Cast Off in City Park

Denver’s a pretty nifty place, full of killer views and happy people and slightly-lower-than-the-national-average gas prices, but it’s missing one thing: nautical miscellanea. No early-morning fog rolling in as unseen ship bells clank their solemn dirges. No ancient seafood shacks wafting aromatic promises of fried clams and chowder. No salty fishermen blathering tales of nor’easters gone bad into their umpteenth lager.

Wheel Fun Rentals, the colorful company behind the pedal-powered cars scooting around Washington Park, wants to change all that. The company has gone aquatic, building a whole new regatta of rentable watercraft for City Park’s Ferril Lake, from shiny new pedal boats, pedal-powered sail kayaks (yes, they sound strange to us, too) to old-timey canoes.

Today’s a perfect day to hop aboard and shove off for parts unknown. No, it’s not quite the same as, say, whale-watching off the coast of Maine, but if you sniff hard enough, you might catch a hint of salt in the air. Rental rates range from $10 to $25 an hour; for more information, go to www.wheelfunrentals.com or call 720-254-6612.
Starts: July 20. Daily, 2008