Another good weather day.  I tidied up the remaining things I had to shoot in Denver.  Very time-consuming stuff with traffic, one-way streets, and construction.  But… done!  Although I’ve been here before, I really got to dig in this time.   I easily have more than 500 shots from Denver alone to add to the website this fall.  Or winter.  I’m serious backed up at this point.

The dogs got some grassy parks in the morning.  A somewhat scary fast-moving river later.  And an incredible undeveloped area — maybe 50 acres? — with hundreds, if not thousands of prairie dogs.  Since it was somewhat fenced, and I knew there was not a chance of my dogs catching anything, I let them rip.  The prairie dogs were unfazed — chattering away and popping just underground when the dogs got close.   An “after” shot:

 

A few more of the “lesser” signs on Colfax — I’m already feeling nostalgic:

 

This was not my finest work.  I had crammed way too much onto the map — but it all worked out okay.  I cross stuff off as I shoot things so I’m sure not to miss anything.  There’s also the “list” that goes with the maps that plots things out in order of the most efficient route.  Also check things off there so as to not miss anything.  If you’re curious about the madness of my methods, click on the link at the righthand column of pages for “how-to plan a roadtrip”.

 

This statue is at the Denver International Airport — which is way, way far away from the city.  Truly one of the most hideous and inaccurate statues I’ve ever seen.  Huge, too.  There’s no way you can even approach it – which is pretty poor planning & placement.  You have to pull over on the superhighway on the left hand side and pray you don’t get a ticket for doing so — and don’t get into an accident pulling back out.

 

In Littleton, I found what must be one of the oldest Taco Houses:

 

More rabbits!  This one in Greenwood Village.  Practically tame.  He/she let me get about five feet away and didn’t look the slightest bit worried.  I’m glad the dogs were far away in the van.

I ended the day at Lakeside Amusement Park in Denver.  Every time I’d been to Denver before it was off-season and closed.  So I was determined to get there finally.    This time of year, it doesn’t open til 6pm on weekdays.  But that was just as well since I wanted to see stuff by day and the neon at night.  I think dusk is actually the best time to shoot since you still get shapes and lighting and silhouettes of people, etc.

First, a couple of the vintage ticket booths:

 

 

 

And there are lots of fun rides, of course.  This is not the crazy Six Flags type place with gigantic, high-tech coasters & all that.  It’s truly a vintage, fun, nostalgic, old-fashioned park.  Everybody was having a great time.  I’ll include one ride shot — I’m partial to rockets & spaceships:

 

 

And now for some neon and ambiance:

 

 

And so.  Lakeside was the perfect way to bid farewell to Denver.  Tomorrow, it’s on to Boulder and eventually south to (or near) Colorado Springs.