Some happy Saturdays, I putter with him.
A couple of Saturdays ago was one of those happy days. We decided to explore the relatively new RiNo§ area of Denver.
Once upon a time, when Coors Field first opened, I used to park on Little Raven and walk across desolate fields and many railroad tracks to get to baseball games.
My, how things have changed. It's shiny lofts, trendy restaurants and Commons Park.
I *love* Commons Park. It reminded me so much of a little, tiny¶ Central Park with its art, water, hills and little nooks where for just a moment, you can walk in the wilderness and forget the city mere yards away.
This is a cool and totally useless bit of art.#
It has lofty meaning...
...and when you get to the top, you reach the stairs and go right back down. It's a ramp to a stairway to nowhere...
...with a window to the sky.††
Anything that purposeless with lines that nice *has* to be art.
[SUMMARY: I know it when I see it.]
There are three bridges all in a row in RiNo.
One goes from Commons Park west across the river. The next goes west across the freeway into the Highlands neighbourhood.‡‡ The other is on the other side, going east across the railroad tracks.
First, we crossed the river.
At the foot of the Highlands Bridge, there's more art.§§
It's called National Velvet¶¶ and it... gleams.
[SUMMARY: Shiny!]
We quickly crossed Highlands Bridge and landed right next to the statuary supermarket.##
We gazed on art in a more classic style†††...
...and found duckies.
Across the street, urban hieroglyphics‡‡‡:
Having exhausted the west end of the bridge continuum, we realised the only thing to do to make our day complete was to cross the easternmost bridge: the Millenium Bridge.
Back across the freeway§§§...
..and across the river and onto the Millenium Bridge, with its ship's mast and starburst of cables.¶¶¶
We watched a train.
I was delighted by the simple ingenuity of the bike grooves on the stairs.###
And we gazed out over downtown Denver. This is Union Station.%
We headed south to 15th, where there's a charming viaduct.@
And more artwork tucked away in a stairwell.
We headed west on 15th back to Little Raven and saw this historic building.
According to the plaque, Historic Building No. 19, which you'd think one could look up on any number of registries, but it was a surprising bitch of a research project to find out what Historic Building No. 19 was all about. There's a lot of tangled information involving David Moffat and his brother and I think I gave Shanny my conclusion too soon.
This building is Moffat Station,^ but was indeed part of Moffat's railway empire. I haven't yet figured out what some of the articles are pointing to when they're talking about his brother's property.
Shanny may be the only person who would understand those last two paragraphs. Carry on.
[SUMMARY: Dot your Ts and cross your Is.]
It was time for Shanny to get back and wire up for the Rockies pre-show. Besides, we were exhausted. A couple of hours of wandering and stairs and bridges and cranes will drive a person to a good night's sleep.
It only seemed appropriate that this was the last artwork we saw on our adventure:
†FOOTNOTE (crossed): As they say on the Colorado Morning News, "...engineer Shannon Scott." And I always talk back to the radio and say, "Hi, Shanny!"
‡FOOTNOTE (double-crossed): 850 KOA, home of your Rockies, Broncos and Buffs.
§FOOTNOTE (swerved): River North.
¶FOOTNOTE (paragraphed): ...itty, bitty, wee, miniscule, a percentage of a percentage...
#FOOTNOTE (pounded): Not entirely unlike the scene above it -- Shanny called it Windows desktop -- but more abstract.
††FOOTNOTE (ddouble-ccrossed): Though I like to think it's some sort of solar calendar thingie that tells us when to sacrifice the virgins.
‡‡FOOTNOTE (doubble-crossssed): Home of your dear ol' AntiM.
§§FOOTNOTE (that's me, shaking my head): Um... "art."
¶¶FOOTNOTE (*headbonk*): Of COURSE it is.
##FOOTNOTE (I got your number): Not its real name.
†††FOOTNOTE (a tres of statuary): read: with boobs. I had a statuary penis too, but in a fit of feminism I forgot to upload it.
‡‡‡FOOTNOTE (on the wrong track): Pie, house plant, coffee, saucepan?
§§§FOOTNOTE (turn around and around): You may notice I have a thing for architectural stuff. I have whole volumes of vacation photos that are nothing but brick walls and trestles.
¶¶¶FOOTNOTE (not using my head head head): Any decent tourguide would have taken a picture of the mastiness of the bridge instead of just the weird up-angle.
###FOOTNOTE (three pounds of impressed in a two pound bag): I am so easily amused.
%FOOTNOTE (percented): With a crane.
@FOONOTE (atted): And another crane.
^FOOTNOTE (careted): Dear Shanny, in case you're reading this, I don't even remember David Moffat's brother's name, but it isn't his house.
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