I arrived for a week-long work trip to Denver to meet my colleagues and had the weekend free to recover from jetlag and explore Denver and the surrounding area. Not much of a city-slicker, the first thing I normally do is try find the first outdoorsy place around to explore. On one day I was lucky enough to explore Castle Rock, not a far drive away from Denver https://shellsadventures.com/2023/11/20/a-scramble-up-the-rock-in-castle-rock-exploring-the-town/. With the other day I had free I decided to take advantage of the time available to take the tram from Centennial to Denver’s downtown area.

Not having much of a plan or agenda in mind, I set my sights on exploring Denver in a “winging it” fashion. Jump off the tram at Union Station and taking it from there.

I escorted myself from the tram stop to The Commons Park, Confluence Park & Fishback Park which is along the South Platte River. That gave me the opportunity to stretch my legs and enjoy the sunshine, a welcome break from the clouds and rain in Ireland, I savoured the feeling of warmth and sun and seeing blue skies.

After a nice walk, craving something wholesome, I stumbled across Wonder Press which had a particularly good noodle salad that filled the gap. They also sell really good smoothies.

After that, feeling lazy, at least half my age and wanting to cover slightly more ground I discovered a Lime scooter nearby. For a shits and giggles and a real YOLO moment, I decided to install the app and grab one. Cranking it up to full speed and seeing how fast it can go, I navigated my way up to the Downtown Denver Lookout. Not a bad view of the city.

I noticed that the Aquarium was not too far away, and curious to see what types of local fish and habitats are in the area I decided to stop by.

At the aquarium I discovered Colorado’s state fish: the Greenback Cutthroat Trout. It’s native to the South Platte River which runs right through Denver. They also have a North American River Otter which was swimming through the displays. Another interesting display at the aquarium was the Monasaur skeleton. It was a predator from the Cretaceous Period (65 million years ago) which lived in the area which was an inland sea. It’s a distant relative of monitor lizards. I also learnt that flash floods are a regular occurrence in the desert regions of the States.

A short but sweet adventure in Denver, I enjoyed getting to know the public transport system, navigating my way around the city and stumbling across some cool attractions.