Golden: BBB – Buffalo Bill, Beer and Bikes

                                 

Golden, population around 21,000, located only about 25 km away from Denver, was our next destination on Friday. The Wild West is still alive in this city, founded in 1859. Golden is a former mining town nestled at  the foothills of the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Originally named “Golden City,” it became the capital of the Colorado Territory in 1862. In 1876, Denver snagged the title of state capital.

Golden stands for a couple of things, one is Buffalo Bill. At the Buffalo Bill Museum & Grave on Lookout Mountain not only the views (above) are gorgeous, but it's an interesting museum about the great character William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody and his Wild West show. He died in 1917 and was buried in Lookout Mountain Park. He had asked to be buried on the mountain overlooking the Great Plains where he had spent much of his life. Lots of bikers use the mountain route as their training grounds!

Next stop: The Colorado Railroad Museum, the State's largest collection of locomotives, cars, photos and historic railroad memorabilia.

 

On to the Golden History Museum & Park (with historic buildings)  - free and instructive! - located at beautiful Clear Creek, just the place to visit at this time of the year!

 

Golden is also home to the Colorado School of Mines, one of the nation's top universities for engineering. Many students were here for "home-coming" this weekend and it was packed in downtown!

Beer ,,, Coors was founded in Golden, CO. It is the largest single-site brewing facility in the world. The Coors Brewing Company was founded by the German emigrant Adolph Coors and his partner Jacob Schueler in 1873. 2005 it merged with Canada's Molson to create Molson Coors, the 5th largest beer brewing company in the world.

But,,, fortunately, there is more than Coors in town, e.g. the fantastic Cannonball Creek Brewery, whose seven IPAs were just paradise in heaven! Had a tasting there, and it was outstanding!

 

In the evening, after check-in at the Table Mountain Inn (photo above) and a visit to the Arts Center (left), we ended up at the Golden City Brewing (further above), with a nice beergarden and okay-beer, crowded with students and bikers,,,