Droning America: Denver, CO

Welcome to Droning America, a show where we take you across the country to see some of your favorite cities from a brand new perspective, the sky! On this episode host Angie Avestruz takes us to a city east of the Rocky Mountains and home of the Super Bowl 50 Champs. It's the Mile High City; Denver, Colorado! We meet up with local comedian and 25 year Denver resident, Matt Need, to see a few places the locals say you just have to check out! First stop, Union Station, who's recent renovation has people buzzing! Angie finds out what's up with the red-eyed Blue Stallion outside of the Denver Airport (you'll never guess what happened to its creator). Then, we see the 16th Street Mall and Larimer Square from high above the blacktop! Matt shows us Confluence Park where Cherry Creek and the South Platte River meet and the locals stay fit! We take the drone over Red Rocks to see just what all the hype is about. Finally, it's time for some aerial views of the city's 3 major sports stadiums: Coors Field, Pepsi Center, and Sports Authority Field at Mile High Stadium. Stick around to see some of the breathtaking views the Denver area has to offer (and a few other fun nuggets too)! Find out if we've been to your favorite city by visiting AirVuz.com/DroningAmerica. VIDEO TRANSCRIPTS: Angie: Hello and welcome to Droning America. I'm your host, Angie Avestruz. Each episode here on the show, we're going to be traveling across the country and stopping in some of your favorite cities to hang out with a local personality that's going to show us everything that city has to offer from a brand new perspective, the sky. Today, we're in a city east of the Rockies. It's the home of the Super [00:00:30] Bowl 50 champions, and it's known as the Mile High City. Welcome to Denver, Colorado. Our first stop in the capital city is at the historic Union Station in the LoDo District. I'm hanging out with Matt Need, who has been a local fixture in the entertainment industry here in Denver for the past 25 years, so I guess you could say you know the city pretty well. Matt: Yes, I do. I know all about it and what I don't know, I'm willing to make up. Angie: Well, thanks for taking the time to show us around. Matt: My pleasure. Angie: Got a quick ask. Flew into the Denver International [00:01:00] Airport, noticed this crazy horse statue. What's the deal with that? Matt: That's technically named, actually named the Blue Mustang, but everybody calls him Blucifer. He's that wild blue color that doesn't really say, "Welcome," it says, "Welcome!" The other part about him, he actually killed the sculptor, the man that made him. Half the statue fell over and cut his femoral artery and he bled to death. His son had to finish the statue. This is Union Station. It didn't always used to be so beautiful. Union Station was [00:01:30] mostly empty for a long, long, long time, and then the last couple of years, they've done a multimillion dollar renovation inside and out. Angie: Right next to Union Station is 16th Street. That's a pretty famous mall that people hang out at? Matt: That's the walking mall. That's the 16th Street walking mall. You can't drive cars down it. The characters become a little more colorful and a little louder. Speaker 3: Are you ready to get down into the groove? I don't see you shaking nothing. Matt: There's also tons of buskers, people playing guitar and singing, tons of street performers up and down there. Angie: Part of 16th [00:02:00] Street Mall is Larimer Square. Matt: Larimer Square is probably, it's always been the nicest part of downtown Denver. It's the anchor spot from which everything else grew out. They've got Paris style lights all strung up across. It's very beautiful. It's very beautiful, lot of really good restaurants right down there, too. Angie: If you're a thrill seeker, you're going to want to check out the famed amusement park locally known as Elitch's. However, if you're more of a chill seeker. We are at this beautiful park right next to downtown Denver. Is [00:02:30] this where all the locals come to hang out? Matt: This is the greatest summer hangout ever. This is Confluence Park. It's kind of the heart of downtown area, but the cool place to come hang out and cool off in the summertime. This is Cherry Creek right here, and that's the Platte River up there. It's called Confluence Park because it's where the two meet. It's a great place. Angie: Yes. People keep running by, so is this a hot spot for working out? Matt: Everybody is healthy. This is a bike path. Denver's got I don't even know how many miles and miles and miles of paved bike paths, [00:03:00] and everybody here's healthy, healthy and a little bit stoned and walking their dogs. Angie: When you hear Denver, you have to talk about Red Rocks. I think everyone thinks about that amphitheater when they think about Denver. Matt: If you've never been to Red Rocks Amphitheater, it is the only acoustically perfect naturally occurring amphitheater in the world. It's where the giant Red Rocks, especially where the mountains met the plains and they pushed this up, and it's been there forever basically. It's a beautiful place. [00:03:30] It'll hold about 10,000 people. From the top of Red Rocks, you can watch and hear the concert going on and see the city skyline. It's the place to play. It is consistently voted by industry insiders and also audience members as the number one venue in the world. It's the place that everybody who's in any band wants to play. Angie: Absolutely. Matt: That's the place to be. Angie: It's on my bucket list. From breathtaking concert venues to jaw-dropping sports arenas, Denver has no shortage of fun things to see and do. All right, Matt, one of the cool things about [00:04:00] Denver is you have all four professional sports teams here. Right now, we're outside Coors Field. Matt: This is Coors Field. This place, when they built this place, people just went nuts for it. Games were selling out. Everything was crazy. This is still every good city based baseball stadium, it's the place to go when you cut work. Then, we've got Pepsi Center. Angie: And not too far away. Matt: Pepsi Center is just down the street with the Avs and the Nuggets, and then of course, Mile High with their beloved Broncos. This town celebrates [00:04:30] everything. Every day there's something going on. We get out and do it. Angie: It's a reason to be outside and be active. Matt: Absolutely. Go have some fun. Angie: Well, Matt, thank you so much for taking the time to show us around your awesome city. If ever you're in Denver, make sure to stop by and see Matt. He's a local comedian here. Did you have a good time? Matt: I had a great time. It was my pleasure taking you around. What a great city I get to live in. Angie: Before we take off, we're going to check out a few stops along I-70 that locals recommend you see if you're heading to the mountains. [00:05:00] Stay posted for the next episode of Droning America. You never know what city we'll fly into next. Speaker 4: [00:05:30] Overhead. This city is already a mile high, but then there's a [00:06:00] view of it from above a bird would be jealous of and there's lightness, the sight of people peddling their wares of city streets deeming with those people more interested in day to day and completely unaware that they're on high def TV. Say man, can I get your signature? We've been recording the top of your head toking and smoking for some time. That's my worst fear.