When the Mail is Magical
One of my favorite things when traveling is post offices. I think it's probably related to the fact that the mail is one of the first (and therefore oldest) things to arise in any community. As a result the post office can be the most unique building in any location.
Or more simply, it may originate from my first real experience with a post office - which was when as a child we moved to small town Ontario, Canada. Coming from a city with door-to-door mail and moving to a small town where you had a post office box was strange and, to a kid in love with books, book-ly. We received a key, a number, and I now had to cycle down to the post office to unlock a tiny door into the world. It was obscure and mysterious and turned the mail away from the mundane into the magical.
It's for this reason I recommend finding, visiting, and sending mail from Hell (Cayman Islands), Mesa Verde National Park, and...the City of Golden.
It took me a long time to get around to visiting this particular City of Golden post office - living in a place can blind you to the magical as you rush around completing the mundane. The other post office in Golden has a lot of parking and better hours for the employed. But I should have known.
Firstly, Golden is truly magical. It's original post office couldn't be anything less.Its doors into the world are worth the visit - and I know people who specifically have a post office box in Golden just to take that journey each time.
It took me six years and buying a store around the corner to get to this particular post office - a little involved - but in the end - worth it.
Find magic. Visit Golden.