23/09
Flying The Friendly Terminals: Denver International Airport
I recently spent a few days in Colorado, starting in Denver and heading out to Grand Junction, almost to the Utah border, and back.
Airports are usually nondescript places, though both airport administrators in some places are actually making an effort.
Denver International Airport (DIA) was entertaining from the get-go. First, the train shuttles played musical snippets — from R&B to country — to signal when you were pulling into a station. Plus, on the sides of some of the shuttle walls are a series of hammers sticking out from the wall and another has hundreds of tiny propellers that spin as you pass by.
The most interesting place was a corridor on the way in to security.
The walls are covered with blown-up photos from the 40s and 50s plus a map of the United States that lists the strangest museums, shrines, and destinations that include, among others, the Cockroach Hall of Fame in Plano, Texas. As I admired the map, Ron Kitfield, a volunteer with the airport hospitality program, offered his assistance.
I asked what his favorite place on the map was — which he declined to answer, citing not wanting to be accused of favoritism — and we were off and running.
He did, however, offer up a story of a recent experience with a visitor who was less than hospitable:
Got a special person or place for me to check out in an airport? I’m all ears.
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