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Denver Experience Overview

[0:00] If you want the real Denver experience, you're going to need to know the places that only the locals talk about and know about. You know, most of the guides out there, they're just going to send you to the typical spots. But that's not real Denver. That's not where us locals tend to go. You know, I moved here decades ago to experience this incredible place. And now I help other people move here, too, and do the same because this place is just remarkable. I know the secret hikes. I know the secret food joints and the jaw-dropping places that even a lot of residents miss. So, in this video, I'm going to share with you the 15 best things you can do in and around Denver that only us locals really talk about.

[0:38] Now, let's start with one of the most jaw-dropping places that you can actually experience. And what's nice is it's completely free. Just about 20 to 30 minutes west of town is something that you're going to want to experience at least once in your lifetime. That is a sunrise at Red Rocks. Yes, Red Rock super popular. There's amazing hiking trails around there and it is something you should go to. But what most places don't tell you you should do is you should actually go there for the sunrise, right? Wake up an hour before the sun. Get there. You You might have the place with only a handful of other people there. And it is a once in a-lifetime experience to go to Red Rocks during the sunrise, then go hike around some trails with the sun reflecting off the rocks. It is truly an incredible experience that should be on everybody's bucket list. Now, if you are thinking of moving to this incredible state and you kind of want some help navigating things, just go ahead, feel free to call me, text me, reach out. I actually answer my phone or scan this QR code, get on my weekly email to get the most up-to-date information you can about the Denver real estate market. Now, if mornings aren't your thing, I totally get it. And if you want to catch the most incredible sunsets, you're actually going to want to head south of town over to Daniel's Park about 20 30 minutes south of downtown. Uh so it's not that bad of a drive to get to. And there's some open space here that is just incredible for a sunset. And the sun's going to set over the Rocky Mountains.

Outdoor Activities & Hiking

[2:03] You can just go hang out there. There's a lot of buffalo over in Daniel's Park area, too. Uh and it's super easy to get to. uh super hike friendly. You know, even if you're in a wheelchair, you can get there super duper accessible and it's just one of those places you catch it right day, right time, and it's something you will remember for the rest of your life. Now, if you happen to be here in March, uh there is something really weird that Colorado does that used to be in Netherland that just moved over to Estus Park, and that is the frozen dead guy days. There is actually an old person who is on ice that is frozen in Netherland in a shed and they get dry ice delivered. I forget what it is, once a week, once every other week.

Estes Park & Holiday Events

[2:48] And yeah, they're still there in the shed waiting for who knows what to come back to life potentially. But it's become kind of this weird thing where they have coffin races, uh, all sorts of events, um, hearses as a parade. Like it's about as Colorado weird as you can possibly get. It's from March 14th to 16th, I think it was, this last year. Uh, and it's just expanded and grown because this is one of those unique things that probably shouldn't even happen. Uh, but here we are. So, if you're here in the middle of March, uh, it's probably worth checking out. Essis Park is about an hour, hour and a half northwest of downtown metro area.

[3:31] Normally known for being the entrance to Rocky Mountain, but now it's also known for frozen dead guy days. You can't make this stuff up, folks. Now, if you do find yourself here during the holiday season between Thanksgiving and Christmas, uh, one of our favorite things to do is to go to holiday markets all around town. We have a lot of them, but there's one that is by far above and beyond the rest of them, and that's the Chris Kindle market, which they're just moving it from Civic Park over to the Araria campus, uh, close to downtown, but it's about as close to a German Christmas market as I have seen. Uh, they have the mold wine, they have big steines of beer, they decorate like crazy. It's where now we have the mega tree in Denver that's 100 something feet tall and you can actually sit underneath it and kind of watch the lights. It is remarkable. Uh this is something to make an evening out of. I would suggest going there at night. All the lights, you're kind of in the theme of Christmas. Um and it's just incredible. Like I said, this is as close to a German market, a European Christmas market as you can possibly get. Tons of local vendors. uh we go there and collect these little uh German houses every single year and kind of expand our collection. So if you're here during the holidays, this is a must not miss event. Now, if you're here anywhere from middle of spring until fall, we have some incredible farmers markets. You know, I have a lot of clients move here from out of town and you know, when we say we're going to the farmers markets, they're like, "Yeah, well, there's window vendors and roof vendors and stuff." No, no, no, no. not around the Denver area. Uh we are very focused on making sure that there's local vendors there, organic produce.

[5:13] It's where we get all of our vegetables pretty much throughout the entire summer. And this vendor here, we have they have this program where it's like 15 bucks to fill an entire bag. And then we grow some of our own vegetables. We get a lot of our meat there as well. Uh flowers, peaches, which if you've never had a Colorado peach, like Georgia, sorry, you got nothing on Colorado for its peaches. the high altitude here uh pulls the sugars up at night because of our cold nights and just make peaches out of this world, the best in the world. And you know, we're here every Sunday morning. Uh great vendors. It's like seven or eight blocks long. It is really large. If you're not used to like a full-blown farmers market, like you're missing out here. So, South Pearl Street, just on the southern part of Denver, just south of Wash Park, super accessible, uh, is something that you're going to want to hit here on your Sunday morning. Now, I would say a little advice here is go early. We tend to get here between 9 and 10:00 a.m. After that, you start getting in, you know, a larger crowd there, and it does get pretty darn busy. So, earlier you go, definitely the better. Now, maybe you find yourself in Colorado because of the Mexican food. We do have the best Mexican food in the world. Sorry, California and Texas. Uh, well, I don't know that, but I'm going to say it because this is where I live and I love the Mexican food here. And one restaurant above and beyond. Sorry everybody. And I'm going to let you in on the additional secret here that not many people know about. Adelita's Coina Ecanttina is on South Broadway, just south of I25, a few minutes south of downtown Denver. Now, they are good.

[6:49] Okay. And their food is incredible. Uh, but here's the little secret is that you're going to want to go around the corner. What do I mean around the corner? Well, around the corner is this little patio called Ladonia Mescaleria. And it started originally as a tequila bar, but the kitchens are connected to Adelitas. And what I'm showing you here is their Mulahete. And it is the only thing we've got. Okay, I shouldn't say that. We I did order something else once and we instantly reverted back to their mochaete. Uh it is out of this world. We cannot go and get anything else when we go there. Heck, even if we mention the name Adelitas, we know that's where we're going for the night. There's no question. There's no cooking at home from that point on. We're just going to Adelitas. Um they they've opened up another location or two, but this is where we go. This is their patio here.

Local Food & Restaurants

[7:47] Uh it faces a side street, so it's not super busy. And even at six o'clock on a Friday, 7 o'clock on a Saturday, like you can almost be sat immediately at their patio, they now have warmers out there. Um, so if you're looking for the best Mexican food in Denver, this is where you want to go is to Adelitas and maybe go to their patio around the corner, Lonia Mescalia. keeping on with food here. Maybe Mexican isn't your jam or you just want to experience what Denver has because what's amazing about Denver is that we attract so many people from all parts of the country that want to bring their stuff here. We still failed on Chicago Pizza, the elevation here, you just can't cook it right. Uh but they try. Uh but people from the south, right? People from the west coast, from the northeast, they all bring their little flares here because they want to be here and they want to bring a little piece of home with them.

[8:38] So, there's a lot of restaurant owners from across across the country, and one of them is, oh boy, my friends over at Lucilles. Uh, the original one is up in Boulder. Super tiny house that they converted. Gosh, if they fit 50 people in here, I'd be surprised, but you're literally rubbing elbows with the table next to you. I don't know how the servers do it, but in Denver, there's a couple of them. One over on Evans here.

[9:00] Um, and it's a super cute restaurant. This is Creole food, and it is amazing Creole food. I've been to New Orleans a couple times and I was blown away. And when I came here, I was like, "Oh man, this is as close as you can get to actually being in New Orleans." Great place to go for breakfast or lunch. They're only open until 2:00. So, no dinner options here. Uh, but if you're looking for that breakfast place that's not going to be out of control busy like Snooze or Jelly where you're going to wait 45 minutes to an hour, Lucille's, yes, there will be a wait on most weekends. Uh, but they get through the crowds pretty quick. Now, if you want to get out of town just a little bit, let's head west over to Evergreen Lake. And paddle boarding wise, if you don't really know where to go, uh there's a ton of lakes that you can go explore in Colorado, but sometimes you don't know if you can paddle board there, like what the rules are, regulations, you have to hike in. Evergreen Lake just to the west by about 30, 45 minutes from downtown Denver. Paddle boarding here is next level. Now, little side tip. If you're here in the winter, the ice skating here is purely magical at Christmas time. But in the summer, paddle boarding here is remarkable. You have mountains all around you, blue, clear, cold, cold, cold water. Uh that's all snow melt, right? So even in the middle of July, your water is going to be, you know, maybe in the 50s. Uh it's going to be cold. But one of the top spots I can recommend for anybody coming here that wants to experience paddle boarding, you can go rent a paddle board. So it makes it really easy. You don't have to have everything ready. Just head on up, go enjoy it, and then take a hike around if you want. Now, speaking of hikes, just to the southwest of town, something that you're going to want to check out is Mount Falcon. Uh there's a ton of trails down here. I mean, we're talking it's just a few minutes out of the 470 loop, but there's a bunch of different trails here that you can explore, and the views here are just next level. You have the front range. Uh you also have this structure up top here uh which is kind of a lookout tower. You have some lakes kind of mixed in. You have the red rock features that you want. Like you have everything here. And then you got city views of course cuz you're just on the foothills looking east over all of Denver. Uh but it's not a really difficult hike. It's not a beginner or maybe an elderly person. Well, I shouldn't say that. Elderly people here kick my butt a lot in hiking. Um, but if if you can't do a moderate hike, right, it's not somewhere to go. Um, but you're going to get everything that you want.

Water Activities & Trails

[11:29] It's never super busy here either, which is also really, really nice. Now, to give you a second option on a hike here, we're going to head north to Boulder. If you're staying on the northern part of town, this might only take you 30, 40 minutes to get to, but you have some of the most incredible hiking here. And there's a reason why Boulder is so popular, right? And on the southern part of town, you have the Shiakwa trail. Not uncommon. Many people have heard of Shiakwa. They have a little amphitheater there. It's super cute. But the trail you're going to want to do is something that I've known people who have lived here for 20, 30 years that have never heard of it. It's called the Royal Arch Trail. It's not easy. There is a stairstepper part of it where it's going to kick your butt a little bit, especially if you're not used to the elevation yet. Um, but I'd still put it on a moderate hike, not super long.

[12:16] It'll take you maybe an hour, hour and a half to get to the top. You have a legit arch at the top of this trail like you would see in Utah. And you don't even know that this arch is there until you turn the final corner. Like you can't see it from down below. Uh so unless you've done this or you've had someone tell you that, hey, this is where you should be going. Like you would never ever even know about. I lived in Boulder for a decade and I know people who had lived there their whole life that were like, "Well, the Royal Arch, like what is actually up there?" Oh, yeah. It's a legit 50 75 foot tall arch, right? Just like you would see in Arch's uh national park in Moab. Pretty incredible. And then on the way back, food-wise, you know, if you're up in Boulder, just go ahead and stop at Colonel Mustard's Last Stand. If you're from Chicago, it's closest thing you can get to a Chicago hot dog here or just hit up Southern Sun on your way back. Grab a beer, grab a burger, or some of the best wings that you'll have in Colorado. Now, if skiing is your thing, we're going to head west even more so from Boulder. And this is kind of the locals hill. They don't have any agreements with the Big Veil Resorts uh to put them on their past. And that's Eldora. And from Netherland, which is about 30 minutes west of Boulder, about another 15 minutes and you're going to get to Eldora. Now, anywhere else in the country, this would be a normal or a good size ski hill with decent snow. Uh, compared to Summit County, they don't get the same weather patterns here that uh they get over there because of the divide and winds change and all that stuff. But when we get something called an UPS slope, which is where winds come from the north or from the south and kind of circulate just over the front range here, we can get some incredible storms. and Aldora can get a foot or two when Summit County is completely dry.

Skiing & Mountain Resorts

[14:06] And the opposite can happen too, right? Summit County can get a couple feet and we can get nothing here on the front range. Very wild weather patterns. But the Aldora skiill, even on a busy Saturday, might take you an hour, hour and 15 minutes to get to from downtown Denver. Uh, and the mountain is not going to have crazy lines to it like some of the hills in uh, Summit County are going to like Breen Ridge or Keystone, particularly two of the busier mountains here. Um, this is a great little place, you know, small restaurants. It's got more of that small town feel to it, not the big huge ski resort vibes. And then anybody who loves this ski hill, going to give you another option here, is not going to be happy with me for Beaver Creek, right? Uh, I've been going to Beaver Creek now for years. I love it. It is a quiet Summit County mountain. It is to the west of most of the other ski resorts that you would think of, Breen Ridge, Keystone, even to the west of Veil. But it'll take you a little bit more to get there.

[15:09] Another 30 minute drive or so to get into Avon here in Beaver Creek. But the most amazing thing about it is not only is it a big mountain, but it's never busy. On a Saturday, Sunday, there's no lines. They don't exist. You're not waiting 10 or 15 minutes like you are at the base of Breen Ridge just to get up to the first set of ski lifts and then, you know, kind of play on the mountain all day. It's not like that whatsoever. They have a little bit different snow patterns, right? more on along the lines of Veil uh versus Breen Ridge because of how they get situated in the mountains, but this is some people will call Beaver Creek a little posh. Um I wouldn't.

[15:48] Everybody's in their ski gear and it looks all the darn same to me no matter if I'm on Montana or Colorado or British Columbia. Like we're all in the same ski gear. It's all expensive anywhere you go. And Beaver Creek is a part of the Veil Resort. So you can have your epic local pass for I think it's now about 700 bucks. uh which sounds expensive, but when a day to go skiing cost you $200 to $300 at just about any mountain out there, 700 bucks, you go skiing three times like you've paid for it. And Beaver Creek just has a little bit more hospitality. They're used to dealing with a lot more international clientele similar to Veil would be or to Jackson Hole up in Wyoming. Uh but it's super duper chill. Their parking is not expensive, right? They they even have a free lot that you can walk to one of the lifts for. You got to get there a little bit early to hit it. And at the end of the day, they're still serving their homemade cookies there where they have chefs come out and dole out plates and plates and you got hundreds of people kind of gathering around. And I know we're all paying silly amounts of money to go skiing, but something about getting a couple of free cookies at the end of the day that are still warm is just refreshing. Now, heading back into Denver, if you happen to be here on a Thursday over the summer months or whenever it's nice, which heck, that's about 10 months out of the year, we have a cruiser ride. If you've never been on a cruiser ride, they are a blast. We used to have these in Boulder as well, also on Thursday, and you kind of have this tour that just kind of happens. You don't really know who's in charge, but there's people with fun bikes, with speakers going. Uh they stop at a bunch of different places. It can turn into a dance party. And no matter what your age is, and yeah, you should expect people to, you know, be drinking and smoking, but it it's not this crazy party. It's not late at night. like it's still fairly familyfriendly and just a blast to do and experience Denver in a way that really no one else is going to have when they they stop traffic. Like it's kind of an unofficial parade uh that kind of takes over the streets with hundreds of cruiser bikes going around town. So rent a bike, go do your thing.

Denver Events & Arts Scene

[17:53] It's really a blast. And then we can head just south of downtown on Santa Fe where we have our art district where there are tons, dozens and dozens of art galleries along Santa Fe. And every first Friday there's the First Friday Art Walk where a bunch of vendors set up and the galleries are open. A lot of them are giving out drinks or food or snacks and you can go around and check out the different artists. Uh there's musicians playing. It's just a really fun time that is completely free that you can just walk up and down, check out a bunch of art um in a different manner with the street closed than you would any other time and just makes for a really great experience to see what this part of Denver is all about. And before getting on to our final spot here that you should absolutely be checking out if you are looking here to the Denver area, just feel free call me, text me, reach out. and I'd be happy to answer whatever questions you have about our market or just get on my weekly email by scanning this QR code to keep up to date with what's happening in the real estate market today. And if you're coming to Denver, of course, you're coming here for the scenic views. And most people think naturally of Rocky Mountain National Park up through Estus Park. But what I can tell you is that you can go that direction with having almost as good a views without any of the nonsense that comes along with the national park.

Peak to Peak Highway Scenic Drive

[19:11] and that is peakto peak highway which goes basically in between I70 on the southern end all the way up to Estus Park. So this is on the western side of town. So here's Denver. We head over west and we've got this highway route 119 which turns into 72 uh and goes all the way south to north. Now you can drive pretty quick. It's not super duper windy. So you're not going to be going 20 m hour the whole way. Uh many of parts you're going to be going 50 60 70 miles an hour. Now the views on peak to peak on one side of you you're going to have the Continental Divide and on the other side of you you're going to have the foothills looking out east towards Denver. Now you're not going to be able to see Denver from this. It's it's further up into the mountains than you might think from just looking at a map.

[19:55] But it is it is considered a scenic highway for good reason. And there's a lot of places that you can stop on this highway. Uh kind of take a rest, go grab a quick bite to eat. And there's the cathedral here you can check out closer to Estus Park. Really gorgeous. Multiple restaurants along the route. Uh, you know, just of course a h 100,000 places that you can just stop and take some incredible background pictures. There's lakes all littered throughout this highway. Like you could literally spend an entire day just making this drive, stopping leisurely wherever you want to stop at and having a great time. I mean, that's what we do on vacation when we vacation in Colorado is we just take our time. We go somewhere. We we we enjoy what's there because every little community has its own feel, its own vibe, its own type of people. And that's what we're here to do is experience everything that Colorado has to offer.

[20:52] Now, when you come to the Denver metro area, I get asked a ton of times about parts of the city that people should kind of avoid, which is why I put together this video of the top areas that you kind of want to steer clear from in the Denver area if you're from out of