The first trip was a supply run. Arapahoe Station is my point of departure to just about everywhere...at least everywhere I have to take a train to. Then I walked up to photograph some of the art on Fiddler's Green Circle. Finally, for the actual station-to-station hike, I walked from Arapahoe Station to Orchard Station. That was the end of a supply run, so I also looped through Englewood and Littleton. It was a long day.
Village Center Tower One, with 22 floors, is the tallest building around making it a good landmark for home. It stands directly over Arapahoe Station and I've been able to see it in the distance on all of the E/F line hikes and will be able to see it for many more.
The Denver Tech Center was designed in the early 1970s by architect Carl Worthington and was the place of origin of several major cable companies, including United Artists Cable and AT&T Broadband. The new skyline was developed along a new optical fiber line 12 miles south of Denver. The E and F Lines were primarily built in response to the DTC.
I still have absolutely no idea why there's a fake burial mound beside Arapahoe Station, but it's attractive so there it is again.
The train station is nestled between several tall buildings. The main parking area and bus gates are across Interstate 25 from the light rail. The station is accompanied by a plaza with a fountain and stairs leading up to Village Center.
Not all of these southeastern light rail stations have art work right in the stations except maybe windscreens but there is usually some significant piece of art commissioned by RTD close by. At Arapahoe Station, that would be Nucleus, by Michael Clapper.
It's on the second level of the stairs leading up from the station to Village Center. Constructed of sandstone and marble, the three interlocking forms symbolize interdependence and connectivity in the relatively new town of Greenwood Village.
The bottom tier of the plaza includes this fountain
This is the site of the Denver Museum of Outdoor Arts headquarters and Greenwood Village Collection. This museum is free and if you visit, here's the website. You can take your own guided tour!
There is just way too much for me to do justice in a blog.
One of my favorite pieces is the elephant fountain. He's rearing up because of the mouse.
It's very strange to find Fiddler's Green so far inland. After all, in English folklore, Fiddler's Green is sailor's heaven, a place of eternal mirth. Maybe sailors just want to get away from the ocean.
Village Center is also the site of Marjorie Park, another part of the Museum of Outdoor Arts and memorial to one of it's founders, Marjorie Madden. It's a private park that is normally closed except during special events or tours. I was lucky to pass by while the gates were open. Most of the sculptures are scenes from Lewis Carroll's Alice adventures.
Across from Marjorie Park is Tuscany Plaza.
It's purpose is office space, but it is also a beautiful example of modern architecture and a site for more pieces of the Greenwood Village Collection.
Also on Fiddler's Green Circle is this dancing waters fountain.
Most of the walk from Fiddler's Green Circle to Orchard Road was through a vast city of office buildings. Once at Interstate 25, I could see the typical pedestrian bridge in the distance but, how to get there?
I found a narrow dirt foot trail at the base of the light rail retaining wall and followed that.
The art at Orchard Station is a set of little silvery birds on the fence posts.
This area used to be the site of apple orchards, hence the name of the road. The first time I saw one of these birds from the window of a train, I thought someone had left it there by mistake, but they are parts of an installation by Wopo Holop called "Orchard Memory." There were also supposed to be apple leaves stamped into the concrete below each bird but I couldn't find them so I guess they didn't make it or were removed later.
This was my last stop before returning to Arapahoe Station and home. It's squarely within the Denver Tech Center and I'll be looking at that next time.
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