“What should I do in Denver?” I always see everyone ask.

Talk Denver to Me…get it? Get it???! 🤣

River North Street Art! Shortened to RiNo, River North is an industrial area with a whole lot of modern bars, restaurants and street art. You might also see a LOT of RiNos lol.

They have a program called CRUSH Murals, which paid artists to continue creating and making our city beautiful during the instability of Covid. (Some of these were from the CRUSH project, and others from the previous few years, but still really cool nonetheless.) This space mural was one of my favorite. I connected with the artist, who said that the woman in the painting helps connect us with the universe. (She’s sort of hard to see – her face is looking down by the upper window, second to the right in blue and yellow.)

One of the murals was painted by Elle, a top female street artist in NYC (known for her mural of RBG in NYC), who came to visit Denver a while back and added – IMO – one of the coolest murals we have here. The one with all the patchwork creating a beautiful woman’s face, basically saying to show up no matter the circumstances, because no one has your patchwork of experiences.

There’s a beautiful mural of Breonna Taylor, and close by, another mural that says “Be A Good Person” with “RIP George Floyd” written right over the middle of it.

What most people don’t realize, is that the flowery & colorful, “Be A Good Person” was actually painted AROUND the “RIP George Floyd,”as these words were written FIRST. It was at the request of the person who funded the project that the colorful mural be painted around the tribute to George Floyd. If you look reallllly closely, you can see the faint line separating the two murals.

There are a couple that have a cute bulldog, whose name is Boug (“Bougie”), and he has been in the artist’s paintings since the puppy was his BFF when he lived in NYC in 2006. I was giving a live streaming tour and couldn’t remember his name, and no joke, a girl on the sidewalk walking past me jumped in, “his name is Boug!” 🤣 I guess he’s famous around here.

There’s also a tribute to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. This one is Donatello, and the “bad guy” pig lol

There was a tribute to the jazz musician, TheIonious Monk, painted by a local artist.

As well as some cool doors 😍🤣

I ate some tasty croissants and chocolate at the Denver Central Market (a cool warehouse with 11 delicious vendors). It’s kind of small, sort of like a fancier Whole Foods.

There are all kinds of shops here. A pizzeria, a vegan place, a local butcher, fresh oysters and burgers. The pizzas are wood-fired oven pizzas and ready super quick, with stretchy crust and sizzling cheese. All the restaurants have to be the best of the best to open a shop here.

and then all kinds of desserts. Literally so many. Truffles, croissants, ice cream, coffee, chocolates, and fancy, delicious pastries. This $7 piece of cake is the single most delicious thing I’ve ever had haha.

The market has a cool alleyway behind it. There are eccentric and colorful tables to sit at with umbrellas protecting you from the hot sun.

Hope this helps give you some fun things to see in the Mile High City!