Big, fat blog post. Day 1-7.

Day 7 of 2011: Log onto Blogger. Realize no posts have been written in the new year. Hang head in shame. Ask you all for forgiveness, as I was in Denver from early January 1st until late January 5th. And then I needed the 6th to recover. (From a vacation? Okay, that's pathetic.) So here I am. On the 7th. Doing my first post of the year. I trust you all had a fabulous New Year's Eve and first week of January 2011. I'll have to sort through the millions of updates in my Google Reader later today; don't mind if I do.

Denver was perfect. Aside from temperatures like 6 degrees Fahrenheit. (Which, actually, sometimes made me feel really alive.)

Day 1: Landed. Squealed. Discovered the LightRail. Got lost in downtown for over an hour. (For Denverites - we were stuck around 10th and Osage without a map and could not find any restaurants, stores, etc. We were so confused at first!) Lunch at the Corner Bakery on the 16th St. Mall. (We wanted to eat locally, but we were starving by the time we found a place to eat + we have never been to this franchise. ) (I am using so many parentheses.) Visit to the Denver Art Museum. It is free on the first Saturday of every month; gorgeous museum with lots of cool artwork. Rest at hotel. Dinner at Hacienda Colorado. (Colorado-based chain that we had never been to, so it doesn't count in our "no-chain restaurants" category.) At Hacienda Colorado, we had appetizers + margaritas (with refills) + entrees + dessert. Holy crap.




Day 2: Explore the Art District on Santa Fe. Lunch at Denver Diner. Broncos game at Invesco Field @ Mile High Stadium. (Seats very high up, but on the 50 yard line!) Hang out in downtown Denver with Broncos fans. Go back to hotel to rest after being out from 9am-7pm. Realize we haven't had dinner at almost 10pm, and the only thing that is open nearby was a Village Inn. A freaking chain Village Inn. Late-night pancakes.







Day 3: Snuggle in bed all morning. Lunch at Tony's Pizza. Afternoon hot chocolate/espresso + books at the Historic LoDo location of Tattered Cover Bookstore. (I may or may not want to live in the Tattered Cover.) Window shop at Larimer Square. Candy at the market. Dinner at the Irish Snug on Capitol Hill. (Best environment: cozy, sport-sy, great happy hour, and lots of happy chatter.) A couple glasses of Seadog Bluepaw Wheat at the Yard House (doesn't count on chain list; no locations where we live).





Day 4: Explore. Wind up on the wrong side of town. Shop. Take pictures around downtown. Afternoon snack of cupcakes and cookies. Appetizers and beers at Pint's Pub. Godiva martini at the Rock Bottom Brewery. Ballpark pretzels + homemade root beer at Rock Bottom Brewery. I think we just ate all day on our last full day. Okay, most of the vacation all we did was eat.




Day 5: Hotel breakfast (like every other morning). Snuggle. Take taxi to the airport. Fly to close-to-home airport. Drive home. Pass out.

Day 6: Draw 25 sketches for greeting cards. And have Thai for dinner with the family.

Day 7: Here we are.

My favorite parts of my first trip to Denver were: the Broncos game (even though they suck this year), Tattered Cover Bookstore, and the Irish Snug. If (and by "if" I mean "when") I go back (or move) to Denver, take note: 1. rent a car, 2. save money for shopping, 3. climb the mountains. (And 4. don't eat at stupid Village Inn.)

I'm sorry if this post was too long/really boring. If you made it to this point, congratulations! If not, well, then...you wouldn't be reading this.

Hope you all have a splendid weekend! See you back here on Monday!