Day 3

Day 3 was spent in Denver. Lucky for us, it was a record setting day for high temperatures (94 degrees - so hot!). We made a plan to visit the Denver Art Museum only to find out that museums are closed on Mondays...Instead, we explored the 16th Street Mall, passing by the U.S. Mint Tour on the way. The Mall is a mile long stretch of street in downtown Denver with restaurants, shops, a central mall, the convention center, and museums. About an hour in we had to stop for gelato or we were going to dissolve in the heat (guava and passionfruit) and it was one of the best ideas of the day. Next we found the infamous Blue Bear. It looks into the Convention Center and it's enormous.

For scale, this is us at the bear's foot.

After exhausting the mall, the Denver Aquarium seemed like a fun place to visit (and air conditioned). The nice old lady at the tourist information center told us to take the bus to the Denver station and walk toward the aquarium - about 6 blocks according to her. After leaving the 10000000 degree bus, we trekked along a river to the aquarium. A MILE into this trip the heat was so intense we found a place to stick our feet in the river. We did pass by the first original REI here too.

Finally we reached the aquarium and found a friend.

What's also interesting is the Denver Aquarium has land mammals. Heran the Tiger!

There were lots of fish and invertebrates, snakes, turtles, tarantulas, poisonous frogs, a pretty awesome toucan and this guy:

The best thing after a long hot day.

Overall, I like Denver a lot. It has a Seattle feel, but it's a lot quieter. The buildings are a nice mix of new and old and all of our traveling was free. There was a free shuttle from our hotel to wherever we wanted and once we made it to the mall, free hybrid electric buses were running to different stations around the city. Way to go, Denver.

Temperature: 94 degrees F

Favorite part of the day:

Mom: Passing by Bubba Gump's Shrimp Shack about a million times today

Annie: Heran the Tiger

Favorite quote:

For both of us: "The Aquarium is only about 6 blocks from there"