Big trip to Denver

Day 1--------------------

We flew in bright and early at 7:30 AM. Lucky me, I had set up our rental car under my name so I got to drive the whole time. Let's just say that it took a little while for me to get used to city driving again. It's been a while. Also, hubby hasn't had to be the navigator...ever... so that provided for some humorous moments. We definitely had some kinks to work out.

We happened upon a restaurant called "Snooze" and thought it looked pretty good. The atmosphere was awesome. It had a "morning bar" feel since they served mojitos, screwdrivers and other alcoholic beverages right along with their coffee, tea, eggs, and toast. We sat at the bar since it was pretty busy. It probably just enhanced the experience because we had a full view of what was going on around us. I ordered an amazing eggs benedict where the eggs were poached (why haven't I had poached eggs before? amazing.) on an english muffin with avocado, tomatoes, and a balsamic vinaigrette dressing over all of it. Did I say amazing? Because it was. Also, in spite of my coffee aversion, I ordered it with fresh cold cream on the side and it also did not disappoint. Apparently, my aversion is only an on and off thing at home. In Denver, I'm all about the coffee.

Side note: while we were at "Snooze" I was told by two separate people that I just had to go there before we left town via social media. What are the odds that we would find the one place that was highly recommended within hours of arriving? It was destiny.

We drove around checking things out after that and ended up at the Molly Brown museum (remember her, from the Titanic?). At this point, I think you should know that hubby and I are extremely nerdy when it comes to two things: Educational museum-like places and old buildings/houses. You can imagine that this museum, which was really in the house that she lived in most of her life, was right up our alley. The museum did not disappoint, although we probably wouldn't have enjoyed it as much if the kids had been with. It wasn't exactly kids friendly. 

Lunch was at a fantastic Mexican restaurant. We really lucked out with our first two meals in the city. It was relatively quick without feeling rushed, we got to eat on the patio (my favorite) and we both had amazing pork tacos with different seasonings than we are used to. 

We headed to the hotel to check in, met up with friends that were also in town for the wedding, headed over to Golden, CO to check out the Coors brewery tour and Red Rocks amphitheatre (both were unsuccessful... too late in the day... but lots of scenic driving!) and then eventually we split up so that I could go to the bride's bachelorette party and hubby could hang out with the other married men. Overall, busy but great day.

View from our hotel room:

Day 2--------------------

Hubby and I decided to try out the Red Rocks amphitheatre again. My beloved band, the Avett Brothers, were there the week before so my head was spinning imagining them playing there along with just taking in how cool it is that there is a concert venue right in the middle of the mountains, made mostly of the mountains/rocks. 

We headed to the Coors brewery to get that elusive free tour (elusive because we tried and failed and then waited in the longest line ever...but it was worth it in the end). Again, we geeked out with all the information they provided and hubby got a few samples at the end. My Sierra Mist was pretty good, but it's no fun to be around all the beer and not be able to try it. I really need to work on my timing because so far I'm two for two with beer breweries and being pregnant...

Afterwards, we headed over to yet another Mexican restaurant (what can I say, a craving is a craving that must be satisfied). It was also pretty good, but man, I was so tired and getting a little sick. I handed the keys to hubby and promised him I'd wake up in a bit if he would just drive towards the mountains, so that's what he did.

I woke up about 45 minutes later and we had gone... six miles. Rush hour traffic at 3:00 on a Friday is no joke in Denver. We thought the day was a lost cause at this point, but we finally were able to exit off the terrible highway that was inching along and suddenly we could go the speed limit towards Mt Evans. We found ourselves driving up the mountain and ohmydearlord was what was going through my head the whole time. It was -skinny lane, skinny lane, drop off, sharp turns- the whole way up and completely thrilling yet terrifying. The views were amazing but I could hardly enjoy it for fear of causing our car to flip over the edge if I leaned too far. My irrational fears aside, it was definitely worth it and we both agreed that we would do it again in a heartbeat. 

Mt Evans is over 14000 ft tall, and there aren't all that many mountains that high in the world. We saw mountain goats near the top and at one point I looked down (I know, who did that, me?? but I had more courage going down) and saw a herd of elk, at least 50-100 of them way down there just hanging out in their secluded little area on the side of the mountain. It was kind of breathtaking. The temps dropped to 45 degrees at the top and the air was incredibly thin. What an experience!

We got back to Denver and the sickness had hit again. We ended up just ordering in Chinese and I slept through the whole evening. Traveling and exploring all day really takes it out of a pregnant lady.

Day 3--------------------

Saturday morning, we headed down to the historic area of Denver and ended up eating at a small diner. It was fine and had character (although I can't remember the name of it). Afterwards, we headed over to the 16th Street Mall, which is basically just a street blocked off for shopping in the older part of town. It ended up being a ton of restaurants (remember, we just ate) and homeless people mixed in with other tourists. Some of the homeless people played pianos that were located here and there outside, but even that was not fun to listen to because it was not quality music at all. I try not to be snobby, but if you are going to play publicly, at least play the piece correctly if you are going to play a song that everyone has heard before (ah-hem, Fur Elise).

After that disappointing morning, we spent a solid half hour trying to figure out a way to enjoy more of the city without sucking up time to get ready before the wedding. One of the problems of not planning ahead is that you have to plan during the trip, which can get frustrating. Sure, we loved being spontaneous, but we did waste a lot of time planning out the next few activities.

We ended up going to Hammond's Candy factory for their free tour. Great idea! We bought our souvenirs for the kids and family here and again, geeked out on all the information we were given. I would definitely recommend this activity for families with kids. The tour was short but kept our attention and we got a sample at the end of one of their candy canes that didn't make the cut (ours happened to be the wrong color, although they tasted exactly the same).

The wedding started at 5 PM, so after heading back to the hotel to get ready and pick up the other married men (wives were in the wedding party), we were ready to celebrate. It was a wicked hot day, but the wedding was short and sweet and the reception was indoors. Here's the deal. They decided to end the dance at 9:30. I recommend that everybody does this. The evening didn't go on forever, and by the time the dance came around, everyone knew that it would only be for an hour and a half or so, so everybody actually danced right from the beginning. It didn't drag on and on and even though there was plenty of drinking, nobody was over the top drunk since it was relatively early. Plus, when the bride and groom left, they actually had people there to see and cheer them off. When the dance goes a lot later, that never seems to happen (or I'm not awake to see it).

The happy couple! Doesn't she look gorgeous?

Most of the roommates from when we all lived under one roof, now all married women:

 

It was so fun to see this lady, my old roommate and dear friend from college, marry her love and celebrate with her family and friends. Also, thank you, Aris, for getting married in a city that works great for vacationing. We don't do it often, so I jumped on this chance to take a few days off around the wedding. Peerrrrfffeeeeccctttt.

Day 4--------------------
(for some reason, we didn't take a lot of picture the next two days... and the few we took are gone or lost... so sorry for not providing a visual.)

We went to the "Original House of Pancakes" with friends for brunch and then headed over to the Denver Nature and Science Museum. It just so happened to be a free day and we jumped on that. We spent a total of five exhausting hours there and left feeling like our heads were going to explode. So.much.information. It was a great museum, though, and even with all the kids running around (hello, free day!) we still felt like it was fun and worth it.

Dinner that night was at a pub near our hotel, and we enjoyed it quietly before heading back to our hotel. Evenings always ended up being low key with this preggo lady getting sick every single time. Thankfully, Duck Dynasty was on multiple times so hubby thoroughly enjoyed his relaxing "hotel time" each night.

Day 5--------------------

Last day! We checked out of the hotel and headed down to Colorado Springs, about an hour south of Denver. This city. It's located right at the bottom of a few different mountains so every corner has an amazing view and they've done an awesome job of keeping character strong all over the city. 

First up was the Garden of the Gods. It was similar to Red Rocks, with literal red rocks all over the place, some super high, some just cool to look at because of how they were laying or shaped. We mostly just drove through it since we never seemed to be near a free parking spot. The views were amazing, of course, and it was also neat to see people riding horse on the trails through the park.

 We also ended up in Manitou Springs which literally felt like a sweet mining town frozen in time. Their downtown was sweet and would have been so fun to walk through. We only drove through it, but if we ever come back, we'll come back here for sure.

We randomly came across an old mansion that "gave tours" (I say that loosely because really they hand you piece of paper to read while you walk around) and of course we both loved it. Amazing views through every window, European architecture, interesting history, right up our alley.

Lunch was downtown Colorado Springs at a burger place. We were a little over eating out at this point so even though the food was great, we just couldn't eat the large quantities that were served to us. 

We had a lot of free time but were worried about getting to the airport on time. To avoid traffic, we headed back to Denver and found Washington Park, a sweet park on two man made lakes that had a bunch of walking/biking paths, flower gardens, a neat wooden playground, and a great view. It was ridiculously hot, but fun to sit and just enjoy the day. 

We headed to the airport earlier than originally planned, but that ended up being the perfect plan because traffic was awful, and even after taking the back roads, we still ended up getting there and checked in with only a half hour to spare. That was just enough time for a fatty chinese meal, but we were fine with that. It was an 8:00 PM flight so we were already tired and ready to be home with the girls. Even with the stormy weather, we had no problem getting home on time and going right to bed!

It was a great vacation and I'm so glad we went. It'd be fun to go again when the girls are bigger and we can all go hiking or biking together. We both weren't all that impressed with the actual city of Denver, but the surrounding areas were definitely stunning and worth seeing again. 

Thank you to my parents for watching the girls all six days! They picked them up the night before we left and brought them back the day after we got back. We ended up with enough time to pack and unpack without feeling the stress of getting them ready to go. It was so helpful. The girls had fun but did show a few signs of missing us. The day before we got back, my parents overheard Josie on her pretend phone saying something like, "Why did you leave us? We'll be good. We love you and miss you!" over and over... so sweet and yet a little heartbreaking. Thankfully, she seemed to understand that we went to a wedding and flew back to be with them again. We are happy to be back together. :)