Denver with a side of Boulder

Denver; we had a GREAT time!!

I just got back from Denver and I absolutely LOVED it! I have this amazing girlfriend who has been planning on moving there for about 6 - 8 months. Well, this past weekend, she made the official decision; I am so proud of her! A few months ago, bored and uninspired, we booked this trip in the hopes that she would fall in love with the city and be able to start a new adventure in her life. That is exactly what happened; she is pretty much super woman.

Cheesman Park

The first day in Denver we did SO MUCH. We saw 3 different apartments (and neighborhoods), went to cute cafes, ate some of the famous green chili and a bit of local beer for dinner. I just have to mention the places we ate at were SO GREAT. For dinner the first night we went to Jonsey's Eat Bar; AMAZING. I had the Breckenridge Agave Wheat (nectar of the beer gods) with my meal, oh SO delicious! Apparently, they have the best fries in the U.S. of A. and I actually cannot think of any fries I have had that were much better to be honest! We split the "Green Chili" fries, because that is what you do in Colorado. You eat Green Chili and have some local beer.

Another bonus of Denver is that it is so cheap (compared to California)!!! I also loved that it was easy to eat healthy, fresh, and local. At the Wynkoop Brewery in LoDo, we got a flight of 3 beers for $4.50!! That is insanely affordable and the bonus was that they were delicious. I particularly liked their Chili Beer and am now slightly obsessed.

beer tasting at Wynkoop

Everyone in Denver was really nice, always referring us to the next amazing local cafe, giving us directions, and recommending great places to eat. My favorite place we ate at was in Uptown, called Olive & Finch. We had our first lunch and cappuccinos there while enjoying the cold. Alexa, aka superwoman,  had her first business meeting of the trip there as well. We loved the place so much, we ended the trip there as well, watching the snow fall sipping on our umpteenth cappuccino. The bonus was that it had SUCH great food (vegan, vegetarian, & gluten free options), coffee, desserts, and they also had a great selection of beer and wine. It was super cute; I sort of loved it.

Highland in Denver

There are so many great neighborhoods in Denver: LoDo, Uptown, RiNo, Lo Hi, Cap Hill, Wash Park.... it literally took forever to learn the lingo, but we eventually got it. Each neighborhood was unique, with some sort of outdoor park or activites. The city also has a TON of bike paths and also a cycle system called B-cycle, where you can rent a bike for the day. They had stations everywhere, so it seemed that you could use this system quite easily instead of driving around.

Larimer Square

The highlight for me, as I am an avid basketball fan, was that we went to a Denver Nuggets game! It was the Nuggets vs. The Pacers and the Nuggets won ! Whoop Whoop! Denver is a city in love with their sports teams, that is for sure! We were able to walk to the Pepsi Stadium from uptown and everyone also seemed to walk from the bars of Larimer Square to the game. Denver was entirely decked out in Bronco's gear, every statue had a jersey on. They were very proud of the fact that they made it to the Super Bowl.

View from our seats, go Nuggets!

The Pepsi Stadium hosts the Nuggets (basketball) and the Avalanche (hockey). Coors stadium is not a far walk to see the Rockies play (baseball), and also not far from the Pepsi Stadium is the Sports Authority Field, where the Broncos play. The four main sports are all centrally located and easily accessible for the people of Denver. I truly was jealous. San Diego is great, but we do not have a basketball or hockey team. Denver is a city for the lover of sports!

After spending three full days in Denver we decided to make the trip to Boulder. It was a gorgeous drive and such a cute college city. We spent the day on Pearl Street Mall, enjoying Irish Coffees and wandering into book stores. It was pretty great. Boulder is extremely adorable and only a 45 minute drive from the city in order to enjoy a relaxing change of pace.

driving to Boulder

Colorado Sunset, driving back from Boulder

The last day was FREEZING, so Alexa drove to another business meeting and I stayed in bed. The high was 18 degrees Fahrenheit and it was snowing. I gladly stayed in bed until Alexa came back to drive us to Olive & Finch. It was again delicious.... after that we went to the airport to make our way back to Sunny California. I loved Colorado so much that I am already looking to book my flights to go visit my friend in October (that is when the international beer festival is meant to happen in Denver)! She hasn't even physically moved there yet; that is how much fun we had! The city is so amazing and I am so happy for my dear friend and the adventures ahead of her. I may even be slightly more excited for myself; I now have more excuses to go back and visit ;)

it was seriously this cold out, my glasses fogged up!