A Brief Trip to Denver

I took a long weekend trip to visit with my brother and his girlfriend, Pam, and to see an old friend of mine. I left right from work on Friday to fly up to Denver. Walking through the ramp to get into the airport, I felt a gust of cool air. I knew I was definitely not in Kansas, or Arizona, anymore! Brrr!

First we went to their new house in the Baker district, which is one of the oldest areas in Denver. They recently bought a gorgeous historic house that had been recently renovated and has such amazing attention to detail. We caught up a bit and headed to our dinner reservation, which was a 15-minute walk. It was so great to just walk to dinner and not have to drive everywhere like you do in Phoenix!!

We got to a really busy street lined with bars, restaurants, shops and various other businesses then arrived at our place, Beatrice & Woodsley.The website looked really cute but that in no way prepared me for what was inside. I entered the door and it was like I was transported into an aspen forest in a huge little cabin. There were actually aspens throughout, sheer white curtains, various very old-looking tools, wooden bridges and it was illuminated by many lanterns. It felt like we stepped into a Beatrix Potter book. Simply amazing!

Everything about this place was quaint and the attention to detail was truly impressive. The food and drinks were amazing. Then the bathroom.. I’m not even sure how to describe it, truthfully, but I have never seen anything like it. The most interesting part was the sink. I wasn’t even sure how to use it, and stared at it for a full minute before trying it. A long band of metal beads were suspended from the ceiling over the bowl and on either side was a long wooden piece that you had to pull—on one side to turn the water on, and on the other to turn it off. The water washed down the beads. It was quite an engineering feat and incredibly impressive. Sadly, I didn’t get a picture but I’m not sure it would have really done it justice.

I ordered a sampler of sorbet, and they brought it in an adorable ceramic piece with three little areas for a scoop. The flavors were interesting, like a citrus mint. It came with a candle propped in a big blackberry, for my birthday. Such a fun night and truly sweet. I felt like we were transported to some other world in the woods somewhere, and it was really an amazing experience.

We walked home, which felt great after the meal. What a fun way to start my birthday weekend!

The next day we started with this adorable little waffle place for breakfast called Waffle Up. They are a few blocks from the house and have some great sweet and savory waffles made in a Belgian style with dough and not batter. They are called Leige waffles. Yum. Double yum. We walked back home and here is what we saw.

Squirrel! :)

Last night my friend Frank came over to the house. I have known him for 15 years through work and we have stayed in touch. He moved to the area 6 months ago. We walked to a large bar that was having an amazing costume party and had a great band playing. There was a T-rex, doctors, dolls, Rosie the Riveter, a hurricane and so many really creative costumes. It was a lot of fun!!

We headed back to Frank's where I met Tola. Beautiful Tola.

On Sunday Frank and I headed to the mountains. We stopped in Frisco for breakfast, to a great place that was really cute. Here is a sign that was posted in the bathroom. 

Frisco is a really cute small town with a gorgeous backdrop of mountains.

Then we headed out and drove on to Vail. I had never been and was curious. I expected it to have a downtown street similar to Breckenridge, but it didn't. It had an area at the base of the mountain with condos, apartments and hotels, restaurants, shopping, etc. It was very quaint and had a Dutch/German flare in areas with the architecture. We walked around a lot with Tola and went to the base of the ski lift.

We headed out and drove past Dillon Lake, which was absolutely gorgeous with the backdrop of snow-covered peaks. We decided to drive down to the water and walk around a bit. The weather turned out pretty nice for the mountains in the 50s.

We went to Idaho Springs to walk around for a bit and to grab lunch at a brew pub. Quaint little town and very cute. Then we headed back for a bit before heading out to a pub to meet Frank's daughter and husband and niece and husband and to watch the Bronco's and Green Bay game. Denver is a bunch of rabid football fans. :)

On Monday, my *birthday* we went for a beautiful hike that followed a stream. It was well shaded but sunny in parts, and we hiked to the sound of birds and the flowing water. It was gorgeous.

Perfect!! It was a great day and I headed home, happy from the weekend and very happy to see my furry monsters at home. :) Well done, Colorado!!