You know you’re from there if you have a library card!!!!
Today the hubs and I headed back to Denver for a little sight-seeing. After parking to go into the Denver Art Museum, we realized we had stopped in front of the Denver Public Library. It’s a large, beautiful downtown library with this interesting sculpture by Donald Lipski called “Yearling” outside. (ED. NOTE – It made me think of the skit by Lily Tomlin!!)
We decided to get library cards and explore a bit. It’s a bit like a maze with 7 floors, escalators, a mural and books, movies, computers and anything you can imagine in a library. There is actually a pamphlet called the “Self-Guided Tour” to help you navigate. (ED. NOTE – I wish we had seen that before we just wandered around!!)
We left the library and walked over to the art museum which is in a very cool architectural style. There is a sculpture in front called “Big Sweep” of a broom and dustpan that was installed in 2006 and fit a theme at the time of “keeping Denver clean”.
There was a brilliant exhibit by Denver-born artist, Jordan Casteel called “Returning the Gaze” that will be here through mid-August. She is now based in Harlem, New York and selected her subjects by walking through her neighborhood and taking photographs, then painting them as larger than life portraits.
My second favorite thing in the museum was the gift shop 😊. They had really neat gifts and trinkets! The other exhibits were Treasures of British Art, Serious Play: Design in Midcentury America and Stampede: Animals in Art. Coming in October is Claude Monet: The Truth of Nature – would LOVE to see that! (ED. NOTE – A little disappointed in the museum – in some ways, I feel about art museums like Pam does about zoos!! While nice, I’ve been to better – Chicago and Atlanta come to mind – but it was a nice walk!!)
I knew Colorado had bears, but this is ridiculous!!!
While in the gift shop, I noticed these small statues of blue bears and googled it. There is a HUGE statue outside the Denver Convention Center of The Big Blue Bear, so, of course, we had to go find it! It was commissioned from local artist, Lawrence Argent and installed in 2005. The story is that Argent was thinking about the Convention Center and how many would drive by and wonder what was going on inside but there was no way to tell from the outside. Then Argent saw a photo in the newspaper of a bear peeking in a house window and it made him think of the Convention Center. The blue color came on a printout by accident and Argent thought it really popped – so there you have it – a Denver Mile High Icon. It’s magnificent! (ED. NOTE – It truly is!!!)
I mean, they have a lot of cows here, they should have good BBQ!!!!
The hubs has been craving barbecue, so we looked up the number one place and according to Westword, one of them is Boney’s Smokehouse BBQ on Champa Street. They have both a vinegary North Carolina style sauce and a sweet more tomatoey Memphis style sauce. The sides offered were the usual for BBQ but the macaroni and cheese 
tasted just like my grandmother’s, mother’s and mine. It was the best mac and cheese I’ve ever had a restaurant! We chowed down and were good to go! (ED. NOTE – It was really good and deserving of the mention in Westword!!)
Just can’t stay away!!!!
The last stop before heading home to Genoa was Lamb Shoppe. It is a delightful yarn shop in a small shopping area with a neighborhood feel. The walls are covered in cubbies full of yarn. There is a huge selection of Cascade, Berroco, Noro, Rowan among others, along with some locally Colorado dyed yarn such as Cat Mountain Fiber Arts. There was a nice large table toward the back of the room for classes and knitting. They offer a good selection of classes (check out the website). The whole shop had a warm and comfortable feeling – staff helping people with particular patterns, finding yarn, and helping with crochet and knitting. (ED. NOTE – Please note, finally, FINALLY, she was able to visit a yarn shop AND NOT BUY SOMETHING!!! Miracles DO HAPPEN!!!!!)