Light Rail Adventures

We are getting settled into our new home and yesterday we decided to go and explore our new easy access to Denver’s light rail – Regional Transportation District (RTD). Previously we lived deep in “suburbia”, far away from public transportation.

So on Tuesday we headed to the RTD light rail station park and ride just a couple miles from our house (we could have taken the bus to the light rail station if we wanted to be purely public transportation):

We had around a 25 minute train ride and we were in downtown Denver!!! By car it would have taken us 30 – 45 minutes in traffic (or longer in rush hour) and then $10 to $20 for parking!

We arrived at Union Station in downtown Denver and we were greeted with a bookstore immediately when we got off the train!

After browsing in the little bookstore connected to the train station, we wandered around the historical interior of Union Station (built in 1881) and then around the lovely surrounding area.

We spent the afternoon exploring downtown Denver by foot visiting the Dairy Block area:

And Larimer Square:

We stopped for an adult beverage at GarageSale Vintage which is a bar and vintage/thrift shop in Larimer Square!

We ate a delicious taco lunch at a food truck parked in front a downtown office building and sat with office workers from the surrounding skyscrapers having lunch.

We also wandered around the 16th Street Mall (outdoor shopping street mall) area and wandered into this cool private feeling courtyard area in a residential section and had a nice break there:

Then it was time to head back to Union Station and take the train home.

But first we stopped at MilkBox Creamery in Union Station, got some delicious ice cream and sat outside on the 80 degree day to enjoy!

On the train ride back to the Park and Ride I did get a little hexie rosette sewing (I packed crafts of course for the train ride…which I thought would be longer…):

We returned to the Park and Ride very satisfied with our fun day of playing tourist in our town!

John and I came to the realization that we can actually go out to dinner now in downtown Denver (which has a fabulous culinary scene) via the light rail – the fare is very low, we don’t have to pay for parking; and we save time and money by taking public transportation!