Destination: Denver

Colorado. Beautiful Rocky Mountains, majestic lakes, ski slopes, chill vibes.. It’s a place I’ve wanted to go for a long time.. Denver especially, but never could find flights around my area that were cheap enough to go for a shorter period of time. But I tell you, it couldn’t have went at a better time. Mid-October was a wonderful time to go. Why? Ski season hasn’t started yet, the leaves are changing, the weather was in the mid 70’s, and the first snow fell in the Rockies just a few days prior to us leaving. It made it for an all-around awesome experience.

Our first day was spent exploring Denver. We started at River North Arts District (RiNO), which has a plethora of historic warehouses turned into pool halls, art galleries, and furniture shops. I’ve never been to an art district with so many murals and street art! So many different styles and so much talent. You can spend hours on hours checking it all out!

Next, we made our way downtown to Union Station, an iconic train station built in 1914. On top of still serving as a station, it is now home to a hotel, and many of Denver’s well-known restaurants and shops.

Since Snooze is highly recommended on any blog or site you can find, we knew it would be pretty busy during the morning hours, and instead decided to grab brunch there in the Station. Warning: the menu offers almost too many mouthwatering choices. If you have to wait for a table, go ahead and decide what you want to eat. We decided to do a pancake flat with pumpkin pancakes, pineapple upside down pancakes, and the OMG! french toast (Brioche stuffed with mascarpone, griddled and topped with vanilla crème, salted caramel, fresh strawberries and toasted coconut… seriously O. M. G.). I would highly recommend doing a flat, as not only the flavors of the pancakes & french toast are unique, but it was out of this world delicious! We also enjoyed the bella bella benny and chili verde benedict with hashbrowns, topped off with a bloody mary.

Walking distance from Union Station in LoDo/ lower downtown, known for its shopping and dining scene. Check out Larimer Square, the block where Denver was founded. String lights hang above the streets lined with historic buildings. Also head to 16th Street Mall, which is a closed-off street that has shops and restaurants over a mile long. Everything is in walking distance to each other, which makes exploring this section of the city extremely convenient!

Most hotels in downtown Denver are pretty pricey and charge to park, so we stayed a little north of the city. We were only about 10 minutes out. I think this was a good option for us, since we wanted to explore different parts of Colorado for this trip. To experience all Colorado has to offer, I needed to do some extensive research on hikes/ landmarks around the area. I came up with a few good lists, thanks to dayhikesneardenver.com. I thought the best way to see both mountains and lakes without having to drive hours and hours away would be to hike the Four Lakes Loop in Rocky Mountain National Park. The drive is only 2 hours north of Denver, and $10 per car to get into the park. Be prepared for spotty cell phone service, and a change in temperature. Pack accordingly. I’m not a big hiker, but I managed the hike fine! It can get slippery in parts if it’s snowed. The views were absolutely magnificent and completely worth it. I felt like I was in a postcard. The hike was my favorite part of my trip, just because it embodies what I envisioned Colorado to look like, and every lake was different and beautiful in its own right.

After our hike, we explored the cute little city of Estes Park. I love the small town feel of this gorgeous place, with the Rockies sitting tranquilly in the background. We grabbed a bite at Poppy’s Pizza and Grill. This was one of the cheapest, yet best meals I had while on this trip. My individualized personal pizza hit the spot!

Estes Park is also home to the Stanley Inn, the historic Inn that inspired Stephen King’s “The Shining”. You can see it on the right when entering the town, and it is a beautiful site on its own. At first we didn’t think about actually going and exploring it more, but I’m glad we did. It is a bustling place that is gorgeous, but also eerie. Check out a tour, ride the old elevator, sneak up to room 217, grab some “Shining” merchandise, or check out the bar that’s featured in “Dumb and Dumber.” I’m glad we got to visit around Halloween time! Just so happens they have a ball that people travel from around the world to come to on the day we visited. Too bad we didn’t pack any Halloween costumes! I’m sure it was a blast!

Denver has a few classic restaurants that seem to always be booked! I highly recommend using Open Table and making reservations ahead of time. For dinner, a friend suggested we visit Linger, which is a very unique restaurant. First of all, they offer free valet which is always nice in the city. Also the restaurant has a cool modern industrial interior, but with low dimmed lights that give it a sophisticated feel. Linger offers food truck dishes from different countries around the world. Each small plate has 3-4 servings a piece that are meant to be shared between people. They had everything from bacon wrapped dates to fried crickets! You can be as adventurous as you want, but they also offer some common dishes for those who like to play it safe. The restaurant is a little pricey, but you won’t be disappointed! Before leaving, make sure you check out the rooftop bar. It has a van! And a classic neon sign that offers a good photo op. 🙂

Grab a little ice cream at Little Man Ice Cream outside of Linger. Apple pie flavored ice cream will rock your world.

I told Jeremy we HAD to go to Williams & Graham, a famous speakeasy just a few minutes walking distance from Linger & Little Man. I also suggest using Open Table. This place stays busy, but it is so cool! A bookcase opens up to a small bar that serves hand-crafted cocktail. It is rated as one of the top 50 bars in the world, and was 2015’s best American cocktail bar. My cocktail was a little strong, but I loved the prohibition era-feel of the place!

So what’s a trip to Colorado without visiting a dispensary? I’m as straight-laced as they come, but being a pharmacist, the thought of what my future may hold interested me. We checked one out on our way back out of town, where most are located (I hear they try to keep them out of the heart of the city). Very interesting to check out! I had no idea they could even make some of those products. Soda with weed. What? Crazy. The people who sell this stuff were also super knowledgeable, like pharmacists who pretty much only sell one drug, but in a bizillion different forms.

Early the next morning, we stopped into the legendary Voodoo Donuts. Best breakfast ever!! Just a heads up: they only accept cash, though they have an ATM in store, and nowhere to sit down and eat.

For our final day, we drove an hour south into Colorado Springs to check out Garden of the Gods. Huge, interesting red rock formations are the main attraction of this park. It is world-famous for rock climbing, and we got to witness a few people scale some huge rocks! I figured this would be more of a hiking trip, but unless you really want to explore some trails away from the Garden, it won’t take very long at all. An interesting site here is Balancing Rock. The top-heavy 290-million-year-old rock provides a great photo op. Thankful it didn’t decide to fall on the day we were there! With our luck, it is surprising it didn’t! We ended up driving to the wrong airport and missing the last flight out of Denver (I’ll blame that on Siri.. haha). Also, unfortunately we ran out of time to see Seven Falls in Colorado Springs, but maybe we can check it out next time.

Every thing ended up being okay because we got to experience the craziest, most awesome restaurant one could imagine. Casa Bonita in Denver has it’s own waterfall, shows every 15 minutes, 3 arcades, all-you-can-eat Mexican food, and a maze of rooms with their own theme! I’ll be honest and say that the food was just ok, but the cheesiness and the uniqueness of the rest of it completely makes up for it! We spent hours in here, exploring the rooms and playing in the arcade like we were 7 again. If you have kids, are young at heart, or just need somewhere to waste a few hours, this place is highly recommended. Don’t expect a classy or high-quality shows, but Casa Bonita provides plenty of entertainment!