Art displays on Denver's 16th Street Mall
With an official elevation of 5,280 ft (exactly one mile) Colorado’s artsy capital is nicknamed the Mile-High City. Founded in 1858 as a mining town during the Pikes Peak Gold Rush, by 1890 Denver was the second-largest city in the west. Surrounded by the Rocky Mountains to the west and the High Plains to the east, in 1970 Denver was selected to host the 1976 Winter Olympic Games. But in 1972, Colorado voters struck down ballot initiatives to fund the high costs of the games. They were subsequently moved to Innsbruck, Austria and today Denver is still notorious as the only city to ever decline to host an Olympiad after being selected. Today, Denver is a modern capital with a strong focus on outdoor spaces, culture and the arts. The 16th Street Mall is a 1.25 mile stretch of tree-lined boulevard home to street performers, art installations and more than 350 shops and restaurants. Denver is also famous for its numerous local and national breweries and ranks 1st in the nation in beer production per capita.
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I'm Jenny McIver, career girl, globetrotter. On New Year's Day, 2005, a newspaper article about a man who took a trip around the world sparked a wanderlust in me that has yet to abate. I spent the following year planning my own trip-of-a-lifetime and have since made it into an annual, month-long adventure visiting and writing about more than 130 countries on all 7 continents along the way - all while maintaining a full-time career. Today, my goal is to be that spark of inspiration for others by proving that you can fulfill your wildest travel dreams without quitting your day job.