A Mile Closer to the Stars
Denver is the capital of the State of Colorado. It is located on the edge of the Great Plains just east of the Rocky Mountains. Only two states from Canada and one state from Mexico. It is relatively close to the geodetic center of the United States.
Denver has changed a lot in the last 25 years. Most everything in the downtown area stays open till at least 8 PM, usually to 2-3 AM. There are a large numbers of restaurants, pubs, and micro-breweries in the area now. Tattered Cover has a store in LoDo. Things have changed quite a bit in 25 years.
Denver neighborhoods have nicknames, depending on their locations. LoDo (which stands for Lower Downtown) is a few square blocks at the west/northwest end of downtown. The Adam's Mark hotel is at the east/southeast side of downtown. Denver has the Mall area, Larimer Square, the Ballpark neighborhood, the Platt Valley, the Golden Triangle, North Downtown (undergoing gentrification/loft-ization and tentatively called NoDo), Uptown, Auraria, Capitol Hill, etc. The Highlands are up the hill and across the river (& I-25) from downtown. "Down" or "Lower" means toward the Platt River, 'Up' means toward the Capitol. Directionally, the mountains are always to the west and lots of people navigate by this fact.
Some retail establishments (stores) close around 8 or 9 pm. Restaurants and bars are open until 2:00 am unless they are an "after hours" place (often open until 4 am), a breakfast/brunch only place (6 am - 2 or 3 pm), or a 24 hour place. Most restaurants keep their kitchen open until 11 pm.
Have a favorite restaurant, bar or club? Tell us about your favorite spots in Denver. Drop the Webmaster a line and I'll add your suggestion to Fan-recommended Restaurants, Bars and Clubs in Denver. We're also discussing restaurants and the like in the Devention Live Journal. Melissa Morman, the Restaurant Guide editor, is also looking for feedback on local restaurants.
Some areas of Denver have free WiFi, particularly the 16th Street Mall area.
Denver has a free shuttle along the 16th Street pedestrian mall. The FREE MallRide (36 ultra-low emission hybrid-electric buses) is available every day from as early as 5:15 a.m. on weekdays with the last complete round-trip leaving at 1:35 a.m. from Union Station. Service is sometimes so frequent - as often as every 1 1/4 minutes during rush hours - that shuttles are seldom out of sight.
The FREE MallRide stops at every intersection along the 1-1/4 mile-long mall from RTD?s Union Station at one end of the mall to RTD's Civic Center Station at the other end, with a total traveling time of approximately 11 minutes. Major connections for bus service can be made at RTD's Civic Center and Market Street Stations located along the 16th Street Mall.
There is a light rail system that goes to the Convention Center. Public transportation info. Taxis are plentiful in the hotel/convention center area.
There's a good Web site that covers downtown parking.
There's information about parking at each convention hotel on the individual hotel Web page. And here's parking information for the Colorado Convention Center.
Denver itself doesn't get measurable snow in August. Really! You may see snow from Denver, but remember you're looking at the Rocky Mountains.
There are quite a few places to see in Colorado, including the Mint, museums, a state capital, cliff dwellings, Rocky Mountains, and more. What do you want to see in Colorado? The Colorado State Fair is usually in mid-August in Pueblo. There are music and food festivals throughout the state in the summer (the ski resorts found something to do in the summer.) Telluride, Vail, Aspen, Winter Park, and others all offer different festivals during the summer. We have sea-bed fossils at 9500 feet; national parks and forests, gambling towns, ghost towns, gambling ghost towns, mines, wilderness areas, a lot of snow-capped mountains year-round, gorges, white-water. Pikes Peak is about 90 miles away and has one of the few cog railways running in the country, that will take you right to the top. There's plenty to do outdoors.
And the Travel Channel says that Hammond's Candies is in the top five of candy stores in the country.
Ron and Val Ontell are organizing a post- Worldcon trip of Colorado and the Grand Canyon.
Planes, Trains, Automobiles...
Well, that and the bus, on foot, by helicopter....
Flying to Denver? Take advantage of our United (Official Airline of Denvention) discount (information about a discount from Hertz, too)
Taking the train?
Amtrak's California Zephyr comes into Denver. Catch it from the West Coast, or make connections in Chicago. See Amtrak for details.
Driving? Denver is right at the intersection of Routes 70 and 25. Check with AAA, Mapquest or Google Maps for more information. There's plenty of parking in downtown but it will be expensive. Expect to see cheaper out-of-town parking alternatives listed here shortly.
Taking the bus? Greyhound will deliver you.
Denver is really 5280 feet above mean-sea-level. There is a plaque set in the stairs of the state capital that marks the exact altitude. As we like to say "Denver is a mile closer to the stars!"
Probably not. Most people don't notice the change in altitude unless they engage in very strenuous activity. You may find yourself getting a little short of breath, but just pause for a minute or two and you'll recover just fine. It's also important to drink enough water.
You may have problems if you're too sedentary, or have a heart or lung problem. Try to give yourself a day or two to acclimate if you think you might be sensitive to high altitudes.
In reality, most people who get sick at an altitude like Denver are not actually suffering from altitude sickness, but are in fact just dehydrated. The altitude combined with our usual dry air can make you dehydrated without you realizing it. Symptoms can include feeling dizzy, faint, or nauseous. The best remedy is to make sure you drink 2 more full glasses of water than you normally do when at altitude. If you have asthma, be sure to bring your inhaler. In short, use common sense.
A local, former EMT notes:
In addition to dehydration, genuine altitude sickness can be a problem, especially for those who are not in good cardiovascular health (and, unfortunately, many Fen are not in the best of health). Persistent headache and shortness of breath are usually the first symptoms. Please don't dismiss altitude sickness for the more out of shape Fen or you may end up with more medical emergencies than anticipated. Sea level Fen not in tip top shape should be prepared to manage their illnesses much more carefully at altitude (this includes diabetes).
Mary Morman, longtime Colorado resident and director of the Program division, notes the following:
Although some of us locals live at really high altitudes (like Colorado Springs), Denver is going to be a higher altitude than most Denvention 3 members are used to. Will this cause problems? Possibly, but not for most people. If you fly regularly, and don’t have problems with the pressure in an aircraft cabin, you are probably okay. Most commercial planes pressurize their cabins for about 7,000 feet and the altitude in downtown Denver only about 5,300 feet (1,615 meters). Of course, most of us don’t take much exercise while sitting in a plane, and we do expect you to be more active during the convention, so here are few bits of advice to help you with the Denver’s mile-high altitude.
The most effective way to deal with the higher altitude is to stay very well hydrated. Average humidity will also be much lower than most fans are used to, so drinking constantly is a good thing—drinking water that is. Drinking alcohol or caffeine will likely affect you more strongly and more quickly than it normally does—and that is a good thing to remember. Avoid strenuous exercise on the first day of your visit to give your body time to adjust. Now does this mean that you need to set aside a big chunk of your convention budget to buy bottled water? Not so! Colorado has some of the best water you’ve ever tasted coming right out of the city water taps. Our mountain reservoirs are filled with snow melt from the Rockies. So bring a sports bottle and keep it filled from the taps in your hotel room or from water fountains at the convention center. Or buy one bottle of water, and keep refilling the container. There’s a reason why Colorado is a prime site for so many breweries and micro-breweries. It’s the water! And you can enjoy if for free.
Other fans have suggested being sure to bring:
If there were, we wouldn't be bidding for a Worldcon! Denver has some of the best microbrews in the nation, and you can enjoy them safely as long as you remember two things:
Otherwise, enjoy as you normally would.
We don't need no stinking air! For the Definitive Answer...
Thanks to Jude, a Denver resident who provided many enhancements for this page. (Sadly, your Webmaster has never been to Denver, and has only been to Colorado Springs once, so I'm relying on you natives for more local information!)