Colorado

I spent almost the entire day today in Colorado. I have to say, I was quite impressed with the Centennial State. It had clean roads, generous speed limits, beautiful moutains, and bountiful farmers markets. What more can you ask?

I spent the morning driving across the last stretch of plains before hitting the Rockies. The last stretch of plains are actually pretty incredible. The Rockies just rise up in front of you as you approach Denver... Unfortunately, my approach to Denver was marred as I got completely lost exiting I-70 into the city. Luckily, I eventually sorted myself out and managed to park at a fairly convenient spot downtown.

My first stop in Denver was at Union Train Station. Unfortunately, Denver's Union Station was nowhere near as cool as St. Louis's Union Station. The reason? No mall. After seeing both of these stations, I have decided that every old downtown train station should house a mall. Think about it -- all of today's vibrant train stations have a thriving mall:

• Grand Central Terminal
  
• Union Station in Washington DC
  
• Union Station in St. Louis
  
• South Station in Boston
  

You get the point...

After Union Station, I took a taxi to the Denver Aquarium. I'm proud to say that the Aquarium was definitely worth the price of admission. It had sharks, tigers (yup, tigers!), barracudas. It even had stingrays.

After my quick visit to the Aquarium, I walked back downtown to the pedestrian-only 16th Street Mall. This brings me to my second generalization of the day. I think that all cities should have pedestrian-only malls. I could be wrong, but I think that almost all of my favorite cities have started pedestrian-only areas.

• Burlington, VT (of course!)
  
• Charlottesville, VA
  
• Madison, WI
  
• Philadelphia, PA
  
• Boston, MA
  
• Denver, CO

After Denver, I drove north for a quick visit to Boulder. The highlight of the trip to Boulder was it's thriving Farmer's Market. I bought three organic gala apples and a grass-fed natural hamburger. Yum. As I wandered around downtown Boulder, I couldn't help but think how Boulder is quite possibly the most hippy/liberal place I've ever visited (which is saying something after living in Burlington for two years). So it was no shock when I bumped into both PIRG canvassers and DNC canvassers asking for money just moments after finishing this thought... Of course, I jest. But I think Boulder would be a pretty cool place to live. Imagine waking up every morning with the Rocky Mountains out your backdoor?

I left Boulder on a southwestern trajectory through the Rockies back to I-70W. I definitely only brushed the edge of the mountain range, but it was still pretty incredible. It reinforced my belief that I much more awestruck by mountains than by water (rivers, lakes, etc). I'm hoping to push into Utah tomorrow and pay a visit to Arches National Park. Then only two more days until I reach California!