Tours

Denver Mountain Parks (1:00pm – 5:00pm)

Fee: $50

Denver's mountain parks system comprises over 14,000 acres. Heading west from Denver into the foothills, the first stop is at Red Rocks Park & Amphitheatre, a popular venue for both performers and audiences due to its nearly perfect acoustics and beautiful mountain setting.  Then, you will travel up Bear Creek Canyon along the route of pioneer stage coaches to the town of Evergreen, Colorado.  The final stop is at Buffalo Bill Cody’s gravesite and museum overlooking the entire Denver area.  The tour then follows the old “Lariat Trail” to Golden, home of the Colorado School of Mines and Coors beer.

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Denver Parks, Neighborhoods and Botanic Gardens (1:00pm - 5:00pm)

Fee: $50

Join guide Carolyn Etter, a former manager of the Denver Parks and Recreation Department, for a tour that takes you through many Denver neighborhoods to visit some of its significant parks. The tour starts on the east side of town in City Park, with its view west over downtown Denver to the Rocky Mountains. The next stop is Cheesman Park, which borders the Capital Hill neighborhood.

Then you'll have time to walk around and explore Denver's 23-acre Botanic Gardens (admission included in tour price)

Next, to Washington Park, on the south side of town-- with its lake and boating Pavillion, this is one of the most popular local spots for runners. Two parks on the west side of town, Berkeley and Sloan's Lake, will cap the tour with views of the mountains to the west and downtown denver to the east.

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AIA Downtown Architecture Walking Tour (3:00pm - 5:00pm) FULL

Fee: $20

Learn about Denver's notable architecture and colorful downtown history through such buildings as the Richardsonian Romanesque Brown Palace Hotel, the Equitable Building, with its Tiffany glass windows, gleaming marble floors and walls, mosaic and omate brass and bronze staircases, and Larimer Square, which has the second largest concentration of western Victorian buildings west of the Mississippi.

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Public Art Walking Tour (3:00pm - 5:00pm)

Fee: $20

In downtown Denver, painting and sculpture by 19th-century artists Allen Tupper True and Alexander Phimster Proctor comingles with work by contemporary artists Bernar Venet, Sol LeWitt, Fernando Botero and Jonathon Borofsky. See the "big blue bear" by Lawrence Argent, one of the conference plenary speakers.

Tours

Colorado Springs, Colorado (8:30am - 4:30pm) FULL

Fee: $80

With its stunning views of Pikes Peak and Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado Springs is situated about 70 miles south of Denver and boasts its own unique cultural attractions. You’ll pass through many unspoiled vistas (as well as some significant development) on the trip south, with the first stop at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, which borders the campus of Colorado College. The original FAC was designed by architect John Gaw Meem, and was recently renovated and expanded. 

See the article in the December 16th Denver Post:
[ http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_7717708 ] for more. 

After time to view the FAC collections, and lunch at the FAC’s Terrace Restaurant, you’ll visit the Van Briggle Memorial Pottery, the original location of the oldest, continuously operating art pottery in the United States.  The building is well preserved and richly decorated inside and out with tiles.  The tour will then head west to the historic and luxurious Broadmoor Hotel, where a guide from the Historic Preservation Alliance will show the beautiful turn of the century architecture, paintings by Maxfield Parrish, and the decorative fountains and other elements currently undergoing restoration.

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Denver Parks and Neighborhoods (8:30am – 12:30pm)

Fee: $50

Join guide Carolyn Etter, a former manager of the Denver Parks and Recreation Department, for a tour that takes you through many Denver neighborhoods to visit some of its significant parks. The tour starts on the east side of town in City Park, with its view west over downtown Denver to the Rocky Mountains. The next stop is Cheesman Park, which borders the Capital Hill neighborhood.

Then you'll have time to walk around and explore Denver's 23-acre Botanic Gardens (admission included in tour price)

Next, to Washington Park, on the south side of town-- with its lake and boating Pavillion, this is one of the most popular local spots for runners. Two parks on the west side of town, Berkeley and Sloan's Lake, will cap the tour with views of the mountains to the west and downtown denver to the east.

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Denver Mountain Parks (12:30pm - 4:30pm)

Fee: $50

Denver's mountain parks system comprises over 14,000 acres. Heading west from Denver into the foothills, the first stop is at Red Rocks Park & Amphitheatre, a popular venue for both performers and audiences due to its nearly perfect acoustics and beautiful mountain setting.  Then, you will travel up Bear Creek Canyon along the route of pioneer stage coaches to the town of Evergreen, Colorado.  The final stop is at Buffalo Bill Cody’s gravesite and museum overlooking the entire Denver area.  The tour then follows the old “Lariat Trail” to Golden, home of the Colorado School of Mines and Coors beer.

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Denver Cemetery Tour (12:30pm – 4:30pm)

Fee: $50

Learn more about Denver through its departed denizens.  Professor Annette Stott from the University of Denver, a local cemetery scholar, will lead this tour of Riverside and Fairmount cemeteries.  Find out how local cemeteries reveal Denver’s transition from the Wild West to civilization, about the excavation of stone for markers, the stone carvers, and those who are buried and commemorated.

Tours

Boulder, Colorado (8:30am– 4:30pm)

Fee: $70

Located about 30 miles northwest of Denver, Boulder is known for its natural beauty and as the home of the University of Colorado (CU).  The tour will begin at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), one of  I.M. Pei’s most impressive works, set in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains just outside of Boulder.  The next stop will be on the CU campus, with its striking “Tuscan Vernacular” architecture typified by buildings of indigenous sandstone, red barrel tile roofs and black wrought iron accents, where you’ll visit a special exhibit in the Art and Architecture Library. 

You’ll have time for shopping and lunch on your own on the Pearl Street Mall, a beautiful, four block pedestrian mall with historic buildings and native plantings, before the final stop, the Colorado Chautauqua National Historical Monument, comprised of cottages and lodges at the foot of Boulder’s Flatiron mountains.  Built in 1911, the newly renovated Missions House Lodge features a spectacular great room with a stone fireplace in an Arts and Crafts interior.

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AIA Downtown Architecture Walking Tour (9:00am – 11:00am)

Fee: $20

Learn about Denver's notable architecture and colorful downtown history through such buildings as the Richardsonian Romanesque Brown Palace Hotel, the Equitable Building, with its Tiffany glass windows, gleaming marble floors and walls, mosaic and omate brass and bronze staircases, and Larimer Square, which has the second largest concentration of western Victorian buildings west of the Mississippi.

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Public Art Walking Tour (9:00am - 11:00am)

Fee: $20

In downtown Denver, painting and sculpture by 19th-century artists Allen Tupper True and Alexander Phimster Proctor comingles with work by contemporary artists Bernar Venet, Sol LeWitt, Fernando Botero and Jonathon Borofsky. See the "big blue bear" by Lawrence Argent, one of the conference plenary speakers.

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Denver Performing Arts Complex Tour (10:00am - 11:30am)

Fee: $20

This behind-the-scenes tour provides a unique look at the Arts Complex and showcases rarely seen areas such as Actor’s Alley, where hand-painted replicas of Broadway show posters adorn the walls and feature autographs of cast members.  See theatre design and construction first hand in the Tramway Building where all of the props, costumes, lighting and scenery are created for the Denver Center Theatre Company, and the stunning Ellie Caulkins Opera House, which is a 2,225-seat venue with flowing lines resembling a lyre lined with cherry wood.