A Walk Through LoDo to a Slow-Burn Night with the Rockies

Colorado Rockies

Specifics:

Coors Field

Atlanta Braves vs. Colorado Rockies

Date of Game: Saturday, June 4, 2022

Time of Game: 7:10 PM MST

Final score: Braves - 6, Rockies - 2

Section 235, Row 5, Seat 1

Tickets were purchased through StubHub in the early morning of game day.

We flew to Denver, specifically to visit Coors Field and watch a Rockies game. This was our first visit to Denver and although we wanted to stay longer, our plans were to leave the next day to drive to Wyoming. Our one-night stay was at the Hotel Indigo Denver Downtown – Union Station by IHG which is walking distance from the baseball stadium.

We arrived earlier than check-in at Hotel Indigo and needed to wait for a room. But there was a nice lounge, and we were provided with complimentary drink vouchers for the hotel bar. It was about 3 hours before game time, but that time let us decompress in the room a little while before venturing out again. While in the room, we used our phones to figure out the best options for us to get to and from the stadium. Yes, the hotel was close but was walking really the best option for us? Would we (mostly me) have a difficult time breathing due to the high altitude? I mean, we’d only been in Colorado for a couple of hours. Is Uber even an option in Denver?

We could see the stadium from our hotel window; it was on the other side of the railroad tracks. It seemed close, but you know how those things can fool you. I spent a lot of time looking out the window and saw that people were walking towards the train station. It seemed to be quite a bit of people for a Saturday evening to try to catch a train, so my partner figured out that was the way we’d walk to get to the stadium. Walking would also allow us to see some of the historical lower downtown of Denver aka LoDo, a little better.

Down on the street, we walked towards the back of Union station where we could cross the tracks using the 18th Street Pedestrian Bridge. The weather was mild, like 75 degrees and a little overcast. The evening would likely be cooler. This was for sure where the people I saw from the hotel window were walking to.  

Not only did it wind up being the shortest route, it also gave us access to elevators, so we didn’t have to walk up the stairs to use the bridge. We did, however, descend using a long flight of stairs on the other side but once at the bottom we were surrounded by crowds of people. Some seemed to be walking to the stadium; others seemed to be enjoying the liveliness in the street. As we turned onto Blake Street and headed towards the stadium, the crowd intensified. Speaking of Blake Street, that seemed to be where all the action was. From what I briefly saw amidst the jovial chaos, it seemed to be super festive with bars, restaurants, and hotels.

The walk was supposed to take us about 10 minutes; it took us bit longer. I slowed us down. I had breathing issues and couldn’t keep up the pace. We still arrived at the gate before game time, but it was close.

Once through the gates, we headed towards the section our seats were in and stopped for our usual baseball fare (hot dogs and soda) before finding our seats. Usually, we go for food around the 5^th or 6^th inning, but since I was having a hard time breathing, the stop at a concession stand helped out.  Our seats weren’t far from the media center of the stadium; it was cool to see the hustle and bustle through the window.

As the players took the field the first thing I noticed was no purple jerseys! The Rockies were wearing white and green. The second thing was that the stands were very full already, even the outfield and upper decks! Having attended baseball games at a lot of different stadiums, I find that to be a rarity in the first inning.

By the third inning it was clear that this game was a battle between the pitchers. Although batters made contact with the ball, no runs were scored for either team until the bottom of the fourth inning. That’s when Colorado scored a run due to a wild pitch. The next score change was at the top of the 6^th inning, and it was a homerun for Atlanta.

As we were watching the methodical back and forth between teams, a fan sitting next to us struck up a conversation. She wanted to know where we were from and was genuinely friendly and talkative throughout the rest of the game. She even gave us suggestions for places to eat while we visited Colorado.

After Atlanta got the home run and the teams switched sides, my partner went up to the concourse to get us ice cream in souvenir helmets. He walked by several vendors and didn’t see any on display. From where I sat, I could see a sign for ice cream behind center field. Ultimately, that is where he walked to. As he stopped and texted me where he ended up, the vendor closed. Sigh. We were both a bit bummed. This was the first time we were unsuccessful at buying helmets. He walked back to the seats, and we watched the rest of the game.

The game remained tied and went into extra innings. The crowd remained thick, were on their feet, and quite loud. Each team scored a run in the 10^th inning; the score was 2-2. The stadium was electric!

Now, what happened next, I say happened because of the new(er) “ghost runner rule” but Atlanta scored 4 runs with 2 outs in the top of the 11^th inning. This put them in the lead by 4 runs. It was just too much of a lead for the Rockies to catch and the 11^th inning was the last inning of the game. Although the game went into extra innings, it really wasn’t that late when the game ended. It was still before 11:00PM.

On our walk back to the hotel, there were other fans doing the same walk and as we got closer to the railway station they kept walking along Blake Street. Several even walked across the bridge with us and used the elevator down to the street where our hotel was.

Author’s note:

 A year later, we specifically started a road trip in Colorado to allow us to visit Coors field again to purchase the team ice cream helmets. This time we stayed in Boulder which is about a 30-minute drive to Denver. Once settled in our Boulder hotel room, we talked ourselves out of driving to Denver. For Christmas that year, I bought two Colorado ice cream helmets from Ebay.

This game was also the deciding factor for us to obtain our souvenir ice cream helmets before we go to our seats. We’ve even planned it out a step further by bringing in an empty plastic grocery bag to store the ice cream helmets in after we’ve washed them.

Some information, such as baseball game information and directions were sought by using ChatGPT or Perplexity. Blog title brainstorming too!

Written February 24, 2026 and Wednesday, July 8, 2026