travel
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visiting Boulder, CO
general information
Boulder, Colorado, is a small city with a population just under 100,000. A quarter of this population is students, and so it is a “college town,” though one in which major corporations like Google and Microsoft have recently headquartered. At high elevation, 5290 feet (1612 meters) above sea level, Boulder sits where the high plains (flat) suddenly meet the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Boulder is not in the mountains; it just kisses them.
If you want to get into the mountains, rent a car, and head west or northwest. As it happens, March is possibly the best month for snowsports in Colorado. To adjust to the high altitude and dry air in Colorado, drink lots of water and take an ordinary iron supplement if you can tolerate it. It will be cold. Bring a coat, scarf, hat, and gloves. You can always leave them in your room if we have a mild day. A spell of 60F = 15C can happen any time in the winter, but it is far from the average, which is more like 38F = 3C. Sunshine is also the norm, but snowy days come regularly in February and March. Sunglasses are helpful. |
getting around in Boulder
Boulder is walkable, bikeable, and benefits from a good public transport system, which consists of multiple bus lines. We will provide conference speakers and composers with a booklet of local bus passes, as the Hilton is a hefty walk to the CU Boulder campus but only eight and a half minutes on a bus called the HOP.
The HOP runs in a circle: clockwise to campus, counterclockwise back to the Hilton (Canyon Blvd. side of the hotel). The HOP passes through downtown Boulder on the western side of its circuit; get off at Walnut & 9th or Walnut & 11th to enjoy these urban amenities, which cluster around Pearl and Walnut between 9th and 20th Streets. Along Broadway, which borders the campus by the Imig Music Building, runs another bus, the SKIP, which can take you directly downtown faster than the HOP. We will also use it to get to historic First Congregational Church on Pine Street, the unique venue for Saturday night’s concert. Click here for a map of bus routes in the Boulder area. Also, most if not all bus routes are part of the RTD Next Ride app; use the "Plan a Ride" feature to view relevant travel options, and "Commute" to view real-time updates for RTD schedules. You do not have to download the app to use it in a browser window on any device. There are several visitor parking lots on the campus of CU Boulder, where hourly rates average about $2. The two campus buildings where festival events are being held, Macky (conference talks on Friday) and Imig (recitals and all other conference talks), are a pleasant, ten-minute walk from each other, and there will not be much back and forth. Click here for an interactive map of CU Boulder's main campus. Electric bikes (“B-Bikes”) and scooters (Lime, by Uber) can be rented on your phone and are handy for quick jaunts around town if you don’t want to wait for the bus but are also not keen to walk. Do not ride scooters and bikes on the sidewalk except where there is a dedicated bicycle lane (Broadway, for instance). Some zones of the campus are off limits to motorized vehicles. |
food and drink in Boulder
coffee and tea
On campus:
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dining
Casual dining on “The Hill” (west across Broadway from campus):
Finer dining establishments in the downtown area:
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Colorado has become famous for its beer and its cannabis dispensaries.
Are there cannabis dispensaries? Of course. Can you get local beer on tap? Of course. There are breweries and cideries all over the city, including Avery, Mountain Sun, Twisted Pine, Sanitas, Upslope, BOCO Cider, and many others. |