The Travel Lunatic: They Call It the Wild West for a Reason

I visited my home state of Colorado. But all is not well there.

The Travel Lunatic is a regular column about the amazing places Brent and I go, and the crazy things I do. Plus, cat pics — lots and lots of cat pics.

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The last edition of the Travel Lunatic was all about our time spent in Brent’s hometown of Tacoma, Washington.

This week’s edition is all about my visit to my hometown of Denver, Colorado.

I know what you may be thinking: But you’ve always said Seattle is your hometown! Now you’re saying it’s Denver?

Having spent equal portions of my life in both Denver and Seattle, I feel entitled to refer to both of them as my “hometowns.”

With that unpleasantness out of the way, let’s get to this edition’s Travel Lunatic’s adventures gallivantin’ around them thar Rocky Mountains. Yee haw!

And I can’t believe you actually thought we Coloradans actually talk like we’re right out of the Wild West.

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Red Rocks Amphitheater is the Best Concert Venue in the World

Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison, Colorado, just outside of Denver, is considered one of the world’s top outdoor concert venues.

In fact, in 1999, Pollstar, the trade publication for the live music industry, changed the name of their annual “Best Outdoor Venue” award to the “Red Rocks Award” (and also removed the venue from competition) after the Colorado location won eleven times.

I grew up near Red Rocks, which means I saw quite a few concerts there, including Under a Blood Red Sky, the iconic performance by U2 in June of 1982.

Actually, that’s a big fat lie. I wasn’t there. But that performance is like Woodstock: half the city’s older population claims to have attended, despite the fact Red Rocks seats just under 10,000 people.

But I did see the Go-Gos at Red Rocks, who put on a hell of a show despite a massive thunderstorm that drenched the crowd, the stage, and also Belinda Carlisle, who was lucky she didn’t get electrocuted. I also saw John Denver, Eurythmics, and many others during the hot summer Colorado nights of my youth.