Meow Wolf musings (Convergence Station edition)

Having visitors come to towns means I can revisit places and attractions in my own backyard. My sister and her boyfriend came to visit and had one item atop their list. In March, I picked up Jenny and Steve from their hotel and we had a filling breakfast at The Universal in Denver’s LoHi/Sunnyside neighborhood. We didn’t have to go far to walk it off. 

Meow Wolf’s Convergence Station sits in the shadow of Empower Field at Mile High just outside central Denver. Convergence Station is the third Meow Wolf location, opening in 2021, and has rapidly grown into a major Denver attraction. 

(Full disclosure - I thought I wrote about Convergence Station before. I went there on a date in May 2022. Since there was no second date, and I lost interest in writing about it.) 

The first opened in Santa Fe, the House of Eternal Return, in 2008. The art exhibits have five locations (Santa Fe, Denver, Dallas-Fort Worth, Las Vegas and Houston) planned expansions to Los Angeles and New York City. Every city has a unique installation. 

 Convergence Station is intended to represent an interdimensional crossroads that serves as a jumping-off point to multiple worlds. In other words, some of it feels like the gritty worlds of Star Wars or Mars in Total Recall, but it all feels otherworldly. 

 

You can’t skip through anything, because there is something at every turn. It’s incredibly detailed. One side parlor contains what only can be described as an intergalactic Chuck E. Cheese. A multi-story alien forest hums and glows. 

The exhibit’s creators have embedded magic and wonder throughout every floor. You have to peer in every corner. You have to make sure the fire extinguisher cabinets are real and not part of the display A staffer confirmed I was not the first to think that). 

Many of the flourishes are interactive, like the bus in the middle of the alien street. The alien vendors even have fake merchandise from far-off worlds. 

We had to stop at the book arch, a nook that immediately became the quintessential photo at Convergence Station. 

Back on the main floor, we stopped in the Perplexiplex, which hosts concerts from local and national acts. The lights danced around us. In a far corner, some children laughed and scream in joy. 

I found myself wishing I could still conjure that kind of innocent glee. Still, I definitely needed a a fresh spin through Convergence Station.