Downtown Denver

Candy: This week we explored parts of downtown Denver, spending a good share of Wednesday afternoon at the Denver Art Museum during Tim's day off. I decided not to take the camera along so that I could more fully experience the art, so I don't have any photos of the museum to share with you.

The museum has chosen to make fun of its own abbreviation (D.A.M.) by using it everywhere, from the line to "get your D.A.M. tickets here" to "Hot D.A.M. this is exciting" in the museum maps.

The museum itself is comprised of two buildings connected by an enclosed bridge. One building is 4 stories and the other is 6 stories, with each level filled with various exhibitions including pre-Columbian pottery and artifacts, modern and abstract collections, photography, and sculpture, to mention a few.

I'm always amazed at the emotions a visit to an art museum evokes in me. I enjoy much of what I see, even feel strong attachment for some of the pieces, and also inevitably become angry at other pieces. Always insightful.

For example, I absolutely loved one of the paintings in the western art section. It was a high-contrast painting of an old drive-in movie theater, and I loved the colors, the mood, and the memories it pulled out. Then, in the abstract art section, I became strangely angry with a painting of a piece of lined notepaper. I don't know what made me angry, but I was mad just looking at it.

The experience was great, though, and I was reminded that a visit to an art museum is always worth the money in exchange for what I learn about myself.

Tonight we went back downtown, first to Invesco Field (what used to be Mile High Stadium) for the Enterprise Rent-a-Car holiday party (aka Enterprise prom, as some call it), and then to take some photos of the Denver City & County Building.

I had read online that this particular building, which forms part of the square at the capitol, is lit in a spectacular fashion twice during the year--once for the Christmas holidays, and once during the National Western Stock Show, which is going on now. So I hauled the tripod and camera out and fired away, resulting in the panorama at the top of this post.

I then turned 180 degrees and shot this photo of the Colorado State Capitol.

By then we were chilly--it was only 25 degrees or so--and decided to drive to the 16th Street Mall nearby. When we were visiting this outdoor pedestrian-only mall I had noticed a huge Denver sign and wanted to see what it looked like at night. This is one of the resulting images.

We also walked up to the mall and saw that all the trees were still wrapped in their holiday lights and shot this image looking east on the mall.

I hope to make time next week to go back downtown and shoot some candid photos of shoppers at the mall as well as explore the interesting mix of architecture with my camera. When I do I'll be sure to post some more photos.

In the meantime, both Tim and I hope that you've had a great week and that you are healthy, happy, and gaining wisdom each day. Take care.