In Search of the 5 Gems of Denver
Even though I thought it a shamefully telling trait of being a nerd back then, I don’t mind telling you now that I was totally a Nintendo kid during my years of growing up. Because of it, I’m left even now with a few indelible concepts & cliches borrowed from all the video games I used to play, and it’s still fun for me to fit them to my every day life.
One such cliche is the quest to find “X shiny objects” necessary to open the magic door/access the hidden realm/lift the curse/etc., usual as a prerequisite to finding and killing the ultimate bad guy and winning the game. Zelda had its 8 pieces of the TriForce, the first Final Fantasy had its 4 orbs, Sonic had its 6 chaos emeralds, etc. etc.
So I’ve made up that, as a way to frame my task of getting settled into and acquainted with my new town, I’m on a quest for the 5 Gems of Denver, and by that I mean 5 of a very specific kind of thing: I’m out to find no fewer than 5 features of Denver, be they places, events, venues, restaurants, parks, cultural institutions and so on, that constitute distinct reasons to fall in love with this particular town. They have to be recurring in nature: something that can become a more-or-less regular staple of my happy lifestyle here. They don’t have to be universally unique, something that makes me say “wow, cool–there’s nothing like that in St. Louis that I know of” is sufficient to meet the uniqueness criteria.
So far I’ve found one of the Gems of Denver, which I mentioned before, Core Power Yoga. I love it, it boasts a community and following like nothing in St. Louis, and it remains a regular facet of my typical week. That leaves four more, and by the time I finish this quest I will have much to brag on about my new home.
The imminent bike season should make it much easier and faster to do so, but I wouldn’t mind to cheat a little with some help and hints. If you have some ideas of where the Gems of Denver are to be found, by all means share. When I’ve found my 5 I’ll post the what and why of the whole collection.