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Second Stop, 16th Street Mall

Friday, August 13th, 2010 by Alyice

Whoever said money can’t buy happiness
simply didn’t know where to go shopping.
– Bo Derek

Located in the heart of downtown Denver, Colorado is the 16th Street Mall.

To be honest, I had no intentions of checking this place out as I don’t like to shop and would rather do more “non-touristy” things on my vacation. My husband, however, heard that one should not venture into Denver, Colorado without at least stepping foot in the 16th Street Mall once, so we went.

What’s neat about this experience is that you get a real feel for Denver’s Culture. There is such a vast array of things to experience in such a short distance.

First and foremost, the 16th Street Mall is an outdoor/indoor mall that stretches 16 city blocks.

If you love to shop and have money to spend, you’ll enjoy this stretch of stores. Not only are there many “popular” retail stores on the strip, but there are also lots of quaint mom-and-pop shops worth exploring.

It is also home to various street vendors and street performers.

During our trek through the mall, we experienced a rather snotty ventriloquist, a fabulous piano player, an up-and-coming trumpet player, a walking guitarist, a struggling-to-get-the-right-chord singer/songwriter, a shoe shine guy, and even a few peddlers.

We saw people selling everything from t-shirts to glasses to wallets to beverages to carry-out food, and even a horse and buggy ride!

For my daughter, I think the best part was checking out all the street vendors and street performers. She’d seen them before on television, but never experienced them before in real life—unless you count the County Fair.

For my son, he could’ve stayed home and skipped the whole experience. Not only does he not like shopping, he can’t stand having to stop and wait for mom to capture “just the right” shot.

The mall is also within walking distance to some fine area attractions. It is surrounded by everything from the Performing Arts Complex, the Convention Center, The Denver Post, a bowling alley, a local brewery, a movie theatre, comedy clubs, gentleman’s clubs (yuck), outdoor cafes, air-conditioned restaurants, and even area businesses with great architectural design, like glass-walled skyscrapers and historic buildings.

The downfall to the mall is that in order to shop, you must pay anywhere between $10 and $16 for day parking or something like $5 per hour for short-term parking. I so hate paying for parking when I am going shopping—it’s one of the reasons I do not shop downtown Sioux Falls, South Dakota. I love the shops, but I hate wasting my money that way.

Overall, it was a nice experience—and the whole time all I could think about was how much my friend, Nenane, would love this place!

Until next time…

Disclosure: I paid for this attraction. This is “my opinion”. I was not paid to write a review.

Posted in Get-A-Ways | 1 Comment »

First Stop, Elitch Gardens

Thursday, August 12th, 2010 by Alyice

When my family and I read up on Elitch Gardens, we were excited. Having once been a Six Flags Amusement Park, we were sure that we would be in for an experience of a lifetime so we planned to purchase an annual pass and hit the park every day of our vacation.

Upon arriving in Denver, we unpacked our bags and headed straight for the amusement park where we purchased our annual passes. As we made our way to the gate we were surprised that they didn’t have two entrances: one for annual pass holders, and one for day passes. “No biggie,” I thought to myself. “We’ll just wait in line again.”

Then came the violation. Upon entering the park we were immediately greeted by not one, but four security guards in uniform. One stood at the entrance, one stood away from the entrance, one waved a little wand to check my purse, the other had us open every pocket of our backpack and camera bag. And to top it all off, we had to walk through a metal detector.

Okay, so it wasn’t really a violation, and I get that this is now “normal” procedure for many parks, but being bombarded with so many guards so fast was a little intimidating and made me fear for the kids’ safety in the park.

For the first hour or so, I was on guard—worrying what “might” happen to them.

That is, until I realized that my friend, Nenane, was right. “I have been too sheltered here in South Dakota” and just needed to reacclimate myself to this “new” environment. So I took a few deep breaths and evaluated the situation for what it really was.

Yes, one should always have some level of awareness about one’s surroundings, but not to the point that it freaks a person out so badly that she (or he) is afraid to actually live life. It’s also when I realized that being so isolated here in South Dakota has caused me to have a bit of a recluse mentality.

Once I readjusted my thinking, everything was fine. I no longer saw potential threats but actual people—people, like us, looking for a good time, looking to de-stress from life.

Over the next five days, we ended our days with a trip to Elitch Gardens. And while it was a nice experience and a great way to end the day, I have to say that Elitch Gardens is not an amusement park that you could spend five, eight hour days, in a row, at.

The park is old. It is worn down. It’s rides were constantly breaking down. There’s no room for expansion so the park is small, really small. And as much as I hate to say this, aside from the water park area, the amusement park, for the most part, truly reminded us of a carnival with permanent carnival rides and a few thrills thrown in.

That’s not to say Elitch Gardens isn’t a nice place to visit. We enjoyed going to the park after a long day of tourism, I’m just saying that I wouldn’t recommend making it the “mainstay” of your vacation.

With that being said, my kids favorite rides were:

The Tower of Doom – plunge 200 feet on a free-fall. (They just wanted to scare the living daylights out of mom, that’s all.)
The Tea Cups – make the cups spin as fast or slow as you want. (I think they just like seeing who can get sick first!)
The Edge – 42 foot drop down a massive water slide that immediately races up to the edge of the other side before ending in a lazy river. (It’s totally the thrill of the ride that got them here.)

Until next time…

Disclosure: I paid for this attraction. This is “my opinion”. I was not paid to write a review.

Posted in Get-A-Ways | No Comments »

Vacationing In Colorado

Wednesday, August 11th, 2010 by Alyice

A vacation is what you take when you can
no longer take what you’ve been taking.
– Earl Wilson

Last week my family and I took a much needed vacation and opted for a trip to Colorado where we would spend five days basking in the mountains, riding roller coasters, and eating delicious food.

Let me start off by telling you that Colorado isn’t anything like I expected. For some reason, I thought it would be very similar to the Smoky Mountains but instead it was more like the San Bernardino Mountains—which makes since considering they filmed the entire series of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman in the San Bernardino Mountains.

We left two days early, hoping to be able to make the 9.5 hour drive more bearable by stopping at attractions along the way. But we got a huge surprise when we discovered that the stretch from South Dakota to Denver, Colorado offered nothing of real interest. (Unless you count Omaha, which we already make regular trips to.)

After making it to Colorado, we stopped at a rest stop for a bathroom break and decided to call it a night. Unfortunately for us, we also picked up three nails! With a flat tire and no Firestone (or Just Tires) in sight, our road hazard warranty was useless. We called Allstate Motor Club, got our spare tire put on, then spent the night in a hotel.

Yes, our vacation was off to a great start.

The next morning, we arrived at Wal-Mart where we bought a spare tire and continued our journey to Denver, Colorado. Let’s just say that it was HOT desert all the way!

Upon arriving in Denver, my nerves were a little shattered. It’d been years since we had to drive in bumper to bumper traffic and my anxiety levels were rising. I don’t know what I expected, but it definitely wasn’t the congestion of an overcrowded, ever-growing city.

I guess I was hoping the area would have more to offer than South Dakota, but not be so inundated. It seemed every inch of the land was populated with buildings and people, and the only way to truly appreciate the beauty of the land would be to drive 1 to 3 hours away. Needless to say, I was a little disappointed.

But after talking with my friend, Nenane, I was reminded that I live a rather sheltered life here in South Dakota and it would take some time to reacclimate myself to the workings of a larger city.

And thus our adventure began…

Until next time…

Posted in Get-A-Ways | No Comments »

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I'm a freelance writer, mixed media artist, SMVA, and the owner of The Dabbling Mum.

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