Denver Botanic Gardens at Chatfield and DAM

Denver has this great program in which museums have agreed to participate and they offer "free days."  Two of the places recently had theirs right in a row. Last Friday was a free day for Denver Botanic Gardens at Chatfield.  This is a break off of the larger gardens in Denver so we headed out to see what it was like.

First we drove to Chatfield, which is fairly close to the mountains. Upon arrival, it was quite windy and chilly.  Luckily we brought our jackets. Unfortunately because it is still winter, all plant life is still dead.  We walked around for a bit, saw the old farm houses, and found the farm animals. Ellie was so excited because she has been working on her animal sounds.  We saw sheep, chicken, rooters, goats, ducks and geese.  She loved watching them and making the noises.  Because it was so chilly, we didn't stay long.


Look! Some bawk bawks, a quack quack, and a doodle-doo.



Come eat some hay bla-bla.

The following day was a free day for the Denver Art Museum or DAM. We had wanted to visit the museum earlier as they had King Tut as a temporary exhibit. Obviously we didn't make it during that time. The museum is amazing. It is downtown and looks like you would imagine an art museum to look like.


The North Building has 7 floors of exhibits.

The Hamilton Building has 4 floors of exhibits.

Jake went to study in the morning and Ellie's nap time made it so we weren't able to make it down there until about 3:30 and it closes at 5. We made it through almost 4 floors of the North Building: level 7, Western American Art and Photography (photography not all that impressive);

Jake wants a throne like this.

Level 6, European and American Art, Textile Art, and Design before 1900.


I loved this classic Chippendale table.

Level 5, Asian Art; here they had exhibits from different Asian nations; Japan, China, Korea, India, etc.

A wall divider painted on gold.

A wood door from Damascus



Hand carved details from the above door.

 

I can't remember what this was, but it was cool looking.



Level 4; Pre-Columbian & Spanish Art.  We weren't able to spend a lot of time here. They have a huge room of artifacts from Central and South America, in addition to the other pieces of art. 



A gold woven wall hanging thing.

Levels 2 & 3; American Indian and Northwest Coast Art. We spent less time here, as they were already starting to kick people out of the building.  



Chief Mommy with her papoose.

Jake and Ellie leaving the building. The nice guard let us hurry and take this picture.

We decided we really want to go back, especially when we aren't so rushed for time and maybe with a stroller or leash for Ellie. Most of the stuff was covered or high enough she couldn't touch. Smart people. But I'll bet the cleaning crew had an awesome time wiping down her fingerprints off everything, cause I'm pretty sure she did touch everything.