Denver

Denver sits exactly one mile above the sea, and the Capitol step that marks the altitude is photographed all day long. To the west, the Rockies close the horizon with a wall of peaks. Twenty minutes from downtown, Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre holds a stage carved between two red cliffs, where concerts are heard from stone benches with the lights of the plain below. Further south, the red sandstone fins of Garden of the Gods rise straight out of the grass, and admission is free. A paved road climbs to the summit of Mount Blue Sky, past four thousand metres, the highest in North America. Northwards, the lakes and passes of Rocky Mountain National Park hold elk and bighorn sheep. In town, the restored hall of Denver Union Station works as a shared living room, all bars and armchairs. Craft breweries run into the dozens, and the beer is poured by the pint straight across the counter.