Denverite recently published a neat little piece on the Federal-Colfax “cloverleaf” interchange. If you have ever lived in the Denver metro, you’ve probably passed over or under this interchange. It’s a rare bit of transit infrastructure: neither Colfax nor Federal are interstates or highways, so the exchange always comes as sort of a surprise. An … Continue reading On the Federal-Colfax cloverleaf
Category: Places
On the winds of Wyoming
Despite working for a design firm with an office in Wyoming and loving John McPhee, I’d forgotten this passage from his seminal Annals of the Former World: The most inclement stretch of [Interstate] 80 is east of Rawlins where it skirts the top of the Medicine Bows, where anemometers set on guardrails beside the highway … Continue reading On the winds of Wyoming
On construction everywhere and nails in tires
While waiting at the Discount Tire today to replace a tire that had gotten a mail in the sidewalk, I watched—aghast—as five people after me wandered in with the same problem. “Colorado roads!” joked the manager. “I live near an intersection with construction sites on three corners,” the customer replied. “Construction is all around me.” … Continue reading On construction everywhere and nails in tires
On living somewhere without a sense of place
I didn’t know that a sense of place was important to me until I moved to Colorado a few years ago. It’s an odd premise—a sense of place. It’s hard, impossible even, to define precisely what I (or anyone else, for that matter) means when invoking it. But however we try to pin it down, … Continue reading On living somewhere without a sense of place
On knowing the roads where you live
It took three years, but I finally have it. Facing an unusual destination—not my regular commute or typical errand—I can now think (without needing to think): I know how to get there. Or, better: I know multiple ways to get there. I find this magical. This thought may sound absurd to people who live where … Continue reading On knowing the roads where you live
On how there are more types of trees out there than I thought
I thought the trees were all cottonwoods, honestly. A band of trees crowd the banks of the creek that runs through the park behind our house. Cottonwoods, right? As I learned yesterday—in my mission to learn more about my bioregion—yes, there are cottonwoods. But there are also white willows and peachleaf willows and black poplar … Continue reading On how there are more types of trees out there than I thought
On wherever you go, there you are
I finally finished reading Daniel Kahneman's Thinking, Fast and Slow this past weekend. It's a monumental read, dense with insight into how our minds don't work the way we think they do, and how much of the thinking we do is an uphill battle against biases that are hard (or impossible!) for us to see. … Continue reading On wherever you go, there you are
On USPS cities
When my wife and I were looking at houses, there was an odd detail that stuck with me. It had to do with a house we'd seen just north of Denver's Chaffee Park neighborhood. When we met our agent at the house, we expressed surprise that we were able to look at anything in Denver. … Continue reading On USPS cities
Taylor Coe 