Yesterday we drove from Westminster, Colo. to Cheyenne, Wyo. to visit our friends Tim and Gordon. It’s been too long since we last saw them; our last visit was back in 2016. We’ve been friends since 2001 or so, keeping up correspondence over email and chatting from time to time. Tim is an avid clock collector and we met through having collected the same type of clock systems from The Standard Electric Time Company.
In my typical ways, I couldn’t simply drive up Interstate 25, so we took US 287 through Longmont to Fort Collins, and then over county routes to US 85 to make the rest of the trip north.
North of Fort Collins the landscape is very comfortable to me. It’s wide open, with ranches dotting the landscape here and there, and just a whole lot of nothing. I love it in these parts; it’s one of the reasons I enjoy storm chasing so much. I feel like I can just wrap my arms around the big, wide open spaces.
I remarked to my husband my affinity for the area and asked him if he’d ever live in these parts and his answer was a quick, solid “no”. I grew up a little closer to farms than he did, and he likes to be relatively close to urban development, so the answer was not unexpected. Me? I could easily live in the middle of nowhere and not complain about it.
I am a big fan of this new trend of “Lifestyle Centers” popping up in suburban America. If you’re not familiar with the concept, a Lifestyle Center creatively blends retail and entertainment establishments with apartments or condominiums. These centers are popping up around major cities as an alternative to suburban sprawl.
One of the things I enjoy about these developments is the walkability. By having the retail and entertainment venues close by, residents of these Lifestyle Centers can walk to the services they need. This is healthier for the resident, saves on auto pollution, and encourages a neighborly vibe reminiscent of the villages and small cities of the mid 20th century.
Our first encounter with such a development was back in 2012 when we stopped at The Woodlands near Houston, Texas to see what that was about. I found that area appealing. I know something similar recently went up outside of Phoenix, Arizona. The Lifestyle Center, with the prominent JCPenney sign seen in the photo above, is outside of Westminster, Colorado.
As we made our way to the Rocky Mountains during our recent vacation in the Denver area, I noticed a number of these lifestyle centers popping up along the routes taking us from Westminster to the Rockies. While they ring a little upscale in appearance and demeanor, they seem like a better solution than suburban sprawl.
I’m fortunate. I have been in all 50 states, and aside from Seattle and Denver, I’ve driven in all the major and many of the smaller cities in the United States. Not to focus on the negative, but the worst drivers in my encounters have been found in Omaha, Nebraska. Driving that city is maddening, because it’s like the folks there have been given a bunch of freeways and don’t know what to do with them.
Denver, Colorado comes in a close second.
Denver has a myriad of freeways throughout the metro area. One of the big trends in the area is toll based Express Lanes. Instead of HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle) lanes found in most major cities, the Denver area charges a toll to use these “express lane”, which is just a striped off lane from the rest of the freeway. The tolls change based on popularity.
This is not what makes driving Denver freeways maddening.
The growing trend of “camping in the passing lane” is gaining steam in the area. Drivers will hang out in the second to left lane (because they don’t want to pay the toll) and then shoot across the remaining lanes to get to their exit at the last minute. Or motorists will bang on their brakes for no reason. There’s no one in front of them. There are no exits coming up, but for some bizarre reason, Denver area drivers like to randomly bang on their brakes.
The Colorado Department of Transportation, like many other states in the United States, believes that only Interstate numbered freeways should have numbered interchanges. If you’re on a freeway that’s carrying a U.S. Route Number, there’s a good chance you’re not going to know how far it is until your exit if you’re not using GPS because the interchanges are not numbered to the mileposts. It’s only when you’re a mile or less from the interchange that you realize you need to start moving to the right. That’s when you discover that folks will continue to bang on their brakes in random fashion.
Another thing I noticed is that folks either strictly adhere to the speed limit (which changes quite a bit) or they are wildly ignored. The ones adhering to the speed limit tend to stick to the passing lane as an act of defiance to the rest of the world, deluded into thinking they’re doing some sort of public service by crunching up traffic behind them, all the while bang on their brakes at random intervals.
And don’t get me started on whatever they’re trying to do with this Peña Blvd. taking you to Denver International Airport. But as a quick aside, I will never understand why airport authorities like to design the road signs on their property to look as completely different from standard road signs as possible. I want to get to Terminal West, not enjoy the creative design of some bored designer throwing road sign symbols around in Microsoft Paint.
Yes, Denver, you are not the worst drivers I have encountered. That title solidly belongs to Omaha, Nebraska. But wow, do you come in a close second.
Just a guy with a husband. We’ve been together 28 years and he still makes me see fireworks on a daily basis. Hiker. Storm Chaser. Private Pilot. Tech Guy. Hackerish.
