Riding to Downtown Denver

Temps from low 40s to low 50s, wide open sunny skies in the morning, with gathering clouds by noon. 

Rode down to the Denver downtown area via the I-25North Slab, the initial goal having been to photograph the Capitol Building for Colorado since I had gone to Wyoming's Capitol on a previous ride. 

I had assumed that since the Cinco de Mayo celebrations had happened yesterday, that there would not be any traffic problems downtown. Hah! Apparently, since they'd fenced off the area near the Capitol and Main Public Library for yesterday's events, they were keeping it fencded off the whole weekend! 

This made it a bit more difficult than I'd bargained for and I was able to only get a mediocre shot of the Capitol Building's south facing side. Maria's there in the lower right, patiently waiting for me in a no parking area. Luckily, with the festivities going on, the Denver police were mostly tied up providing traffic control and such.

Once I had the shot I came for, I wandered about the downtown area to see what else I could find to pose Maria at. Near the Denver Convention Center, I saw the Blue Bear peeking into the center. I parked on the sidewalk and here's the bear: Another sight I found amusing was this giant pair of metal statues of a cow and her calf at the Civic Center Cultural Complex. As I continued wandering, I spied these murals painted on the walls of a auto repair business. I circled back around, went down the alley, got Maria posed and here you can see the murals for yourself.

  Finally a shot of the Daniel&Fisher Clock Tower with Maria in the foreground. This was actually the first shot I took when I got downtown. Around 1130 I decided the crowds and traffic were getting pretty heavy as people started arriving for the festivities. I exited the downtown area using Colfax Avenue which I rode all the way to where I could take I-225 Southbound back to the Parker Road exit. Once once Parker it was a short scoot home for lunch. The clouds were gathering as I neared home, starting to cluster together in tight formations. There's rain forecasted for this afternoon but we'll see. Colorado's weather can sometimes be very unpredictable.