Due to the hour time difference between MN and CO, we were all up early. The convention panels don’t start until 10:00am, so we had a bit of time on our hands. We went in quest of breakfast and found this lovely little restaurant: The Corner Bakery. I had a scrambled egg and bacon croissant with cheddar cheese (a bit of a departure from my usual breakfasts of Kashi cereal).
After breakfast we parted ways: Phyllis headed out to visit her sister while Gail and I hopped on a bus and went to the Denver Botanical Gardens. This was a little bit of an adventure, not being certain of exactly where our stop was, we decided to hop off the bus early and ended up walking around the backside of the gardens which I found out later was Cheesman Park. This led to a delightful discovery of a beautiful wide open park and a view of the mountains in the background.
The Denver Botanical Gardens are worth a trip. Complete with the traditional “jungle dome” the grounds also offer a wide variety of gardens and paths to stroll through. I was delighted and pleased with the layout and variety of plants.
We returned to the convention center in time for lunch, and chose Paramount Studios (right next to Marlow’s). We split a Gyro’s sandwich and I tried a New Belgium Brewing Co Sunshine Wheat. Yummy! We sat outside in the beautiful weather and just enjoyed people watching.
After lunch we ran down to the Tattered Cover bookstore, a Denver “must see” for any bookie and found the Union Station - a still operating train depot. The architecture was original and the insides had not been gutted in favor of “modernization”. It is still an operating train station for Amtrak and a couple of lines that run up to Breckenridge. Outside we can see a brewpub in the distance and just beyond there Coors Field. I must come back for a baseball game!
Above - Tattered Cover Bookstore
Above/Below - Union Station
Back to the Convention for one panel:
Tragic Flaw to Achilles Heel - Every Hero’s Weakness
This discussed how “a hero without a flaw is an unsympathetic bore. It’s the flaws that help us identify with fictional heros. This panel discussed what, how much, and how little it takes to turn a practical paragon into a personal protagonist.”
Dinner was with Gail’s relatives at Ted’s Montana Grill (of Ted Turner fame). I had a delicious pecan crusted trout with a baked sweet potato and coleslaw. Portions were HUGE and I felt remiss that I couldn’t finish mine. The baked sweet potato was FANTASTIC and I simply must do more of these at home.
We were returned to the Convention Center, where we wandered over to the Sheraton (several blocks away) where more of the evening activities were happening. I was curious about watching a panel titled: If I Ran the Zoo, a game about running a Worldcon. As it happened, I ended up participating and had a good deal of fun. This was a little contest between two teams where cards are drawn and points awarded or deducted based on the answer chosen. I was only able to stay an hour and a half, then I needed to return back to our hotel with my companions so I don’t know which “convention” won (my team was Looney-con).
Day 2: Exciting.
1 comment:
John told me that Cheeseman Park and the Botanical Gardens used to be the site of a cememtery. The bodies got moved, mostly, but they still occasionally find bones when digging.
Post a Comment