Travel Adventures in Denver, Part 4

This is my fourth post about our recent travels to Denver. I recommend reading the first, second, and third posts before this one. Because I blog about educational travel, I received complimentary media passes for some of the places I visited during this trip. What I paid has no bearing on my reviews. I only share what I honestly recommend.

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Travel Adventures in Denver

 

Museum Marathon Monday was not over yet. I got to my sixth museum of the day, the Center for Colorado Women's History, just after 3:00 pm. 

The current exhibit, called Ms. Destiny, highlights 7 different Colorado women who "took fate into their hands, overcame barriers, and defined their realities." 

Each of the women's stories were very interesting. I particularly enjoyed learning about Cathay Williams, Dr. Justina Ford, and Baby Doe Tabor. 

They offer guided tours, but I did the self-guided tour. It's set up in an interesting way. You're free to wander wherever you want as long as the direction you want to travel has a poppy by the doorway. No poppy, no entry. 

After touring the museum, I spent a few minutes enjoying the beautiful grounds. 

  

Then it was off to the Denver Art Museum. I had about an hour and 20 minutes to see everything I could before it closed. I ended up seeing about a third, as the museum is enormous. I'm not just saying that. The Martin building is eight stories and 210,000 square feet. The Hamilton building, added as an expansion, is 146,000 square feet. 

At this point, I had walked almost 18,000 steps and had been on my feet continuously for 11 hours, minus the 10 minutes when I sat to eat lunch. Is it any wonder I took pictures of chairs? 

But I wasn't there to sit. I wanted to see as much of the art as I could. I spent some time studying this piece. 

It's made of old shoelaces, which come out directly from the wall. It's a neat effect and would be fun to try. Not in a wall though. 

Look how huge these knives are compared to the couches and chairs below. 

This gallery of fiber art called The Tangled Self was so much fun! I had to be creative with my photographs again to avoid all the children at play in this whimsical crocheted landscape. That large piece is a tent and it was very popular with kids. 

While I was in the room, there was a boy about 7 years old who came running in, ran right over to the tent and inspected it carefully, and yelled back to his mom, "MOM! There's crochet everywhere and it's magical!" That's the kind of enthusiasm everyone should have for art. And I'm impressed that he could tell the different between knit and crochet. 

  

There is so much to see and experience at the Denver Art Museum. 

  

Boy, did those chairs look appealing. My legs hurt so much, but I wanted to enjoy as much as I could and not waste time sitting. (Not to mention, if I'd sat in one of those chairs I would have gotten myself kicked out.)

  

Looking out from the museum... 

  

Back indoors. 

This was a neat behind-the-scenes look at how the items in an exhibit are cared for. When they arrive, they are inspected and assessed, documented in writing and photography, analyzed for fabric structure and fiber ID, cleaned and/or stabilized, and finally prepared for display. 

I had about 15 minutes before the museum closed when I got to the interactive Design Studio, one of three places for visitors to create art within the Denver Art Museum. As much as I wanted to see more galleries, I couldn't resist the chance to spin the wheel and make my own creation. 

My assignment was to create a monochromatic piece. I started to do that and grabbed two different purples from a bin of paper scraps and bits. When I went looking for more purples, I couldn't find any. So I decided to change my assignment to work with colors I wouldn't ordinarily put together. I added torn bits of turquoise, yellow, and orange to my purple bits, along with pieces of magazine text. Then I found a sentence someone else had cut out and put back into the bin: "...moved so easily I could have..." I cut it apart, rearranged the words, and glued them to my art: "I could so easily have moved." 

That sentence sounds like regret. I could so easily have moved. I should have moved, if only I'd moved, why didn't I move? But combined with the happy colors of my piece, it didn't read that way to me anymore. Instead, I interpreted it as joy: I could have moved, but thank goodness I didn't because otherwise I wouldn't be where I am, or who I am, now.  

Speaking of moving, I had serious concerns about whether I could walk at all after sitting at the table making art for 15 minutes after being on my feet for 11 hours. I limped out of the museum and back to the hotel, where I took off my shoes and collapsed. 

About an hour later, Steve asked me if I minded walking to the restaurant he and the team had selected for dinner (5280 Burger Bar) and snagging a table. They'd be there shortly. So off I went. 

Steve, Joseph, Kerry, and Patrick showed up a few minutes later and we had an absolutely delicious meal. Everything was fantastic. I'd noticed something on the way in to the restaurant. 5280 Ice Cream is adjacent to 5280 Burger Bar. If anyone deserved ice cream, it was someone who'd power walked her way through seven museums in a single day. 

And Linux experts, apparently. 

The ice cream was delicious and the perfect way to end a wonderful day in Denver. 

Travel Adventures in Denver, Part 3

This is my third post about our recent travels to Denver. I recommend reading the first and second posts before this one. Because I blog about educational travel, I received complimentary media tickets to many of the places I visited. What I paid has no bearing on my reviews, as I only share what I honestly recommend.

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Travel Adventures in Denver

With the Mint, State Capitol, and Molly Brown House checked off my list, it was time to head to my next destination: History Colorado Center. From the moment you step inside, it's clear that you're somewhere special. 

  

History Colorado Center is enormous; allow plenty of time to explore the five stories of exhibits that cover a huge variety of aspects from Colorado history. 

In an exhibit about mountain climbing, visitors can try sitting - or sleeping - on a belay ledge. It felt comfortable and safe enough two feet off the ground, indoors with no wind, but there is no way I would trust it on a mountainside. Not that you'll find me on a mountainside in the first place. 

There are a good number of interactive exhibits at History Colorado Center. I took a quiz and learned that my superpower is curiosity...

... then I decoded inspirational sayings. 

I loved the exhibits about Colorado's Native tribes. 

  

I really enjoyed Zoom In. It's a display of 100 items selected to represent Colorado's history. It's an impossible task to limit all of history to 100 things, of course, but it's fascinating seeing what they chose. 

Like Christmas lights. Denver was once The Christmas Capital of the World. 

Guess who this belonged to? (The guitar, not the Orange Crush sweater.) Yep, you're right. 

A sympathy card sent following the Columbine High School massacre. 

There were so many interesting things at History Colorado Center. You could easily spend all day there. 

  

I was excited to see Casa Bonita was featured. We were headed there later in the week, so I'll tell you about it in a future post. 

Did you know the car boot was invented in Denver? 

One of the exhibits I found the most interesting was about the Dust Bowl. Inside this theater, you can experience 1935's Black Sunday. 

  

It's intense. I can't even imagine experiencing it in real life. The theater reminded me of the Tornado Alley Theater at Little Rock's Museum of Discovery and the Shake House at the California Academy of Sciences. Experiential exhibits like this are so impactful. 

I was really impressed with how many interactive exhibits there are at History Colorado Center. I avoid taking pictures of other people's kids, so I had to crop creatively to photograph this cool hay loft play structure (complete with slide, which all hay lofts should have) and the general store and post office play areas. 

The last exhibit I visited was The 90's. Oh my gosh - the nostalgia! I graduated from high school in 1990, so I remember the decade well. This exhibit alone is reason enough to visit History Colorado Center. I loved it. 

Like I said, you could easily spend all day at History Colorado Center. But I had other places on my agenda, including lunch. I'd gotten a bunch of recommendations for Leven Deli, so that's where I went. 

Despite the fact that it was 1:45 pm on a Monday, it was insanely crowded. When I got in line, there were 20+ people ahead of me and no available seats inside or outside. Fortunately, the line moved quickly and when my food was ready, there was a bit of open seating. 

I had caprese toast on their homemade sourdough and it was SO good. I also had their lemonade. Delicious. I highly recommend Leven Deli. 

Refueled and rested, I was eager to check out my next destination, The Kirkland. 

From its opening in 2003, The Kirkland was its own museum, focusing on international decorative art, Colorado fine art, and the works of its namesake, Vance Kirkland. In October 2024, The Kirkland merged with the Denver Art Museum. 

I'd never heard of Vance Kirkland before researching for this trip. The museum does an excellent job of leading visitors through his five painting periods, from realism to impressionism to surrealism to abstraction to his signature textured dot paintings. 

  

See the straps above the work table in Kirkland's studio? He would lie face down on the straps, then an assistant would slide a canvas onto the work table so that Kirkland could apply perfect dots. 

  

  

I loved this museum. 

This is Kirkland's studio building. The story of how it was moved from its original location to the present location is incredible. 

After touring the Mint (6:25-8:55 am), the State Capitol (9:00-9:55), the Molly Brown House (10:00-10:50), History Colorado Center (11:00-1:30), and The Kirkland (2:00-3:00), I must be done for the day, right? Nope. Not even close. In tomorrow's blog post, I'll tell you about the rest of my jam-packed day of fun in Denver.