Our Itinerary (Saturday, May 23, 2015 - Monday, June 1, 2015)
Saturday, May 23
We'd heard so much about the beautiful Colorado weather that our expectations were set high. Needless to say, it's never good to have high expectations because you're inevitably disappointed!
We arrived in probably the wettest May on record and the weather was so severe that our flight was diverted to Colorado Springs before we were allowed to follow through to Denver.
While in Colorado we saw many kinds of precipitation - rain, hail, and snow. And I alternated between a light jacket, a heavy jacket, and no jacket that I felt like I was in San Francisco! All that being said, we were extremely lucky throughout the trip in the sense that whenever it was picture-taking time the skies reined it in.
We didn't do much today. We arrived at A's house late afternoon/early evening and got the house tour as well as a home-cooked meal!
Monday, May 24
Evan and I got up at a leisurely pace and went to Lucky's Cafe in Boulder. It's located in a fabulous little complex with a Lucky's Cafe, Lucky's Market, and Lucky's Bakehouse and Creamery. The food is all locally-sourced and organic, I believe. We had a fabulous breakfast between the two of us. If I could eat their huevos rancheros everyday I'd be more confident in vegetarianism.
When we regrouped with A we took a little road trip to Fort Collins. It's an adorable small to mid-sized city. The downtown has a plethora of restaurants, boutiques, and shops. It seemed like a really fun, vibrant place. I'm sure that's due at least in part to Colorado State University being nearby.
Our specific intention when going to Fort Collins was to pay a visit to the New Belgium Brewery and take a tour. We didn't realize until we got there that the tours fill up quickly so they were actually booked up. Fortunately, there's a waiting list and after waiting about 45 minutes we were able to join a tour. We wouldn't have known what we had missed but I'm so glad it worked out. It was so much fun!
First of all, New Belgium has a brilliant and employee-supportive business model. You can tell that success as well as making their employees happy are of equal importance. Or rather, that their success depends on the happiness of their employees.
After completing one year of employment employees get a 12-pack of beer and a bike. Employees can tell what year other employees have started because each year offers a unique bike model. At five years, employees get a complimentary trip to Belgium where they retrace the bike tread of their leader and learn where he got his inspiration to start his own brewery. At ten years, employees are given a four week sabbatical to do whatever their hearts desire. This was inspired by the brewery's first employee, Brian, who loved rock climbing. On his tenth anniversary they built a rock-climbing wall in the brewery for him to climb whenever he wanted. Since they couldn't build a rock-climbing wall for everyone they gave everyone the opportunity to pursue what they love in those four weeks. How awesome is that? Doesn't that make you want to quit your desk job and join the New Belgium revolution?
On the tour we sampled four different beers, one of which was Fat Tire. Fat Tire is pretty prevalent around the country. We can get it at our local grocery stores for example. Fat Tire was named in honor of the mountain bike the founder, Jeff, rode on his tour of Belgium. Everyone who saw him asked about his "fat tires" because they stood out against their thin ones.
We also sampled a pear and ginger beer which I really liked! That rarely happens. Our guide informed us that it's called a "heartbreaker" because it's a speciality beer that makes a brief appearance and then goes away.
It was a thoroughly fun and informative tour that ended with a ride down a slide! I can't remember the last time I did something like that. I actually bumped my knee on the way down. Still fun. And did I mention that the tour was FREE?
After all that beer we were ready for dinner. We stumbled upon Stuft Burger and had some seriously delicious made-to-order burgers.
We had frozen custard or maybe it was soft-serve ice cream (?) at Culver's closer to A's house.
Monday, May 25
Evan and I got up and went to a local chapter of our gym about 20 minutes from A's house. Very close by is the Frederick Recreation Area. There's a lovely reservoir/pond/lake body of water there with a walking path. People also fish there. You can also see the Rocky Mountains in the distance.
Early afternoon the three of us took a road trip to Estes Park, the town leading into Rocky Mountain National Park. While A's car was charging (he has an electric car) we walked up and down the main street of restaurants and shops.
For Memorial Day:
We found ourselves at The Wapiti Pub for lunch. Evan and A both got elk burgers and I got a red bird (local chicken) sandwich. It was surprisingly good. I judged the book by its cover and didn't think the food would be great but we were all very satisfied.
For dessert, we went to the Danish Cone Factory where I had the best ice cream of the trip. There must be more ice cream shops per capita in Colorado than any other state. Haha. Or at least, that's what it felt like!
Afterward we drove about twelve miles through Rocky Mountain National Park. It's the farthest we could go due to several feet of snow still being at the top. It was a bit of an overcast day but the environs were still gorgeous.
And of course, we couldn't leave without at least driving by The Stanley Hotel, the "setting" of The Shining. It wasn't actually filmed there but the outside of the building was used.
We closed out the evening by taking a tour of A's work building and then eating at a brew pub down the street from his house. The Old Mine produces its own cider and I got a deliciously and amusingly named Jurassic Pork sandwich.
Evan had a Left Hand milk stout nitro on tap:
I saw this adorable sign that disappeared a day later so I'm glad I captured it when I did:
Tuesday, May 26
Today we all got up a little bit early because we had a long day ahead of us. We road-tripped to Manitou Springs, almost two hours away by car. We had a great lunch at Adam's Mountain Cafe, a place that very proudly serves all-organic food.
From there we did an abbreviated drive through the Garden of the Gods. I'm so glad we got a chance to go back and do it properly later in the day but at the time we were in a rush to catch our ride on the Pike's Peak Cog Railway.
That's Pike's Peak in the background:
The train ride was extremely long and two-thirds of it was mind-numbingly boring. That being said, the middle 30 minutes when we were at the highest point of the ride (we made it to almost 13,000 feet) were totally worth the wait. We didn't make it to 14,000 feet because there was too much snow. Even so, there were points where the snow was as high as the sides of the railcar. Insane!
One more shot of Pike's Peak:
By then it was close to 6:00pm and we were all pretty hungry. Figuring we couldn't wait to get home we had dinner at Nosh in Downtown Colorado Springs. It was probably the most "posh" place we ate at but it was pretty dead since it was a random Tuesday night. The food was interesting but it was more enjoyable to look at than to eat. My pupusas were pretty dry.
When we got back to Boulder we stopped at Pearl Street to grab some gelato at Fior di Latte. I had a hankering for pistachio but since they didn't have it I had to settle for coconut chocolate crunch. It was pretty good. I was generally disappointed with their selection because when we went back another time I got my all-time favorite flavor "bacio" and it tasted nothing like the bacio I used to eat in Florence. Bah!
Wednesday, May 27
Today was pretty low-key. Evan and I got up and went to the gym. After we got back the three of us ate a local chain called Beau Jo's. They serve Colorado-style pizza (I had never heard of this before) which is similar to the Chicago deep dish but what sets it apart is the braided, thick crust you pull off and dip in honey. That part was good but in general I wasn't impressed with the pizza.
Afterward we took a stroll down Pearl Street in Downtown Boulder.
Not long after Evan and I struck out on our own. We had a bit of a trek ahead of us since we were going to Red Rocks for a concert. We did things a bit in reverse by having dessert prior to dinner. Directionally, it made sense! A couple we met on our Panama trip highly recommended the Rheinlander Bakery and it sure didn't disappoint. I got an individual pistachio cake which was marvelous. If I was a local I would've made it my wedding cake too (that's what the couple we met did).
This couple gave us really good local advice because they also recommended a cute and quick spot for us to have dinner before the concert. We had dinner at The Cow Eatery in Morrison, CO not more than a few minutes drive to Red Rocks. It wasn't actually over the top great but it was decent fare.
The absolute highlight of the day was Red Rocks. Frankly, I barely noticed the concert. The environs were so awe-inspiring I couldn't take my eyes off the rocks. The entire way up to the venue, and there are A LOT of ramps and stairs, I kept breaking to look from left to right to behind me to in front of me. I didn't want to miss anything. My one regret is that we didn't get a chance to explore the park outside the concert venue. Still, it was quite the experience!
Downtown Denver in the distance:
We enjoyed the first act and then the first of two headliners, Spoon, before the skies opened up. From our seats we saw the most incredible lightning. I was actually a little scared. We had never planned on seeing the second headliner, The Decemberists, so the timing was perfect. Apparently, their part of the concert was delayed for more than an hour due to the weather. We were home before 11:00.
I almost forgot to mention the pot. Every ten minutes or so I'd get a whiff of "skunk" so it was there. Red Rocks was pretty clear about its use being illegal but their enforcement was nonexistent.
Incidentally, despite the purchase and personal use of marijuana being legal in Colorado, it's very easy to avoid. We saw only a few dispensaries from afar. The places we saw up close sold paraphernalia only. I also didn't notice any more stoners than I would normally. You can still go about your business and have nothing to do with pot or people doing pot if that's your intention.
Thursday, May 28
We returned to the gym for the last time though I don't think it helped since we consumed so many extra calories on this trip.
A took us to his favorite barbecue place called Wayne's Smoke Shack for lunch and it was AMAZING. I felt like I had been lied to all my life. No barbecue I've had before can compare to this guy's barbecue. Evan and I followed A's lead and got his usual 1/4 lb. brisket, 1/4 lb. pork shoulder, and two ribs. The brisket was coated in a textured sweet and peppery mix. The ribs were coated in something with a little more kick. The pork shoulder was melt in your mouth tender. Truly, it was the best meal of the trip and something that makes my mouth water just thinking about it. It's the first place we'll eat when we have a return visit.
We had dessert at another of A's favorite places called Sweet Cow. That's right, more ice cream!
We made our first and only foray into Downtown Denver for dinner and a comedy show. We parked on Larimer street and stopped for a quick bite at Biker Jim's Gourmet Dogs. Neither of us were starving but it was good food. Evan's reindeer (flown in from Alaska) dog was excellent. In hindsight, it was probably too much meat in one day.
Then we made our way to Comedy Works in a suburb of Denver to see Natasha Leggero. The venue was fantastic - a lot newer and classier than our local comedy club. And the talent was fantastic. Two local comics opened for Leggero and they were more talented than some headliners we've seen. Leggero was fun and someone I'd look forward to seeing again if she made it to our local area.
Friday, May 29 and Saturday, May 30 -
http://onthegowithevananddenise.blogspot.com/2015/06/road-trip-black-hills-of-south-dakota.html
Sunday, May 31
We returned to A's house mid afternoon and bummed around until dinner. He took us to his favorite sushi place called Sushi Yoshi. I'm not a sushi person so I only tried a piece of what the boys were having but my teriyaki salmon was excellent. It was so tender and just flaked right off.
For dessert we had ice cream, yet again, at a place called Glacier. What makes them stand out is that they make new flavors constantly and they have hundreds of flavors in their repertoire. I had rice krispie treat ice cream, for instance. It was good but I stand by what I said earlier when I declared Danish Cone Factory the best ice cream on the trip.
We discovered Glacier by surprise. Two mornings in a row we stopped at Sweets, a cute neighborhood coffee shop and hang out. The boys sampled some of their butter pecan ice cream and found out that it's not made in-house. They get it from Glacier. So of course, we had to go straight to the source.
Monday, June 1
Not much to report today. We got up at a leisurely pace and made our way to the airport around 11:00. The eventful part of the day was that our flight was inexplicably delayed two hours and we saw Chuck Hagel exit the gate right next to ours. Neat! I can't remember the last time I had a celebrity sighting.
All in all, it was a fantastic trip. We enjoyed our visit with A and we enjoyed exploring the area. We didn't have any concept of where A lived until we visited so we didn't realize how isolated his community was in relation to Boulder and Denver. As a result, we didn't spend much time in either place. I'm sure we'll rectify that next visit. Still, I loved all of our day-trips and wouldn't have traded them for time in either city. It was a very low-key trip and honestly, one of my favorites. We saw some amazing natural beauty and for once, we actually took a break. I composed my itinerary very diligently but I was quite happy to cross off things to appease the crowd and make our days less harried.
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