16th Street, Denver

I woke up to a grey and foggy morning in Denver. I should be able to see the mountains from my room but I could barely see across the street and the tallest buildings were in the clouds.

The streets are still icy from the snowfall on Tuesday and more snow is expected soon. I wanted to have a restful morning after my two busy days as we are working back to London this afternoon. It’s Black Friday and I didn’t step into one store!! Instead I went out for breakfast near the hotel. I knew I probably wouldn’t take many pictures today so I spent a few extra minutes after breakfast to take a few ‘emergency’ snaps.

This is one end of the 16th Street Mall in Denver. It’s a mile-long outdoor pedestrian mall with free shuttle busses that go back and forth, stopping at every block. The Civic Centre bus station is at one end - with the State Capitol building behind it with the gold dome. At the other end of the mall is the Union Station bus station. In the winter the trees are lit with with white lights that help brighten up the dark days and nights.

When I moved to Denver way back in 1983, the outdoor mall with the shuttle busses had just been developed the year before. It was quite different then, with FOUR different department stores. It’s sad that they have all gone now, along with the very large Woolworths! There are other stores in their place, a movie theatre and many restaurants. The original busses were eventually replaced with hybrids and then last year were replaced with the current electric versions. Video here.

Even though I think it’s not what it was and could use a bit more of a clean up, I still like the concept of the outdoor mall and during cold icy weather I really appreciate the free shuttle!