Boulder In The Fall

Boulder is definitely a fun place to be in the fall. Of course, as usual, much of the action takes place on the Pearl Street Mall, as seen in the photograph on the left that I took this past Sunday afternoon. There was a nice mix of University of Colorado students, retired couples walking hand-in-hand, as well as families out and about enjoying the laid-back day. And as can be expected, there were some people in their Halloween costumes, but not too many. Years ago, Boulder was the epicenter for Halloween in Colorado, with the Boulder Mall Crawl taking place each year the Saturday night before Halloween. When the crowd swelled to 300,000 one year, resulting in damage to stores, drunken brawls, and other mischief, Boulderites decided they had had enough. The following Halloween it was announced there would be no official mall crawl, and police established roadblocks to keep everyone not a resident from entering the city. It took a few years, but they eventually were able to stop that annual tradition. When a group wanted to revive the mall crawl a few years ago, the idea was quickly squashed.

Boulder was founded in 1858, when miners arrived at the mouth of Boulder Canyon. When gold was discovered in Boulder Creek the following year, more miners and merchants began to show up, and the city grew from there. Much of Boulder, located beneath the Flatirons, is filled with old, tree-covered Victorian neighborhoods, and the Pearl Street Mall is filled with late 19th Century era commercial buildings. All that, combined with the University of Colorado campus just a few miles away, makes the place a perfect spot to hang out. As my sister Susan and I walked the mall this past Sunday, the patios were filled with people lingering over a late lunch, enjoying the view of the Flatirons. A great place to visit, a mere 45 minutes from Denver, and an even greater place to live, if you've got big bucks. Of course, if you are a college student at CU, you get to live like a native for 4 years, or even longer if you decide to go to graduate school. With a bit of determination, you might even manage to stay in school through late middle age. Worth a try, right?