[Naim Khan]

Hi all,
I am travelling to Denver in a couple of days for a conference - Colorado Convention Centre. Can anyone suggest any places I can visit with photography in mind?
I will have access to a car.
Cheers.

[RoxnDox]

heh - there are MANY opportunities around there! If you have enough spare time, you can drive up into the mountains and find a wide variety of things to shoot. Estes Park and the Rocky Mtns Nat'l Park are superb if you can get that far. The city of Boulder has the Flatirons rising from the plains along the edge of the mountains. There are many parks and open-space preserves scattered around the region where you can hike and get some nice overlook views of Denver and the surrounds. There's Buffalo Bill's gravesite on Lookout Mtn. There's the Mother Calibri (sp?) shrine. There are museums, street art, anything you can think of practically. Your best bet is to use Google Maps to locate these things and just do some exploring the region that way, looking for titles that might be interesting...

And there are lots of Pentaxians in the area too! Heck, I'll even be one next week myself (going down for a work session with some colleagues), but I won't have time or a car to do much of anything...

Jim

[pacerr]

The Red Rocks Amphitheater is an easy 40 minute drive west on Interstate 70 -- miniature Garden of the God's rock formations and historic stuff there. Then up to Idaho Springs on I-70 and back down through the canyons on Rt 6 to Golden to finish the day --

( Yorkshire, eh? Well, you'll be above 6,000' MSL and it's DRY there - don't let yourself get dehydrated! )

-- with a "tour and taste" at the Coor's Brewing plant to finish the day.

If you have a whole day, you can make it up I-70 to US 40 to Berthoud Pass on the Continental Divide, thence up to the Rocky Mt Nat Park, back across the CD to Estes Park then down I-25 for a late dinner in Denver (about 9 hours with time for lunch and photos en route -- but the altitude will take its toll on ya).

H2

[deadwolfbones]

If you go to a brewery, don't go to Coors. Way too many good microbreweries in that area to waste time drinking swill.

http://www.breckbrew.com/food/pubdenver.html
http://www.breckbrew.com/food/bbq.html
http://www.greatdivide.com/#/taproom
http://flyingdogales.com/contact-us/brewery-tours/
http://www.wynkoop.com/

etc etc

[manishved]

Pentax has their facilities not much far from Denver.

[joe.penn]

You are going to the city with the Greatest NFL Team in the country, if it were me I would have at least 5 32gb cards ready to fill up of everything Broncos related....

[pacerr]

Way too many good microbreweries in that area to waste time drinking swill.

Ahh, 'Bones, we're talking 'bout priorities an' en route re-hydration considerations here, an' a free one at that. Swill or not, ya don' wanna be stumblin' into the 'Coop at sunset so dry mouthed ya can't order.

Even down hill. it's a looong way from the Samplin' Room at the Coors Brewery in Golden to downtown Denver in the evening commute traffic -- a person could die of thirst out there. It's like Denver's half way to the Kansas border an' we don' wanna leave visitors litterin' the road sides like autumn road kill. We loose enough of 'em in the Security lines at DIA as it is.

H2
Coors Brewery is white square building (and many others) at center right, Micro breweries in Denver are lost somewhere out there out there in the wilderness toward the horizon. Always solve your immediate problems first!

[deadwolfbones]

Haha, excellent post.

[Naim Khan]

Thanks for your advice guys. I'll try and get to the places you have mentioned but don' t know how much time I'll have. regarding Coors or other breweries, I don't drink any more so that will be off the agenda. I'll have to make do with water only
As for Joe Penn's advice re the Broncos, I think they are like my beloved football (soccer to you Yanks ) team - Liverpool, who haven't won the league title since 1990. A quick Google search showed me that they haven't won the Superbowl since 1998 (second of only 2). My team has been much more successfel in the past and have a record 18 league championships although that other team called Manchester United are poised to break that record this coming weekend

[deadwolfbones]

Ok, well... another cool thing to see is Mt. Evans (one of the 14,000ft+ peaks in Colorado), which has the scariest ascent road I've ever been up, but incredible views and lots of wildlife, surprisingly.

Some photos from there: Mt Evans etc - deadwolfbones' Photos (up to #62)

Also, the Denver Zoo is quite nice: Denver Zoo! - deadwolfbones' Photos

[Mark Castleman]

Ok, well... another cool thing to see is Mt. Evans (one of the 14,000ft+ peaks in Colorado), which has the scariest ascent road I've ever been up, but incredible views and lots of wildlife, surprisingly.

Some photos from there: Mt Evans etc - deadwolfbones' Photos (up to #62)

Also, the Denver Zoo is quite nice: Denver Zoo! - deadwolfbones' Photos

Trail Ridge Road through RMNP and the Mt Evans Rd are both pretty spectacular but neither of them open before Memorial Day and even after that they are subject to closure well into July. Hydration is something to keep in mind but also remember that the air is only 2/3 as dense as it is at sea level. At the top of Mt Evans you are at an altitude where the FAA requires pilots to be in a pressurized cabin or have supplementary oxygen.

Since you are going to be downtown I would suggest walking the length of the 16th street mall and perhaps walk down to Union Station as well. As for beer, go to the Falling Rock Tap House.

[deadwolfbones]

Ah yeah, I forgot about the snow.

[Marc Sabatella]

H2
Coors Brewery is white square building (and many others) at center right

And if you look really close, I believe the Pentax HQ is the long rectangular building just below and to the left of the Coors building (not the white one, but the earth-colored one to the right of it).

[pacerr]

And if you look really close, I believe the Pentax HQ is the long rectangular building . . .

But they don't offer free samples, Marc!

H2

[v5planet]

But they don't offer free samples, Marc!

H2

Brewery tours often let you take home a glass. A Pentax HQ tour should let you take home some glass too