Personal Best: Tim Jackson Shares His City

The Best of Denver 2022 is out, full of people, places and things we love about the Mile High City. For our 39th edition, we asked some Denver residents to share their personal bests, and that got Tim Jackson, CEO of the Colorado Automobile Dealers Association, on a roll:

Where's the best place to take visitors to Denver?

Confluence Park on the REI side, where I cycle favorite bike lanes (not on the side of Denver’s busiest streets), have an energy drink at Starbucks and catch some of Denver’s finest rays.

What's your favorite place in Denver?

The view of Denver’s gorgeous skyline from the intersection of West 23rd Avenue wth the Interstate 25 exit. It’s especially poignant at night, where you can get the best perspective on the diversity of the city and lots of mobility energy.

What's the best special-occasion spot in Denver?

The Ellie Caulkins Theater at the Denver Performing Arts Complex, which connects arts, people, culture, fashion and talent. It gives a reason to get dressed up with somewhere to go.

What's your go-to restaurant in Denver?

Culinary Drop-out at 4141 East Ninth Avenue. While this is a new arrival to Denver, its Phoenix base has been a go-to spot for me when traveling there. This newbie hot spot is already busy, so arrive early or make reservations, so you can catch Denver’s hottest vibe, see its largest wall-mounted tennis shoe collection, play corn hole on the patio, and both see and be seen.

Where's the best spot to shop in Denver?

Mile High Marketplace, the best flea market in the Rocky Mountains I love the produce stands with nopales, jicamas, cassavas and other veggies you’ll never find at Safeway and seldom at Sprouts. It’s the best place to stock up for next year’s garage sales.

If you have a few spare hours, what's your favorite thing to do in Denver?

Cycle Cherry Creek Bicycle trail, Denver REI to Cherry Creek State Park and on to the E-470 trail, to the C-470 trail, west to Chatfield State Park, and then north on Platte River trail back to REI, with requisite breaks at Krispy Kreme (Quebec and C-470) and Nixon’s Coffee House at Hudson Gardens on the Platte River Trail, when you are more than ready for a strawberry banana smoothy, poured down sans straw!

How about a free day?

Meow Wolf Convergence Station, Denver’s newest and wackiest immersive art experience. Love the Denver-centric exhibit that turns a Ford F-150 tailgate from the ‘60s into modern art today. If/when you go, be ready to expect the totally unexpected.

What's the best thing about living in Denver?

Climate, sports, restaurants, entertainment, Red Rocks, Capitol Hill, Sloan’s Lake, Washington Park, Cherry Creek State Park, El Dorado State Park and City Park. Our weather is such that it is not surprising to get to cycle around town on a sunny and warm January day.

Tim Jackson is a car guy and a bicycle guy. He stopped in Denver in 1997, when his bike saw the Rocky Mountains west of town as overly formidable; for the past eighteen years, he’s served as CEO of the Colorado Automobile Dealers Association. This Denver resident logs 3,000 to 4,000 miles a year on his bicycle, completing Ride the Rockies fifteen times, and adds 15,000 miles a year on the odometer of his new car (now a fully electric Ford Mustang Mach E) as he crisscrosses the state working for a better Colorado. He also flies a lot, too, over 100,000 miles a year. Even though he's a licensed pilot, he’s usually flying commercial.