Founded by Colorado pioneer Edwin Carter to house his natural history collection- and growing ever since- the venerable, solar-powered Denver Museum of Nature and Science is as major a find as the million-plus artifacts and specimens it displays (including the original Folsom point).

Located at the same City Park address since 1908, it has expanded over the decades to include a planetarium and an IMAX theater among its exhibitions of Native American culture, dinosaurs, gems and minerals, Egyptian mummies, and more (to ensure you’ve got the energy for it all, there’s a café on site as well).

And just as the Discovery Zone provides an interactive wonderland for the kiddies, the Science Lounge caters strictly to adults with a monthly series of lectures and happy-hour cocktails.