I spent an extended Memorial Day weekend in Denver, Colorado taking in a bit of architecture, hiking, history, and night life. I started my trek in the "Golden Triangle", Denver's historic and political center. Check out the pictures!

The Denver Art Musuem consists of several different buildings each completely unique and different.

The Colorado Historical Society features a variety of Native American and U.S. History.

The steps of the Colorado State Capital Building (c.1886-1900) sit exactly at one mile above sea level.

Here's me at one mile above sea level on the state capital stairs.

One of the many arches of City Center Park in the heart of the "Golden Triangle".

The City & County of Denver Building (c.1932) on Bannock Street.

The U.S. Mint in Denver (c.1906) is second to only Fort Knox in its gold content.

Confluence Park sits just off downtown where the Platte River meets Cherry Creek.

The Denver Performing Arts Complex, the second largest in the nation, has a unique glass covered outdoor atrium.

At the Denver Convention Center, 40 foot tall "Blue Bear" appears to be peeking in on activities inside.

Denver is home to the largest free outdoor skate park in the country. The view's not bad either!

On my second full day in Colorado I spent the day hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park.

The Beaver Meadows Visitors Center on Trail Ridge Road.

A creek meanders through Morraine Park.

The snow kicks in at Bear Lake.

Overlooking Glacier Gorge.

A close up of the snow covered Rockies!

Me posing at Glacier Basin.

The view from Sprague Lake.

A large herd of mule deer congregate. There are lots of wildlife to see at the park.

Here's me at an overlook at Hidden Valley. (Enter your own ranch dressing joke here)

The view from Many Parks Curve started to take a snowy turn approaching 12,000 feet.

Another great view of Hidden Valley.

An Elk grazes in a meadow.

Here's great pictures of the falls at Alluvail Fan from the top and bottom.

Some of you may recognize the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park as the site for the filming of the movie, "The Shining".

Longs Peak is the highest peak in Rocky Mountain National Park.

The main area of activity in downtown Denver is along the 16th Street Pedistrian Mall.

These Hybrid electric shuttle buses run along the 16th Street Mall sometimes as often as every 90 seconds.

The Daniels & Fisher Tower (c.1911) is a 3/4 scale model of the bell tower of San Marco Venice.

My hotel, the Courtyard Marriott.

A great view of the 16th Street Pedistrian Mall in front of my hotel.

Some of the downtown skyline closeup.

The movie theater at the Denver Pavilions.

I picked up some cool pottery at the Downtown Denver Festival of the Arts.

The Musuem of Natural History sits at the east end of City Park.

The casino at City Park lake blends in with the downtown skyline.

At night I went on a brief walk to take a few pictures. Here's a tight shot of the Denver skyline at night.

The D & F Tower all lite up at night.

The Gas & Electric Building (c.1910) looked amazing all lite up at night. I actually could review this from my hotel room all night long.

On monday I decided to take a little architectural walking tour of downtown on my last full day in Denver. So it goes!

The Granite Building (c.1882) announces the entrance to Larimar Square, a one block historic retail area just east of the 16th Street Mall.

Market Center, which actually is a series of Victorian Era buildings built between 1878 and 1893 house numerous office and retail tentants.

The old Denver City Railway Company (c.1889) on 18th Street now stands as a restaurant and an architectural firm's office. Before 1900, Denver was actually the cable car capital of the world, not San Fransisco.