If You Lived in Denver...

As many of you know, I like to spend time traveling. 

A lot of time.

At the moment, I’m enrolled at the University of Colorado Denver, so much of my time is booked up with classes for the better part of the year. This of course means that I can be found high-tailing it to the airport after taking my final exam or handing in my final paper. Last summer, I skipped out of Colorado for nearly 3 months, spending time in California, Washington, Oregon, and Arizona. After my last class in the fall semester, I spent all 4 weeks of winter break in northern California and Arizona.

I haven’t set foot on an airplane in over 4 months, and I’m going a little stir-crazy. I haven’t, however, purchased airline travel for the summer months, and I don’t plan to. Why, you ask? Well, the reasons are extensive, so I must number them for you in the following list:

1. I have this feeling that only Jude Law could relate to the year he was in 800 movies; people are sick of me. I need to remove myself from the public eye and give my fellow humans a chance to breathe and build up the courage and desire to be around me again.

2. My traveling obsession means that I’ve lived in Denver for nearly 3 years and I have no idea the extent of coolness it holds. I plan on moving soon after graduation; am I really going to leave without knowing where I’ve lived for 4 years? This summer could be a time to discover the gems of Colorful Colorado before I leave it.

3. I got a job. But focus on numbers 1 & 2.

Since I get lost easily and I’m essentially a newcomer to the Denver/Metro area, I decided to enlist the help of my native Coloradoan friend Zach Souder to assist in the discovery of Denver’s coolness. Like any two friends who get together to discuss the mile-high city, Zach and I decided to pursue a 12 week photo blog project. For each of the 12 weeks, we’ve chosen a section of Denver to explore and research, documented by photographs and a small historical background. Zach is a bit of a history nerd buff, so look forward to his weekly report of each of the 12 sections. I’ll be coming at you with photographs of each section, as well as a few other interesting (I hope) aspects. 


We're getting ready to cover section one so it can be available for your viewing pleasure by June 3rd (we'll be posting on Sundays, as my buddy Zach really only has that day free) - don't forget to check back!

Please enjoy the following message from my co-blogger:

I have to admit, when our mutual friend Jen asked me to be a co-writer on her blog I was a bit taken aback.  My experience with co-blogging has been reading the likes of Mark Hulme and Jen herself on the Living Challenged blog.  These grammatical artists aren’t exactly light-weights.  So, when asked to embark on this assignment I was worried that I might not be able to make my attempt at contributing without entirely underwhelming you.  But, after much (little) consoling, here we go!  However, for the more advanced readers, many of the books I read have sections that start with something like, ‘if you feel like you understand this or don’t care, feel free to skip to the beginning of the next chapter.’  Skip as you may but I may get in trouble if you skip any of Jen’s photos, and then again you may miss a gem or two as well!

While we’re on the path of admitting things I must also say that, at first, I think I misunderstood the assignment.  It was rather as my elementary days, ‘Zach does not read all of the directions.’  When Jen said that we should ‘map out Denver and take photos’ I jumped at the word ‘map.’

Cartography! History!

For those of you who don’t know me I always used to like maps (see above: ‘Zach is a bit of a history nerd buff...')  I always justified history and maps through the typical arguments, ‘those who don’t know the mistakes of the past are doomed to make the same decisions in the future,’ but in all likelihood it was just another way for me to nerd-out.  It was a way to bury myself in knowledge of things that didn’t really matter, at least the cartography part of it.  So, with our photography blog I quickly went through thoughts of finding old maps of Denver, looking at the developments, exploring our past through cartographic means.  I delved into research only to fall way short.  There either wasn’t enough material to work with or I wasn’t looking in the right places.  I then realized that even if I could find the materials I was looking for it would be dull, not much to write on, and certainly not much to photograph.  I reported back to Jen downtrodden; “I couldn’t find any old maps that we could use to as material for the photo blog.”  Of course, I received a blank stare.  (Believe it or not, I actually get a lot of those from Jen.)  She then brought me back to square one.  Zach, we’re just going to find cool places in Denver, take pictures of them, and write about them. 

Oh, that makes more sense.

Clear direction is a liberating thing.  We’re finding cool places and taking pictures of them but we both realized that we still needed a solid direction.  There was still tact to be taken, a story to be told.  We had to do a ‘best of Denver’ or ‘great local brewpubs’ but those have been done and pretending to know where the best of something is requires a lot of leg work and time consuming hand-to-mouth foodie activities.  It was the right direction but wasn’t where we needed to go.  While I was out getting drinks with my wife one evening she had a suggestion, ‘If you lived in Denver…’  It was a simple suggestion but included everything we had tasked ourselves to accomplish.  We could examine the different neighborhoods we wanted, find the great food places, and explore the great brew pubs without demanding we prove our local expertise and prowess.

When reviewing the idea with Jen she liked it but I believe she was uneasy with the idea of a demanding regimen that was based on ‘If you lived in Denver.’  It gave a direction that was necessary but writing around that could be restricting in many aspects; it would give us less freedom.  She never directly put it that way but I felt the same way.  ‘If you lived in Denver’ could restrict some of what we were working to accomplish; it could keep us from creating and exploring everything we wanted because it would have a specific, driven, purpose in mind.  So, what we did is we started referring to ‘If you lived in Denver…’ as the tentative title.  Whenever someone asked us what we were doing this summer we would discuss the blog, its title, and then look at each other and both say, “tentatively.”  Well guess what?  I’ve changed my mind.  ‘If you lived in Denver…’ is no longer tentative.  It is definitive.

My stir-crazy friend Jen is just that.  Even while on a plane leaving her most recent origins she is still antsy.  Like the outlaws of Denver and the ‘Old West’ she is already high-tailing out of town as soon as she rides in.  For as long as she has lived here she has talked about leaving.  I know she is an explorer. I know she means to continue to expand her horizons.  I’ve never seen her write it down and tell the world, though.  Because of that, I may have always denied it.  I may have told myself that I could convince her to stay.  But now, she has written it down.  She has told the world. 

“I plan on moving soon after graduation.”

That is the solidifying statement.  Not only is she prepared to announce her imminent departure but she does not mean for it to be tentative.  She is moving. Soon.  So, why is blog series titled, ‘If you lived in Denver…’?  It is titled that because this is a city that Jen and I have come to love.  We want to share the gems we have become accustomed to and we want to deepen our respect for the nooks and crannies we are sometimes too busy to discover.  I am writing ‘If you lived in Denver…’ because I want to let you see what I see but I’m also writing ‘If you lived in Denver…’ to one of my greatest friends.  One who plans “on moving soon after graduation.”

Take my hand.  Open your eyes.  I think this may be a process of discovery for you; I know it will be for me.  This is our world.  This is what we see.

If you lived in Denver…