Heading West – A Long Weekend in Denver, Day 1

It’s been a while since we’ve travelled west (about 5 months now), so we decided to take a long weekend trip to Denver and, as usual, are documenting each day in my blog.  We flew out of Louisville Friday morning and will return Monday morning.  A nice long weekend that started early on Friday with a plane ride…   

The wife in front of her windowless window seat

After arriving in Denver, we decided to drive up to Boulder.  We were pretty hungry from the travelling and decided to try a University of Colorado hotspot called The Sink.  The walls were covered in paintings and the low ceilings were covered in signatures of diners.   It was also featured on a recent episode of the Food Network’s Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives.

The Sink

Wall paintings

A shot of the ceiling graffiti

Next stop was Chautauqua Park to check out the Flat Iron Mountains.  We walked about the park a bit and then up the trail to the tree line of the mountains.  The trail was busy with hikers, families, and dog walkers.  It offered a nice view of both the mountains and the city of Boulder below.

 

After checking out the park, we decided to head to downtown Boulder and see the Pearl Street shopping district.  Soon after we arrived, we saw a pretty impressive street performer.  He started out on stilts and moved to a very tall unicycle.   

He started out with juggling

 
Then tossed his hat from his foot to his head while on his unicycle


Street Sign in Downtown Boulder

Storefront on Pearl Street

After we had our fill of walking around Boulder, we grabbed a quick snack at a chocolate shop before heading back to Denver.  We relaxed at our friend’s place (who is graciously hosting us for the weekend) for a while to get some rest before dinner.

 
Random shot from the car on the way to Denver

With March Madness in full swing, we had to catch the UK – OSU game which was conveniently during dinner time in Denver.  I did some research and found the perfect bar to watch the game.  It was called College Inn and was the official bar of the University of Kentucky, Colorado Alumni Association.  The bartender noticed the wife’s Ohio license right away and warned her that she’d be outnumbered.  The bar was full of enthusiastic UK fans who would burst into spontaneous C-A-T-S cheers throughout the game.  They even played the UK Fight Song at halftime.  There was a few Ohio State fans to keep the wife company but the roar of the UK fans drowned out her small cheering section.

After watching the Cats pull out a last minute win, we headed home amid the congratulating (for me) and consoling (for the wife) messages.  Go cats!  Tomorrow we’ll actually try and see some of Denver itself.