Best Mining Tour -- Silver 2002 | Lebanon Silver MineGeorgetown | Best of Denver® | Best Restaurants, Bars, Clubs, Music and Stores in Denver | Westword
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Best Mining Tour -- Silver

Lebanon Silver Mine
Georgetown

Hard-rock silver mining made Colorado what it was in the first half of the nineteenth century, but can you imagine what life was like for the miners? Find out when Colorado Historical Society guides lead you through the Lebanon Silver Mine and show you the mine manager's office, the change room (also called a "dry"), and the blacksmith's shop and tool shed. The mine is accessible only by the Georgetown Loop Railroad; reservations are accepted for Silver Plume departures only. The hour-and-twenty-minute walking tour costs $6 for adults, $4 for children (in addition to the train ride) and is available from May 25 to September 2. Bring a sweater.

Best Place to Learn About Mining's (Ugly) Legacy

Idaho Springs Heritage Museum and Visitor's Center

Next time you drive through the mountains and see an old mine that evokes romantic images of Colorado's gold-rush days, stop by the Idaho Springs Heritage Museum and Visitor's Center. The Clear Creek Watershed Exhibit that takes up an entire back room is a reminder of the mess mining left behind. More than a decade ago, the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency decided that the thousands of mines in Clear Creek County needed cleaning up, because metals-laden run-off from the abandoned sites was contaminating the creek -- a source of drinking water for many Coloradans. The EPA declared the town and surrounding mines a Superfund site, and the residents revolted. After years of bickering over cleanup methods, the locals and the government finally agreed on a plan, and this exhibit details it. Now that's gold!

Best Cave Tours -- Family

Glenwood Caverns & Historic Fairy Caves
Glenwood Springs

This large cave in Iron Mountain above Glenwood Springs contains about three miles of known passageways and was first opened as a tourist attraction at the beginning of the twentieth century; it was abandoned in the 1920s, then reopened in 1999. A family tour along electrically lit gravel pathways is available through some fantastic interior decorations that Martha never even dreamed of. The caves open May 1.

Best Cave Tours -- Wild

Manitou Cave
Manitou Springs

Another tourist cave that had been abandoned for years, Manitou offers a physically challenging wild tour that includes sections discovered as recently as five years ago. Still missing is a large section that was open to tourists, complete with electric lights and hand-rails, until it flooded in the 1920s. Check out the Web site, www.caveofthewinds.com, for an in-depth probe.

Best Cave Tours -- Wet and Wild

Spring Cave
White River National Forest

At 7,000 feet, Spring Cave, which opens May 1, is one of the longest caves in Colorado, located less than a mile from the South Fork Trailhead, east of Meeker. In springtime, the stream that flows through the cave widens to form "Emerald Lake," which makes a full wetsuit a requirement for anyone heading into the back sections.

Best Mascot

Rocky the Mountain Lion Denver Nuggets

It's no easy task to buoy up the spirits of fans whose on-floor heroes are always getting their butts handed to them. But Rocky the Mountain Lion does it every night -- with astonishing acrobatics, the occasional no-look swish from half court (including one recently with a ball he boldly had Michael Jordan autograph) and a mischievous playfulness that captivates kids and grownups alike. Rocky's three-foot-long lightning-bolt tail is a triumph of the costumer's art, and even if every Nugget now on the roster goes the way of Dikembe Mutombo, the most entertaining pro-sports mascot in the country will endure: He made his debut way back on December 15, 1990, and hasn't lost a step since.

Best New Mascot

The Fighting Whites

Who says white men can't jump? Not those wags on a University of Northern Colorado intramural basketball team who saw white folks jump all over their idea when the UNC hoopsters named themselves "The Fighting Whites" in protest of the mascot -- a big-beaked caricature of an Indian -- used by nearby Eaton High School's "Fightin' Reds." The Whites' copyright T-shirt designs, including a white male dressed in a suit, soon became red, er, white hot, with orders pouring in to their Web site. Charles Cuny, a Native American, hadn't planned on making a statement when he assembled the multi-racial team. "I just wanted to play basketball on Tuesdays," he explained. White on!

Best Minor-League Mascot

Sox the Fox
Colorado Springs Sky Sox

He's got a squirt gun, a knack for doing handstands, and an attitude, and that makes the Colorado Springs Sky Sox mascot, Sox the Fox, now entering his third year, the best minor-league mascot around. In fact, aside from Rocky (whose creator trained one of the two men who don the foxy costume), Sox is the most entertaining mascot in the state. "We love that guy," says Gabe Ross, assistant general manager and public-relations director for the Sky Sox, a Colorado Rockies farm team. "Major-league teams are a little more handcuffed by public opinion, but wobbling around and patting kids on the head can get old pretty quick." Sox has been played by two people, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs student Phil Monday and former Sky Sox grounds-crew employee Chad White, and both will be back next year. Fox in Sox, indeed.

Best Old Mascot

Jackass Mascot
Colorado School of Mines

For a school whose students make most Ivy Leaguers look like dopes, the Colorado School of Mines takes a decidedly low-brow approach to its home football games. And even though the Mines eleven once thrashed the University of Colorado (a century ago) and went undefeated as recently as the late 1930s, nobody seems too ambitious on fall Saturdays in Golden. But Mines surprised fans this year, winning more than losing, and normally blasé students had something to kick about. Even though the school's jackass mascot was retired years ago, school spirit's made a comeback. Bray to go!

Best Appearances by Santa

Scuba-Diving Santa
Colorado's Ocean Journey

As if to prove that Santa is everywhere in December, Ocean Journey treated folks to daily underwater Santa shows featuring the jolly one, with beard and hair flowing wildly, flip-flapping his way around in the deep. But we were wondering: Now that the aquarium is treading water, will Santa sleep with the fishes?

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