Uniquely Denver

Inspirational song: Two Pina Coladas (Garth Brooks)

It had to happen eventually. One does not live near Denver and not end up at Casa Bonita at least one time. I avoided it for decades, but now that we have moved back to stay, it was imperative that I go through the ritual. I really had no idea what it was like inside. I expected a regular restaurant. It was more a theme park with a cafeteria. Everyone warned me that the food was nothing to write home about. Au contraire. It was horrible enough to write a whole blog post in itself, but I will limit myself to the prediction that I am going to suffer mightily for having played along. The pain to come this week was totally worth the fun we had. It was my younger daughter's birthday, and she wanted to do something totally derpy to celebrate. This qualified as that, no question.

Most fans of South Park are familiar with the name of Casa Bonita, but a much smaller percentage of them realize that it is a real place. It has real cliff divers, arcades, treasure coves, and tons of attractions to appeal to young Coloradans. I regret that I failed to go in Black Bart's cave. My daughter wanted to spend all the rest of our time between the meal and closing in the arcade, so I missed my opportunity. She had her eye on a lighted wand that reminded her of a Sailor Moon accessory, and wanted to win it. It wasn't until after we had collected about 300 tickets in skee ball and other arcade games that she learned that the wand was available for cash purchase only, not tickets. It was still fun playing skee ball, so we weren't mad.

I'm glad I went once to understand the concept, but there are plenty of other unique attractions to visit here that I would rather focus on. I'll go to another concert at Red Rocks (or several), I might spend a day at Lakeside Park. But, like skiing, I can say that I have passed the initiation, and I don't have to go back.