The Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center reopened for reservations on June 25, 2020, after being closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Staff members, wearing masks and having been retrained for enhanced cleaning technologies, were eager to greet guests as they checked in for the first time in months.
Outdoor Pool: The Arapahoe Springs pool now requires reservations. Each guest can choose between an 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. or 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. slot for each night of their stay. A limited number of guests are allowed in for each time slot.
The reopening comes with limited capacity and strict social distancing measures. The resort has set up directional arrows for walking throughout the resort, hand sanitizing stations throughout, and limited restaurant availability. The Mountain Pass Sports Bar, which features a 75-foot viewing screen, the largest in the state, is the only restaurant open. In addition, the Arapahoe Springs Bar & Grill near the pool, Rockies Marketplace, and the taco bar near the Pinyons bar are other options. The Pinyons bar now forms a single file line to order drinks which allows for social distancing. For the time being, the other restaurants are closed. However, the resort does allow outside food to be brought in. Convenient options are services such as Uber Eats or GrubHub.
The Arapahoe Springs pool area is now under a reservation only system. Guests can choose either an 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. or 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. slot. The pool closes from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. every day for enhanced cleaning measures. These reservations allow staff to monitor how many people are in the pool for each time slot and limit the number of guests there at once. For guests with younger kids, it is recommended to reserve the 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. shift as the pools and lazy river are less crowded during that time slot.
The pools are definitely the resort’s main attraction. There is an indoor and outdoor pool (which includes an infinity pool), an outdoor lazy river, and three water slides. This water park is spread out over 22,000 square-feet which allows for proper social distancing. The entire resort is situated on 85 acres of land, so it never feels crowded even under normal circumstances. Guests can reserve a cabana if they want their own dedicated space. Or they may snag a chair by the lazy river and relax.
Every night at 9 p.m., the resort plays a kid-friendly movie on the lawn with plenty of room for families to spread out. They also have games such as bingo on the lawn. The activities are less than usual but it is still a nice getaway if families feel the need to get away for a couple of days yet are not ready to jump on an airplane.
Gaylord Rockies is near Denver International Airport and is a Marriott property that opened in December 2018. The 486,000 square feet of convention space makes it the largest combined resort and convention center in Colorado. It is the fifth Gaylord property to open with the others located in Washington, D.C, Nashville, Orlando, and Dallas.
The Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center is located at 6700 North Gaylord Rockies Boulevard. For more information about the resort or to make a reservation, visit www.gaylordrockies.com.
There were high hopes when 13-year Denver police veteran Paul Pazen was appointed the Chief of the Denver Police Department (DPD) following the retirement of the highly controversial Robert White. White’s seven-year reign was marked by controversy after controversy and he was largely detested by the police officers themselves. Mayor Hancock’s appointment of Pazen from within DPD was popular with the rank and file. A former Marine, Pazen has an attractive appearance and seems to have at least average intelligence. Until July of this year, he generally received plus marks from the press and the public at large.
Denver Police Chief Paul Pazen
He has now, however, proven himself to be dishonest and a coward to all concerned. Those attributes have brought shame on the DPD at just the wrong time, when police departments across the country are under attack.
Every year, for the last five years, attorney Randy Corporon and organizer Ron MacLachlan have held a “Back the Blue Rally” at Civic Center Park in mid-July, without incident. When Corporon obtained a permit for this July, Pazen told him he did not want a rally this year, asserting it could get his officers hurt. Corporon responded in shock, indicating this of all year’s his officers needed support and that citizens have a First Amendment right even if Pazen didn’t believe in the same.
The rally attended by approximately 250 people, including celebrity Michelle Malkin and House Minority Leader Patrick Neville, started off with the Pledge of Allegiance and a prayer, when a mob of approximately 750 ANTIFA and BLM supporters smashed into the event blaring horns and attacked the rally participants. Women. including Michelle Malkin, were punched and beaten with batons. MacLachlan was badly bloodied with bull horns and skateboards. Dozens of DPD officers did literally nothing while the carnage was occurring. A grand total of one arrest was made for “public fighting.” Only after all of the rally participants had left, and ANTIFA and BLM rioters went after the police themselves did the DPD use pepper spray.
It was one of the most shameful moments in the history of the DPD. It was obvious that the officers were ordered to stand down by Pazen who had marched earlier in the summer arm and arm with BLM.
But if the event which made national news wasn’t bad enough, Pazen’s performance on media to justify his actions bordered on criminal. He appeared on the Steffan Tubbs show on 710 KNUS and the Dan Caplis Show on 630 KHOW claiming his police had been valiant in defense of the citizens and moreover it was the fault of the rally organizers. He claimed under permit orders for an event in the City and County of Denver, you must supply your own barricades and security. He also claimed that the organizers had said they had 200 security personnel for the event which was obviously a lie by him. According to Pazen, if you are a group of citizens in the City and County of Denver and want to express your First Amendment rights you must provide your own street army to bloodily battle it out with those who want to squash your freedom of speech. According to Pazen, Denver is no different than Berlin in the 1920s where deadly street battles were a common occurrence.
It is not clear whether Pazen is indirectly supporting the BLM position that the police need to be abolished. If they won’t protect its citizens from attack, who needs them? Devious, dishonest and cowardly, Pazen is a bad political hack for the mayor. If the police in the City and County of Denver ever want any support from anyone, Police Chief Paul Pazen needs to be removed and the sooner the better.
