Colorado - Day 1 - Denver & Boulder

For Labor Day week, we took our anniversary trip to Colorado.  David has family out there and I have never been but always wanted to.  

We flew into Denver, got our rental car, drove an enormous amount of time to exit the airport and went downtown to a brunch place called Snooze.  Good thing we had no real plans because the wait was two hours!  

We walked around the area while waiting and eventually got a bench in front to sit.  They serve complimentary coffee and water while you wait and have lawn games outside so it was way less stressful of a process.  The food was pretty damn excellent and despite being starving, that opinion would not change. 

I read about this urban park and wanted to check it out so we drove over to Confluence Park.  The city made rapids you can ride and some sandy shores to rest at.  Lots of families and dogs.  But it was kind of funny when we met up with our cousin and he responded as if it was the East River and despite to neat idea, people were gross and crazy to be in there.  

Confluence Park is right next to the giant mothership R.E.I.,which is a good spot to pick up anything you may have forgotten or not been able to get (or to use a public bathroom). There is also a good pub up the street to grab a local brew.  We did that with Cousin and then popped into a health food store where we parked, for some water and snacks before we hit the road again.  I'd been drinking a ton of water to prep for possible elevation sickness and planned to keep it up.   Everyone seems to carry water bottles here.  

It was perfect timing to get in the car as it started to rain on the drive over to Boulder.  The Celestial Seasonings Factory was on the way to Aunt C's and the last tour was at 4PM.  Just made it!  We tasted different teas and walked around the factory with about 25 other people.  This is the only factory they have but no one was working that day because of the holiday so we didn't see it in action but got the idea.  It was a well spent hour.  On our way out, we spotted our first wildlife...prairie dogs!  

See it? 

After putting our stuff down at the house, we drove up a path at the base of the Flatirons for a nice overlook of Boulder. and a closer look at the mountains.   

Then we headed to Pearl Street in downtown Boulder for dinner and a pit stop at the pot store just to check it out before it closed.  It was not what I expected at all.  It was way more professional and high-tech.  We walked around Pearl Street and saw street performers.  It reminded me of Santa Monica's Promenade. 

There are so many options for dinner around here and places stay open way later then I expected.  We had a late dinner at a Mexican place with terrible service but I was reintroduced to my beloved green chile so it was forgiven.  With the time change and everything else, this was one of the longest days of my life.