ed note: we saw more than denver, but i couldn’t pass up the alliteration.

a few weekends ago dillard and i had a little getaway to colorado. the anchor for the trip was to see the indigo girls and amos lee perform at red rocks, which i’ll write a whole post about, and we used that to craft quite the weekend for ourselves.

friday.

we managed to find flights that arrived within about half an hour of each other which worked out perfectly, with dillard finding me in baggage claim about 5 minutes after i retrieved my suitcase. we caught the shuttle to our rental car just as it was leaving, found our car, and headed for denver.

we stayed at the awesome art hotel in downtown denver and very much enjoyed our time there. we checked in, parked the car [we used spothero to find a spot close by that was much cheaper than the hotel valet], and took some time to settle into our room. one of the perks was a daily $20 credit to use at the hotel restaurant, so we grabbed a snack there while we figured out what we wanted for dinner.

we settled on thai for our first night and walked over to aloy thai eatery; we ordered at the counter and hovered outside until someone left [to be fair, they had clearly been done for a while] so we could snag one of the patio tables. our food was delicious, and we happily carted the leftovers back to our hotel knowing they would come in handy after the show on sunday night. pro tip: tables are at a premium, so be prepared to wait especially during peak meal times

saturday.

once we decided to rent a car we knew we wanted to include a hike in our weekend adventures, so on saturday morning we made our way to boulder and chataqua park. chataqua has a number of trails based on what you’re in the mood for, and we met a friendly ranger who helped us decide on the flatirons trail. the first half of it is pretty much straight up, so be prepared for that, but it’s a really cool trail that takes you right along the base of the flatirons and in total is around 2.5 miles. most of it is paved, but right where you’re at the base of the flatirons it gets quite rocky, so be prepared for that.

when we got back to the beginning of the loop we stopped by the general store where i got an ice cream, dillard got a coffee, and we both picked up some postcards. we caught our breath and rested our muscles on their lovely patio before heading back to the car and setting off for the next part of our day.

dillard wanted to stop by the title nine shop, so that was our next stop, and from there we walked down pearl street to see what struck our fancy. as fans of jigsaw puzzles a stop at liberty puzzle store was a must, and we both spent some time oohing and aahing at their beautiful wooden puzzles.

next up was lunch, and we grabbed burritos at illegal pete’s, once again snagging a table on the side patio and digging in. our burritos were bigger than our faces, and we very enthusiastically ate every last bite.

we were super stuffed after and needed a walk and luckily for us there was a street fair and a fall fest and possibly another street fair happening, so we happily strolled through the vendors and enjoyed the people watching. we popped into the bookstore because of course, and after that we made our way back to the car.

once back at the hotel we were ready to lounge in our robes and take it easy, and once we were ready to be human again we had a light dinner at the hotel restaurant. dillard went to a hayes carll show while i retreated back to our room and spent the evening back in my robe and watching tv.

sunday.

we enjoyed a lazy sunday morning before finally rousing ourselves and walking down the street to leven deli for a lovely brunch. our breakfast burrito [dillard] and b.e.l.t. [me] were delicious, as was the pastrami biscuit we shared, and we once again enjoyed sitting on the patio and making friends with all the dogs.

as always we wanted a walk after eating and wandered through the nearby civic center park before winding up at the colorado state capitol to see the official “one mile above sea level” markers on the 13th, 15th, and 18th steps [there’s been some re-measuring over the years].

after some time back at the hotel to rest and shower we made a visit to the rei at confluence park to look at all the goodies, and from there it was off to morrison! we had a bit of time before the show and went to the hungry goat for snacks and drinks. our flatbread and build-your-own charcuterie board were delicious, and it was a great spot to wait out the random 30-minute rain that showed up.

and then it was time to make our way up to red rocks for the show! as i said earlier i’ll be writing a separate post with all my thoughts about the show, but the main takeaway is that it was an amazing night and we had a blast and if you ever have the opportunity to see a show there you definitely should.

and when we got back to the hotel, those thai leftovers came in clutch.

monday.

we had a slow monday morning, taking our time packing and getting our stuff together. since we didn’t use our restaurant credit on sunday we wanted to make sure to use it monday, so dillard got a coffee and we shared a quesadilla which was perfect to fill our stomachs.

since our hotel was right next to the denver art museum we figured we needed to pay a visit, and even more so when we saw there was an alma thomas exhibit and dillard’s parents had just given her a jigsaw puzzle of one of thomas’ paintings. the museum is huge and spans two buildings — we were there for 1.5 hours and barely scratched the surface. the thomas exhibit was definitely our favorite, but they also have great collections of native and alaskan art along with a lot of other stuff.

and then it was time to head out. my flight was scheduled for about two hours before dillard’s, so she dropped me off at the airport, returned the rental car, and then got the shuttle. my flight wound up being delayed about 10 minutes, so we had time for a quick second goodbye at my gate before i boarded.

we packed a good bit into our weekend, but we also left plenty of time to chill and see what we felt like doing at the time. we have gone on a few group trips together but this was our first trip just the two of us, and i am happy to report that we are excellent travel companions. we also had lots of conversations about other venues where we would like to see shows [the gorge is high on our shared list, especially if brandi carlile is playing], so i have a feeling we’ll have more such trips in the future.

a few good things to know before you go:

• denver airport is about 20 miles from downtown denver and it is massive and one of the busiest airports in the world, so plan accordingly and allow yourself time for security and lots of walking — from the time dillard dropped me off it took me 35 minutes to drop my bag, go through security [i have tsa pre-check so my line was shorter than the other one], get the train, and walk to my gate
• denver has a bus and light-rail system, but depending on where you’re staying and what you want to do while you’re in town it might be worth renting a car. when we looked at what uber and lyft prices were [denver’s are some of the highest in the country], we realized it would be cheaper to rent a car and it had the added bonus of giving us flexibility for getting out of the city as well pro tip: you likely won’t need the toll pass — we drove to both boulder and morrison and were able to bypass the tolls for all our drives
• valet prices were very high at our hotel, but as it was the weekend we found a good rate for a nearby parking lot on spothero and were happy to walk the extra two blocks [for friday-monday we paid less than one night of valet]. it was my first time using it, and it came in clutch
• denver is the mile-high city because it sits a mile above sea level. if you’re coming from significantly lower altitude, make sure you give yourself time to adjust to the elevation

this was my first trip to colorado since 2008, and i’m hopeful it’s not another 16 years before i’m back.

xx