The DougBlog
"Et sans savoir pourquoi, disent toujours: Allons!" —Baudelaire

Sunday, October 07, 2007

Getting High (One Mile, To Be Excruciatingly Exact)

…after Baltimore came a day in Denver. Again, I timed my flights so that I would at least have a little time to walk around (though I’ve been to Denver before). The entertainment began right after I landed and jumped into a cab: the taxi was filled with teddy bears! A little cute, a little freaky…:








Here’s my reaction to the Teddy Cab…I felt a little like Gulliver and kept a wary eye:


That was just about as exciting as it got. After a day of research I hit the hay, and then had time for a walk the next morning. My hotel had a nice view of the Rockies (and Mile-High Stadium…oh, excuse me, “INVESCO Field at Mile High”):


I walked past the house (now a museum) of the “Unsinkable” Molly Brown, famed philanthropist, Titanic survivor (Kathy Bates played her in the movie), and musical subject:


The Colorado State Capitol is nice and at the heart of the city:



Truth be told, I always thought that “the Mile-High City” was just a nickname. But apparently it really is exactly one mile high! When the statehouse was built about a hundred years ago, the fifteenth step in front was engraved with the words “ONE MILE ABOVE SEA LEVEL” because that’s where they thought it was:


But since then more accurate measurements placed the 1-mile mark first at the 18th step and then, most recently and supposedly most accurately at the 13th step—both of which are also indicated:


Truth be told, who gives a crap?! Just pick one and stop spending our tax dollars on this!

Finally, the convention center in Denver appeared to be under attack by an 8-story tall bear:


…but I didn’t have time to worry about that because it was time to move on to Barcelona!!

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