Golden proclaims its image to all the world with its downtown banner: “Howdy Folks! Welcome to Golden – Where the West Lives.” Okey-dokey; it's hokey, but who am I to judge?

The only problem is that it doesn't represent this fun town very well. First of all, Golden has fine historic options. Visitors can tour the Astor House, an 1867 hostelry, and the Clear Creek History Museum, which is essentially a town within a town. There, you’ll find at least a dozen historic buildings alongside a creek; on the days when it's staffed, you can interact with "shopkeepers" and "farmers,” volunteers in period costume.  It's like a mini-Williamsburg, in Virginia. The town has a more traditional history museum in the Golden Pioneer Museum, which is open all year 'round. Around the holidays, plan for the “Traditional Olde Golden Christmas Candlelight Walk” on December 5 that includes all of downtown and the history sites as well (goldencochamber.org).

I like all that; indeed, I think the Clear Creek History Museum is absolutely fabulous when it is in full swing. But there's more to Golden than history (and a certain beer brewery), even if the town's power elite doesn't make banners to proclaim it. So I will: Golden is a geek's idea of a good time. Over the last few years a variety of new-or-improved museums have opened up that, together, make Golden a science-and-technology destination.

The oldest and largest of these is the National Renewable Energies Laboratories, which tests wind, solar, geothermal and biomass technologies. This federal operation hasn't gotten the respect or the funding it deserves for at least the last eight years, but its time has finally come. As we well know, alternative technologies are all the rage.

While random visitors aren't invited into the actual labs, the NREL Visitors Center has great videos and displays on alternative energies, and is itself one big display of good design and resource conservation (nrel.gov). The building showcases passive solar design, energy management such as motion sensors on lights, “daylighting” that brings natural light into interior spaces, and a Trombe wall, a design that lets sunlight in during the colder months. This warms up thick, heat-retaining walls, which then radiate warmth as the day cools down. No surprise that NREL uses electricity from the Windsource program of Xcel Energy, too.

Here's a take-home fact gleaned from the Visitors Center: in just a very few years, possibly by 2012, scientists and engineers will have figured out how to economically make liquid fuel from all kinds of organic waste. That will put an end to the debate about using corn for food versus fuel; corn kernels will go back to being food, and all the stalks, husks, cobs and other waste will become fuel. (Lots of non-corn waste will be used, too.)

Another take home fact: transmission of electricity has remained essentially unchanged for 100 years, traveling via a cobbled-together grid that can fail all too easily and loses far too much power as it moves from Point A to Point B. While improving the grid isn't nearly as sexy as creating electricity from waste, wind, sun, tides or geothermal sources, it has to be an integral part of energy planning.
And yet one more fact: Colorado is sitting pretty when it comes to the potential for wind and solar-based electricity; we've got plenty of both.

I came away feeling positively buoyant that technology can save the day. And yet I felt somehow kept at arm's length from the real action going on in the labs themselves. I wanted more.

Good thing the Golden Oldy Cyclery Museum (goldenoldy.org) is in town. Steve Stevens, a former AT&T engineer, has turned his modest ranch-style 1963 home into a showplace for his two loves: bicycles from a century ago or more, and going “net zero” in terms of energy usage.

I'll get to the bikes in a minute, but first, the sustainability factor. His message is clear: if he can get to net zero, so can you. Super insulation? Yup—the cheapest energy is the energy you never burn in the first place. Home-based solar electricity? He can tell you how much you'll need and how to get your tax credits and rebates. Vehicles? He's got a Prius; he's painted the top of his van white so it doesn't get so hot and he can save energy on air conditioning; and he's got his name on the waiting list for an affordable electric car. For now, Stevens generally rides his bikes across town, across the nation, wherever he needs or wants.

As for historic bikes, in his basement he's set up a bike shop circa 1889, with dozens of models on display. He brings particular enthusiasm to his bikes as an archive of the development of technology. Evidently it is thanks to bike innovators that we have rack-and-pinion steering, chain drives, ball bearings, and pneumatic tires.

Over the years, I've had occasion to visit a lot of one-man-band places, where someone goes wild with his (or her) passion. Usually it ends up a bit of a mess—too much collecting, not enough judgment or follow-through. Not here; Golden Oldy Cyclery is well laid out, and Stevens, while a powerhouse of energy himself, has an internal regulator that allows him to give a 30 minute tour or a three hour tour; just tell him how much time you've got, and he'll accommodate you. But call first. Since this is a museum in a private home, it's open by appointment only (720-497-1100).

If none of these pique your interest, or if you’re itching for more, here are three more Golden opportunities to indulge in science:
• The National Earthquake Information Center offers tours on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays by appointment only (303-273-8420).

• The Geology Museum on the Colorado School of Mines campus (mines.edu/academic/geology/museum) moved not long ago to a modern facility to better display its lustrous collection of minerals, with their unbelievable textures and colors that make them as beautiful as crown jewels.

• The Bradford Washburn American Mountaineering Museum (bwamm.org) is a joint venture of the American Alpine Club, the Colorado Mountain Club, and the National Geographic Society. My husband, Brian Underhill, especially liked the museum because his father, Robert L.M. Underhill, is mentioned twice. You’ll also see the Mount Everest model; a simulated high altitude camp; an exhibit of climbing fashion (if you can call it that) over the decades; and lots of mountain-inspired art from the Himalaya and everywhere else.
There are two big hotels downtown, the Table Mountain Inn and the Golden Hotel. For the personal touch, stay at the Dove Inn, a 1868 brick bed-and-breakfast. Expect teddy bears, quilts and high-speed internet in all the rooms.

Food? Please try the Grappa Mediterranean Bistro (303-273-8882); it has one of the more interesting menus in town. And it's only been open a few months – we want it to survive! For lunch, go for something quaint: Golden Tea Time, which specializes in teas and sweets naturally, but also happens to serve a classic meatloaf. Otherwise, you'll do fine with Italian, BBQ, and standard mid-range fare. Which I guess gets us back to the original point: Golden is Where the West Lives.

Wendy Underhill, a writer, parent and community do-gooder, has set a goal for 2008: “Have more fun.” Traveling the byways of Colorado is one of the big ways she’s fulfilling that goal.