Children's Museum of Denver
Denver's best hands-on experience for children, this intriguing museum is both educational and just plain fun. Focusing on the zero-to-8 age bracket, the museum uses educational "playscapes" to entertain and activate young minds.New playscapes for 2004 are "Fire Station No. 1," which teaches safety with such exhibits as a real fire engine, and "Community Market," a faux supermarket that allows kids to role-play as shoppers and clerks. There are several other playscapes with themes ranging from biology to engineering. There's also a resource center that provides parenting information to adults. And a cafe that serves sandwiches, snacks, and beverages. Allow at least 2 hours.

U.S. Mint
Whether we worship it or simply consider money a necessary commodity, we all have to admit a certain fascination with the coins and bills that seem to make the world turn. There are four mints in the United States, but the Denver Mint is one of only two (the other is the Philadelphia Mint) where we can actually see the process of turning lumps of metal into shiny coins.Opened in 1863, the Mint originally melted gold dust and nuggets into bars. In 1904 the office moved to this site, and 2 years later began making gold and silver coins. Copper pennies were added a few years later. The last silver dollars (containing 90% silver) were coined in 1935. In 1970, all silver was eliminated from dollars and half dollars (today they're made of a copper-nickel alloy). The Denver Mint stamps billions of coins each year, and each has a small D on it.Although visitors today don't get as close as they once did, a self-guided tour along the visitors' gallery provides a good look at the process, with a bird's-eye view from the mezzanine of the actual coin-minting process. A variety of displays help explain the minting process, and an adjacent gift shop on Cherokee Street (tel. 303/572-9500) offers a variety of souvenirs. Allow 1 hour.Note: Due to greatly increased security, individuals are now required to arrange tours at least 3 weeks in advance with their congressional representatives at www.senate.gov or www.house.gov, and there are quite a few requirements for entering the mint. It is uncertain that walk-in visitors will be allowed in the future.

Museum of Contemporary Art/Denver
Rotating avant-garde exhibitions by numerous local and national artists are the main attraction at this downtown museum. Temporary exhibits in the two floors of exhibition space rotate every 5 months. The museum will likely be moving to a new LoDo location in 2006 or 2007. Allow at least 1 hour.

Days Inn Denver Business Place
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Fairfield Inn by Marriott Denver Airport
Fairfield Inn is Marriott's award winning economy lodging chain featuring clean, convenient, quality accommodations - all for a great value! At the Fairfield Inn Denver Airport, our spacious and attractive guest rooms are equipped with thoughtful amenities including cable television with free HBO premium channel, coffee maker, dedicated work space, hairdryer, iron and board and reach anywhere telephone with dataport and voicemail. Executive rooms are larger accommodations with a microwave, ...

Quality Inn Denver
The Quality Inn Denver, CO is located just 15 miles west of Denver International Airport off I-70. Just minutes from the Stapleton Development Area, shopping and Denver attractions. All guestrooms include FREE wireless high speed Internet, hair dryer, coffee maker, iron/ironing board, Nintendo, and cable TV. Restaurant and outdoor seasonal swimming pool. Suites available with microwave and refrigerator. Our staff will make you feel at home during your stay. Pet accommodation: ...