What is the first thing that you think of when you think of Denver? If you were like me before I had ever stepped foot in the city, you would probably say the Rocky Mountains! And that makes perfect sense. Just look at the logos of three of the city's professional sports teams.
Any logical person who knew anything about the city's sports teams, which was really all I knew about Denver until I moved here, would assume that the mountains are a big prominent part of the city. I mean there are three professional sports teams who's logos center around these mountains!
Well, let me tell you something.....
It's all lies.
There are mountains in Denver, that part is not a lie. But if you think you are going to come to Denver and have your breath taken away by the biggest most beautiful mountains you've ever seen....oh my are you going to be sorely disappointed. Because I will tell you something that the rest of the world won't. Denver....is flat! Now it is possible that my standards for mountains are a little high. I grew up in Las Vegas. Las Vegas is a valley surrounded by mountains. Every day out of every window this is what I saw...
Kyle grew up in Southern California, and every day out of every window this is what he saw.....
And then we moved to Provo, and every day out of every apartment and classroom window this is what we saw......
So I will admit that maybe my standards were a little high. And clearly my expectations were WAY too high. While making the long drive to Denver from Louisville I knew that I would see nothing but flatness between the two cities, but I had it in my head that once we reached Denver I would be overcome with these big beautiful snow capped mountains bigger and more beautiful than any mountains I had ever seen. And then we got to Denver, unpacked our moving truck, spent our first night here, got up the next morning and went..."where are the Rockies?" As it turns out, no one tells you that you can only see the Rockies if you are looking west, and that even if you are looking west, you have to squint really really hard and maybe you will see the shadow of the mountains way off in the distance. The Rockies are several hours further west than Denver! We are nowhere near them!!
I read somewhere before we moved here that the Rockies are much much larger than the mountains in Utah, and I am sure that that is probably true and I would be able to tell you if it was if Denver were actually anywhere near the Rockies and I could see them without binoculars.
I do love Denver as a place to live. It is a great city, and we love all the sports teams! But boy are you deceived if you think Colorado is a mountainous place. Denver is completely completely flat. No other way to put it. Beautiful....but flat.
As a side note, I have yet to make the 2 to 3 hour drive to Rocky Mountain National Park, and when I do so, let's hope that I can post about how beautiful and amazing these mountains really are. I hope they surprise me because so far the Rockies have very much underwhelmed me.
