Night 1
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Keepin' It CasualWe drop our things at our Airbnb and head straight to dinner at Hop Alley. It's this Asian fusion restaurant that's pretty small inside, so we put our name in and order drinks at the bar. And then we notice: everyone is dressed so casually. It's a nice restaurant, but people are in jeans and t-shirts. Cool, Denver. Nice to meet you.
We're seated at a communal table and order the fried chicken (looks better than it tastes), stir fry noodles (amazing) and eggplant with chili oil and micro greens and I don't even know what else but it's godly. Truly wonderful. It comes out really late, but I assure the waitress that I don't mind. It was worth the wait. Mike and I stuff ourselves coma-style until I mention we can take our food back to our Airbnb, you know. Oh. Riiiight. Pile it all in a to-go box and save some for leftovers. We decide we're down for one more drink, so we walk to Epic Brewery. Can we walk in here with bagged leftovers? Of course we can. This is Denver and it's a brewery. Mike gets a flight and I order a sour. Tasty tasty. But wait! Let's get shirts, too! We pick the ones we like. The bartender warns me that the smalls can run "really small in the chest area, just so you know." Thanks, lady. Have you looked at my boobs though? Not gonna be an issue. I tell her as much. Mike finds this amusing. We grab a few extra beers to take back to the Airbnb and call it a good night. |
Day 1
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Museum and a Whisky TourNext we head over to the Denver Art Museum. We discover upon walking in that there's a Star Wars Exhibit. Nice. Two tickets please. "We're sold out," the cashier tells us. You're sold out? That doesn't even make sense. Sold out of what? It's a museum. We end up buying regular entry tickets and exploring the museum sans Star Wars. It's still great. Mike dubs it his favorite museum. I have to agree. I especially love the enormous blanket tower and all the stories tacked onto each blanket. I don't especially love the fact that my feet still kill in my shoes. Mike says he loves the Native American artwork the most. It's all good.
We've got a quick turnaround before we set off for our tour of Stranahan's Distillery. I quickly change out of my crappy shoes and into sandals. Yay sandals! We walk up the road to the distillery. The tour is neat. Woah, no pun intended. We see the vats and the barrels and learn stuff. We taste the whisky. It burns, because whisky. After the tour, we order two cocktails. (I order something sweet and pink that's yummy, and Mike orders something spicy that's also yummy). The bartender accidentally makes too much, so we get a third for free. Score. Now it's time to rush back to get ready for dinner. I'm buzzed and don't really care what I look like, so there's that. We're ready in record time and hitch a ride on over to Ophelia's Electric Soapbox. This place is crazy. It's an old brothel that was converted into a restaurant. There's a stage with live music, and we're situated right on the balcony. Kewl. We order lots. The green chili goat cheese cornbread (love it, Mike's not interested), shishito poppers and cheese curds (spiced cream cheese, horseradish mustard and blood orange marmalade that makes me die), stout teriyaki duck wings (tasted like Mike's Korean ones), Scandinavian and duck meatballs (Mike's favorite). We eat and drink (and drink and drink. Should have stopped at number four but I'm on five or six and then I decide I'm done for the night). Mike suggests going to a brewery. I suggest no. By the time the live performer comes on, we're winding down. Plus, the guys were playing "trucker music." Eh. Let's call it a night. |
Day 2
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Legal ActivitiesAfter a quick nap, we check out Denver City Park. It's pretty and open. We walk. And walk. Then we're tired and parched and where are we headed, anyway? Iced tea! I say. Beer, Mike says. We find a Wynkoop Brewery and head inside for each.
Weed is legal in Denver. I have a hard time wrapping my head around this. But we smell it everywhere and see people smoking joints and it's all so allowed. There are dispensaries. You go into them. The people are friendly and professional and show you their weed growing right there in the back. They offer to help you find what you need. Edibles? A joint? You're in Denver, the cashier will say. You have to buy a joint. And then you'll go home and smoke the joint and eat the edibles and spend the entire rest of the trip laughing uncontrollably because everything is so funny. You'll decide that, wouldn't it be great if everyone just wore one outfit? You could style your single outfit like you style your hair, but you just have 100 of the same outfit. Or, would it make more sense to just have two of the same outfit, and while one is in the wash you're wearing the other? You'll debate the merits of each seriously. Then you'll start impersonating your dog, except that your dog is a British man with a monocle. You'll be at a bar after the Game of Thrones concert, and you'll just look at each other and suffer hysterical laughter, and you'll be certain everyone knows exactly how much you smoked, but it won't matter because you still have half a joint at home and of course you plan to finish it. If you were the sort of person who is interested in that kind of thing. You know. |
The Reason We Came
On to dinner at Acorn! We order many things. The kale and apple salad (light and tasty), lobster arancini (the server talked us out of this at first but we came back and said nope, bring that here), oak roasted cauliflower (tasted curry-ish!) and one of the best dished of the trip, tallegio agnolotti, which was essentially morels (mushrooms) and ravioli. Soooooo good.
Aaaaand it's time for Game of Thrones! The concert is awesome. Everyone cheers or boos when different characters come up on the screen. There's chants of "hold the door!" and "Meesa!" The music is amazing. I love it all.
Aaaaand it's time for Game of Thrones! The concert is awesome. Everyone cheers or boos when different characters come up on the screen. There's chants of "hold the door!" and "Meesa!" The music is amazing. I love it all.
Our Favorite Memories
Mike: "Just being with my Shmampton the whole time." That's me. "Red rocks and all the food," he adds. Did you have a favorite food? I ask. "Wasn't it the fries? Or maybe the morel pasta. Or the eggplant. The least memorable meal we had was the charcutarie place." He laughs. "But that was still really good. Or is that even true? I'm forgetting what we had on Saturday for dinner. Oh. Ophelia's. Yeah, I'd say the best things we had were not on Saturday." He actually keep talking more than I expected to transcribe. I remind him about the donuts at Butcher's Bistro. He nods and agrees that was in the top. It goes on like this. Basically, the food was all amazing.
For me, it was getting pizza after Game of Thrones and laughing uncontrollably the rest of the night. We had a great time :)
For me, it was getting pizza after Game of Thrones and laughing uncontrollably the rest of the night. We had a great time :)