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Best Look Back

Ancient Denvers
Denver Museum of Nature & Science

If you've ever sat on a hillside and wondered what the land you survey looked like one hundred years ago, imagine what visions came to DMNS paleontologist Kirk Johnson and a trio of seasoned paleoartists when they looked over the local landscape. Actually, you don't have to: Johnson and company took the initiative last year and created Ancient Denvers, an exhibit and accompanying coffee-table book that feature scientifically correct images of Front Range locales as they probably appeared during various periods over the last 300 million years. Some of our most familiar geological landmarks of today -- including Red Rocks, Garden of the Gods and the Dakota Hogback -- were given the way-back treatment with brilliant results, but who'da thunk their back yard might ever have been a dank, disgusting swamp to rival the one surrounding the outlands of Mordor? Truth can be stranger than fiction.

Best Look Back

Ancient Denvers
Denver Museum of Nature & Science

If you've ever sat on a hillside and wondered what the land you survey looked like one hundred years ago, imagine what visions came to DMNS paleontologist Kirk Johnson and a trio of seasoned paleoartists when they looked over the local landscape. Actually, you don't have to: Johnson and company took the initiative last year and created Ancient Denvers, an exhibit and accompanying coffee-table book that feature scientifically correct images of Front Range locales as they probably appeared during various periods over the last 300 million years. Some of our most familiar geological landmarks of today -- including Red Rocks, Garden of the Gods and the Dakota Hogback -- were given the way-back treatment with brilliant results, but who'da thunk their back yard might ever have been a dank, disgusting swamp to rival the one surrounding the outlands of Mordor? Truth can be stranger than fiction.

Best New Look

Leprino Family Atrium
Denver Museum of Nature & Science

After months of construction, the DMNS finally opened its beautifully restructured three-story west atrium, featuring the museum's famous vantage-point view of City Park, downtown Denver and the mountain skyline beyond, stretching south to Pikes Peak and north to Longs Peak. Old-time Denverites grew up with it, but they'll only appreciate it more now that it's packaged in its sleek, new multi-leveled form. Better yet, on the fourth floor, there's an open-air Sky Terrace perfect for viewing both the land and the sky. What a place! Bring your telescopes: It's got star quality.

Best New Look

Leprino Family Atrium
Denver Museum of Nature & Science

After months of construction, the DMNS finally opened its beautifully restructured three-story west atrium, featuring the museum's famous vantage-point view of City Park, downtown Denver and the mountain skyline beyond, stretching south to Pikes Peak and north to Longs Peak. Old-time Denverites grew up with it, but they'll only appreciate it more now that it's packaged in its sleek, new multi-leveled form. Better yet, on the fourth floor, there's an open-air Sky Terrace perfect for viewing both the land and the sky. What a place! Bring your telescopes: It's got star quality.

Best Place to Smell the Roses

Sensory Garden
Denver Botanic Gardens

Brandon Marshall
There are several reasons that Denver's fine botanic paradise in the city was just named one of the top ten such public gardens in the nation by Country Living Gardener magazine, but here's one of the most touching: This garden takes advantage of all the senses, providing touchable, smellable, tasty, colorful and aural outdoor experiences all rolled into one. The therapeutic garden also serves as a landscape-design model for the facilities that cater to patrons with disabilities or special needs, featuring wheelchair-accessible paths, raised beds, container plantings and other amenities.

Best Place to Smell the Roses

Sensory Garden
Denver Botanic Gardens

There are several reasons that Denver's fine botanic paradise in the city was just named one of the top ten such public gardens in the nation by Country Living Gardener magazine, but here's one of the most touching: This garden takes advantage of all the senses, providing touchable, smellable, tasty, colorful and aural outdoor experiences all rolled into one. The therapeutic garden also serves as a landscape-design model for the facilities that cater to patrons with disabilities or special needs, featuring wheelchair-accessible paths, raised beds, container plantings and other amenities.

Best Garden Tour

American Society of Landscape Architects Tour

For the past ten years, the Colorado Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects has hosted an annual tour showcasing some of Denver's finest private residential gardens. This year's tour, scheduled for Sunday, June 22, will focus on water-wise gardens and minimal sod use. The tour is self-guided, but volunteers are available at each site to answer questions. Proceeds from the tours benefit the Jane Silverstein Ries Foundation, which awards scholarships and grants to those who demonstrate "stewardship of the land."

Best Garden Tour

American Society of Landscape Architects Tour

For the past ten years, the Colorado Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects has hosted an annual tour showcasing some of Denver's finest private residential gardens. This year's tour, scheduled for Sunday, June 22, will focus on water-wise gardens and minimal sod use. The tour is self-guided, but volunteers are available at each site to answer questions. Proceeds from the tours benefit the Jane Silverstein Ries Foundation, which awards scholarships and grants to those who demonstrate "stewardship of the land."

Best Way to Learn About the State You Just Moved To

Tesoro Foundation
Historic Lecture Series

Sam Arnold, owner of the Fort restaurant, is a controversial character in some quarters, but the dinner/lecture series started last year by the Tesoro Foundation, which he chairs, is more likely to inform than enrage. Upcoming lecturers include Dr. Patricia Limerick, who compares the nineteenth-century West to its modern equivalent during a talk on April 13, and Dr. Robert Shikes, who will speak on April 27 about health and disease in the context of Colorado's early fur trappers.

Best Way to Learn About the State You Just Moved To

Tesoro Foundation
Historic Lecture Series

Sam Arnold, owner of the Fort restaurant, is a controversial character in some quarters, but the dinner/lecture series started last year by the Tesoro Foundation, which he chairs, is more likely to inform than enrage. Upcoming lecturers include Dr. Patricia Limerick, who compares the nineteenth-century West to its modern equivalent during a talk on April 13, and Dr. Robert Shikes, who will speak on April 27 about health and disease in the context of Colorado's early fur trappers.

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