Best Place to Leaf-Peep 2014 | Maroon Bells | Best of Denver® | Best Restaurants, Bars, Clubs, Music and Stores in Denver | Westword
Navigation
Support Us
Search

Best Place to Leaf-Peep

Maroon Bells

They may not be the tallest or the most-hiked of the state's fourteeners, but Aspen's Maroon Bells are some of Colorado's most photographed peaks, especially during the fall. Groves of aspen around the craggy sandstone mountains turn yellow as they prepare to shed their leaves, staining the nearby slopes and valleys bright gold — and drawing in gaggles of leaf-peeping tourists who pay $10 to drive down the park's access road. The quintessential place to snap a picture is from the shores of Maroon Lake, but it can get crowded; strap on a backpack and ramble down a trail into the surrounding White River National Forest for a chance to find your own aspen grove — and maybe catch a glimpse of a moose or beaver — before the trees drop their colors and the snow settles in.

Best Denver Mountain Park

Red Rocks Park

Thank magazine publisher John Brisben Walker, who saw the natural sandstone amphitheater outside of Morrison in 1906 and envisioned the grand stage it would become. Or thank the Civilian Conservation Corps, whose workers helped turn it into a reality. Whoever you credit, no other venue in the country can match Red Rocks for pure grandeur. The 9,450-person-capacity theater has become a staple for touring acts from Dave Matthews Band to Pretty Lights; on summer nights, with the stage lights glowing on the rocks and the stars twinkling above, the music takes on a depth beyond the strictly aural. And lest we forget, Red Rocks is a damn fine park in the traditional sense, too, drawing local hikers, bikers and sightseers with its miles of trails, which link to the Jefferson County park system. Meanwhile, dedicated exercise groups turn the empty amphitheater into an outdoor gym during the daylight hours.

Best Scooter Tours

ScooTours Denver

Whether you're a native or just passing through, you haven't really seen Denver until you've seen it from the seat of a scooter, hair flying, on one of those sunny Colorado days. But you don't have to commit to a Vespa of your own in order to try it: At ScooTours, you can rent one for a day, on the condition that you know how to ride a bike, are eighteen or older and have a valid driver's license. With every rental comes a "scootorial," if needed, and tour-loop suggestions to suit your personality are available for the asking. Caveat: No drinking — or inhaling — allowed while aboard a ScooTours vehicle; ScooTours recommends that you save it for later. Oh, and however cool they might make you look as you zoom through the streets, leave those six-inch stilettos at home.

Best Place for a Summer Date

Lakeside

Lakeside Amusement Park, a turn-of-the-last-century landmark that runs along the banks of Lake Rhoda, offers the ideal setting for a mid-summer date night. The park is full of excuses to get close to your darling: share a seat on the Ferris wheel or Skoota Boats, or get adventurous and take a shaky ride on the infamous Wild Chipmunk or historic Cyclone coasters. Then romance your sweetie with a soft-serve twist cone under Lakeside's art-deco neon strips and incandescent bulbs as they blink against the evening sky. Whatever you do, don't forget to take advantage of the most romantic attraction of all: a trip around the lake together in a petite version of a narrow-gauge rail car.

Best Outdoor Pool Makeover

La Alma Recreation Center

Urban pools are usually rectangular holes in the ground made of concrete and filled with chlorinated water (and sometimes leaves, lost toys and empty Cheetos bags). But when Denver Parks and Recreation decided to remake the outdoor pool next to the La Alma Recreation Center, which sits in a neighborhood chock-full of kids, it went far beyond an ordinary rectangle. Though there are still six lanes where lap swimmers can front-crawl calories away, the pool also sports a diving board and a twisty-tunnel water slide so tall that adults brave enough to give it a whirl have been known to whoop with joy when the ride is over. The pool also has an exemplary kiddie area, complete with things that rain water down, things that spit water up, a padded toddler slide and a freaking whirlpool — which is big enough for grownups, too. Not that we'd know or anything.

  • 1325 W. 11th Ave., Denver, 80204 Map

Best New Boulder Gym for Everyone

Anytime Fitness

Every Monday, Greg Plavidal, owner of the Boulder Anytime Fitness franchise, runs a special session for a group of women between the ages of fifty and eighty who used to belong to a now-shuttered Curves. Some of these women were nervous about training at a regular gym, but Plavidal's sessions are gentle, organized and easily adjusted to a participant's fitness level. For those wanting to take their workouts to the max, there's also boot camp — loud, hot, sweaty and unrelenting — with ex-marine Korey Reyelts, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Boulder boasts many gyms, but Plavidal didn't see the kind of place he wanted there — affordable, with a friendly, bright atmosphere that was neither a country club nor a grimy grunt-and-sweat shop — so he created one that is accommodating to clients at every level, from college athletes to retirees.

Best Luxury Detox for Less

Pura Vida's Sunday Afternoon Meltdown

Pura Vida has long been a mecca for the exercise elite — a members-only gym with state-of-the-art facilities and top-of-the-line workout programming. But earlier this year, the fitness fortress opened its doors to non-members with the introduction of the Sunday Afternoon Meltdown, a combination yoga and meditation class focused on detoxing and preparing for the week ahead. Thirty bucks gets you in on a one-hour heated yoga session followed by a half-hour guided meditation, capped off with a specialty herbal elixir to sip while you take advantage of the club's steam room and hot tub.

Best Place to Train Like Rocky

20th Street Gym

Far from the corporate-chain experience, the 20th Street Gym is the workout facility of hard knocks. The city's oldest rec center, located in the heart of downtown, 20th Street is a no-frills training facility, complete with a fully stocked weight room, shiny cardio machines, an indoor pool and basketball court, and weekly yoga and spin classes. But the best workout in the city comes from the gym's boxing program, offering real in-the-ring training for kids and adults alike. The grownups' classes are a nonstop circuit involving a speed bag and heavy-bag hitting, jumping rope and one-on-one guidance from expert coaches — something that no chain health club can match.

Best Place to Dream About Calories While Burning Them

24 Hour Fitness Highlands Garden

Like most locations in the national chain, 24 Hour Fitness in Highland is packed every day of the week with eager nine-to-fivers, gym rats and hardbodies elbowing for treadmills. What's unique to this spot is its penchant for combining cardio-machine workouts and foodie television. No matter the time of day, at least two of the many TVs entertaining fitness freaks are locked on the Food Network. Members at this gym are as intent on sweating it out as they are on watching Guy Fieri chowing on roadside barbecue or Giada whipping up homemade Italian specialties. They're adding calories just by watching, but at least they're working them off.

Best Gear on the Cheap

Wilderness Exchange Unlimited

Located across from Denver's flagship REI store, Wilderness Exchange Unlimited feels like a smaller version of its retail neighbor, a two-story temple to skis, backpacks, boots, climbing gear and everything else you need for playing in the mountains. But unlike REI, Wilderness Exchange specializes in sniffing out cheap deals on overstock, seconds and lightly used consignments and passing them on to customers, so you can get shred-ready without shredding your credit rating in the process. The shop's knowledgeable staff and generous demo program, which lets patrons test-drive six ski setups for $120, makes deciding where to sink your money a snap.

Best Of Denver®

Best Of

Use of this website constitutes acceptance of our terms of use, our cookies policy, and our privacy policy Westword may earn a portion of sales from products & services purchased through links on our site from our affiliate partners. ©2024 Denver Westword, LLC. All rights reserved.
Do Not Sell or Share My Information
Powered By Foundation