aurora Skatepark can easily accommodate a variety of users -- everyone from balding BMX dudes to first-graders in Heelies. The street course has an open, mellow feeling, with well-placed ledges, rails and pyramids. The snake run is small, but skaters who hit the angles right will be pitched into a fast bowl with tight walls and interesting lines. Most important, the texture of the concrete is just right -- not too smooth and not too rough (unlike the Denver Skatepark, which is far too slick, in case you were wondering).
BEST INDOOR POOL
Colorado Cue Club 10657 Melody Dr., Northglenn 303-450-7665
Get a cue: For pool fans in Denver, the place to play is the Colorado Cue Club, which boasts a friendly atmosphere, a full kitchen and 28 pool tables. But its major asset is Chris Honeman, a national champ (she won the BCA North American 8-Ball Championship) who opened the place with friends last year. Honeman knows first-hand what pool players want, and as a result, the club has quickly racked up fans.
For a landlocked state, Colorado has a lot of scuba fans; per capita, we rank third for certified divers. And their favorite place to take the plunge is the Aurora Reservoir, which has a designated dive beach and also an underwater airplane, sunk years ago by the Colorado Scuba Retailers Association so that divers would have something to explore. It may not be the Great Barrier Reef -- but then, Queensland doesn't have the Rocky Mountains, either.
For Catholics, the fourteen stations of the cross represent the events between Jesus's condemnation and his burial -- a progressive series of images that encourage spiritual contemplation, modeled after paths followed by Christian pilgrims in Jerusalem. But at the Mother Cabrini Shrine, a pious pit stop on the east side of Lookout Mountain, the stations also create a cardio-pumping obstacle course -- a steep vertical climb up hundreds of tiny steps that dead-end at a massive, Sacred Heart statue of Jesus. The Cabrini hike may or not lead you to salvation, but it will surely lead you to tighter buns.
BEST CHEAP WORKOUT
Denver Department of Parks and Recreation annual pass www.denvergov.org
Some people justify dropping big bucks on memberships to high-class joints with the flabby rationalization that they're more likely to hit the gym if they've been charged a lot for the privilege. And it's true -- you usually get what you pay for at these posh facilities...if you actually use all of their high-priced equipment. But if you want to get in shape for cheap, an annual Denver Department of Parks and Recreation pass grants you access to 29 rec centers, with about a dozen pools total, for just $150 a year. Although the meathead contingent can be heavy at some, there's no gain without some pain.
BEST PLACE TO FIND
FREE DOG TOYS
FREE DOG TOYS
Cherry Creek Dr. N. and S. Adams St.
BEST AVIAN BED AND BREAKFAST
Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory Barr Lake State Park www.rmbo.org
Every spring and fall, when the migration seasons bring thousands of birds to Barr Lake, the Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory switches into high gear, gently capturing its avian guests in nets, banding them for further research and then setting them free. The education and bird-banding station is open to the public, but the entire area is filled with weary travelers on the fly. For birders, this is a sight well worth seeing.
Swimming pools have gone to the dogs, as well they should. Many breeds adore the water, and a bob in the pool is wonderful therapy for pups suffering from hip dysplasia, arthritis, sports injuries and other painful conditions. Canine Fitness boasts two pools: a deep one for swimmers and a shallow one for little pooches and big splashers. Both offer supervised recreation, exercise and social time for dogs that might otherwise spend too much time chewing the fat on the couch at home. Come on in, Fido, the water's fine.
Wouldn't you just know it? San Francisco and Oakland took top honors, but our own snuggly, tree-huggin' Coors Field nabbed third place in PETA's recent Vegetarian Friendly Ballparks Project, based on its fine array of vegetarian concession items, including grilled mushroom panini and veggie burgers, wraps and burritos, and your standard peanuts, popcorn and pretzels. And Cracker Jack, no doubt. PETA also fully approves of beer drinking, which is harmful to no animal other than yourself. So bottoms up, Rockies fans! Three strikes and you're out -- to lunch!
BEST PLACE TO GET A BEER
AT THE PEPSI CENTER
AT THE PEPSI CENTER
Denver Post Newsroom
Sports arenas consistently offer three things: hot dogs smothered in ketchup, piss-yellow popcorn, and heady beers the size of your aunt Mildred's ass. But why? Who said that sports and unidentifiable pig organs go together? At the Denver Post Newsroom, located at section 238 on the second level of the Pepsi Center -- which means you need a club-level ticket to get in -- you can trade a hot dog for a beer brat, popcorn for a ham-and-Swiss panini, and that foamy Bud Light for a Killian's Irish Red or Blue Moon. The smoke-free lounge boasts maybe a gazillion screens for watching sports, a bird's-eye view of the Grand Atrium, and -- its most notable amenity -- 24-ounce domestic beers for $6, which breaks down to a shockingly reasonable $3 per beer. Even Pepsi at the friggin' Pepsi Center costs more. Go figure.
A visit to the New Belgium Brewing Co. is intoxicating, and not just because of the generous selection of free samples -- although those certainly don't hurt. The buzz starts with the guide who welcomes you onto the last tour of the day, even though it's already filled with people who reserved their spaces in advance. The guide loves her job. She doesn't want to talk about how beer is made, but instead about her boss, the homebrewer who went on a trip to Belgium that changed his life, who today sends longtime employees to Belgium to experience the beers he experienced. She shows how the brewery was designed as a light-infused, energy-conserving, creative work space, and she lets you try out the winding, adult-sized metal slide. The tour makes you think about all the possibilities in life, about starting that business you always dreamed of or about finding the perfect job. And, then, at the end, you get to drink beer -- and stop thinking altogether.
The Back Alley, a tiny, two-lane bowling alley tucked at the back of the Uptown Tavern, looks like it was made for munchkin ravers. But "Thunder Bowl" is a genius alternative to darts or Golden Tee. Each glow-in-the-dark lane can accommodate six people, and the bowling balls are just five inches in diameter and weigh only 3.5 pounds -- which means lifting one is almost as easy as raising a full mug of beer. And no bowling shoes are required on these hardwood floors. Although alcohol greatly increases the likelihood that you'll make a fool of yourself in the Alley's intimate confines, better the ball winds up in this gutter than you wind up in the one outside.
Already a popular hangout, PS 1515 gained a rep as a motorcycle- and scooter-friendly joint after the First Thursday Moto Rally debuted in its parking lot last May. Conceived by Aaron Scott as a place where moto-enthusiasts could grab a beer or a shot and talk bikes, the event established the restaurant and its sister lounge across the street as spots where anybody on two wheels could find a friend -- in human or liquid form. Even though the rallies are just once a month, PS 1515 will always rev up for a scooter enthusiast.
While planning for his swanky new steakhouse and saloon in Cherry Creek, Broncos icon John Elway called just one play out to the interior design team: Do whatever you like, but one of the bar stools has to be upholstered in gold leather. Why? Gold was the favorite color of the famous quarterback's late father and mentor, Jack Elway, and John made the request in tribute to him. And so it is that while most of the chairs in Elway's ever-teeming bar are a gorgeous dark maroon, there's one -- the Jack Elway memorial bar stool -- that's undeniable gold (as is his son's NFL Hall of Fame jacket, on view in an adjacent display case). Like Number 7 himself, the best seat in the house knows how to scramble: You're not likely to find it in the same place twice.
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