Troy and I flew out to Denver for a few nights last week for his cousin’s wedding. It was nice to take a mini vacation and get away from work and school for a little bit.
It’s all about the outdoors in Denver, but being a self-proclaimed city girl I love grabbing a map and exploring downtowns. We spent a long day in Boulder and the other three days bouncing around Denver.Usually before I visit a city I read up on it and make notes on all the places I want to go. I’m a planner. Troy is the complete opposite – he’ll talk to anyone and everyone. So, this trip, we got a lot of great tips from the locals. Combined, our different travel techniques usually make for an awesome vacation.
Below are some of our vacation highlights (note that we don’t have any photos from our last day in Denver because it snowed all day – not a highlight).
I love all of the independent shops in Atlanta, so that’s exactly what I look for when I travel to other cities. The candy and soda shop we visited was on Pearl Street in Boulder. Troy and I agreed that the next time we go out to Colorado, we want to spend a few nights in Boulder. It has a college town vibe, but it’s bigger than Athens, GA and a bit more polished. The other two shops in the photos were in the Highland neighborhood of Denver: Starlet and The Perfect Petal.
For this trip we left Toby with my parents and Wheatie with our friends, Alison and Greg (thank you guys!). We always miss our dogs so much that whenever we’re on a trip, we will run up to any dog we see on the street and pet it – not the smartest thing to do. Luckily Denver and Boulder are filled with dog lovers and dog owners. The owner of the pup in the first photo was giving out treats to strangers to help socialize her dog – he loved the treats we gave him us!
About 85% of all our trips – no matter where we go – are focused on food. Whether it’s eating delicious food, talking about food, planning out where we’re going to get our next meal, our main focus is food. Food, food, food, food, food. We love food, we love alcohol and we love food and alcohol together. How are we not both 400 pounds? Well, we try to cut back on eating when we’re not traveling – more on that in a few weeks (read: I’m going on a juice cleanse soon). From top to bottom, the food photos are from Oak at Fourteenth (our absolute favorite restaurant in Boulder), Uncle (Denver’s version of Momofuku) and True Food Kitchen (delicious, low-inflammatory food).
Other restaurants that we visited:
- Colt and Gray: Troy and I stumbled upon this restaurant last year and have been dreaming about our drinks and meal there ever since. This year, we landed in Denver at 8 p.m. and were sitting at the Colt and Gray bar by 9:30 p.m. The bartender, Kevin, is fantastic and was the one who told us to try Oak at Fourteenth in Boulder.
- Pizzeria Locale: a sophisticated, hipster-ish neopolitan style pizza place. Think gray walls, lots of subway tile, blown up photos of Italy and gorgeous fresh flowers. . . oh and the pizza is yummy.
- Abo’s Pizza: What this pizza chain lacks in decor, it makes up for with its perfectly, thin-crust pizza.
- Jack n Grill: Largest. Most delicious. Breakfast burrito. Ever.
Marc by Marc Jacobs sunglass • H&M faux fur stole • Etsy jacket (unfortunately the Etsy shop no longer exists) • Derek Lam for Kohls dress • Frye boots
The wedding was at Red Rocks, an amazing outdoor concert venue. All of the Denver natives at the wedding were fine in one layer of clothing, but I had to bundle up. I switched into heels for the indoor reception and totally forgot to take a full outfit photo of my Derek Lam dress – fashion blogger fail!
Penfield shirt • Gap jean • Longchamp bag • TOMs flats
I packed pretty light for the trip: 2 pairs of jeans, 3 v-necks, 1 button-up, 1 dress, 1 pair of boots (I wore on the plane), 1 pair of TOMs, 1 pair of heels, 1 fur stole, and 1 light-weight coat.
We’ve lucked out that for the past two years we’ve had a good excuse to travel to Denver. I hope it won’t be long before we visit again!
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Dearest Lar,
I’m a little envious that you and Matt were in France the same time we were in Colorado, but that jealousy is lessened by the fact that Denver is such a great city. I think if you had been my travel partner, I would have done less eating and more shopping. There were tons of items at Starlet that you would have loved. When it started snowing on the last day of our trip, I would start to complain and then remember that you’ve been dealing with the same type weather for six months. At least the next trip we’re all go on will be sunny, beautiful Italy!
Love you! xoxo, Cath
Cath, you look tres chic! I feel like whenever I go to Outdoorsy Capitals my brain gets confused and I dress overly outdoorsy and feel like I don’t know myself. But you — you look just like Cath but with a few more layers.
I so wish I could have eaten some of that pizzzzza with you. Gahhh I haven’t had pizza in so very long. Question: is bacon soda vegan?
You would have loved Bordeaux, but you are right, Denver is equally awesome by the looks of it — just in a totally different Americana/We Love Fresh Air kind of way.
Hope your final exam goes well this week! Tells me all about via, Skype, kay?
LOVE,
Lar
No idea about bacon soda! I didn’t even read the ingredients because it just sounded so disgusting – and yet, intriguing.
When Troy and I were waiting in line to rent our car, there was an English man in front of us and I thought, “This must be where foreigners come to really experience America.” It just feels like there’s so much space out there!
Thanks for the sweet words about my final. Next time I talk to you on Skype, I’ll be done with class!
xoxo, Cath
i love this post! i haven’t ever been to colorado.so you are playing tour guide to me here.
please tell me you didn’t try that bacon soda.ewwww! i love me some bacon.but that sounds so disgusting!
yay to cute puppies.and momofuku-esque restaurants! 🙂
I love bacon and I love soda bacon, but I totally screamed “Ewwww!” as soon as I saw (and took a pic of) the bacon soda.
Have you been to Momofuku? Next time in NYC (whenever that’ll be!) I want to try it out – and visit you!
xoxo, Cath
what the hell is soda bacon??? am i missing out on some pork deliciousness???
yes i have been to momofuku once about 3 years ago or so. we went there for their fried chicken dinner.and it was SO AMAZING!!! i know my husband is itching to go back for it soon.
and YES.the next time you visit NYC you better let me know.and i’ll bring you to momofuku 🙂
Woohoo! That would be awesome!
Hooray, Denver! Glad you had a great time – isn’t Red Rocks ah-mazing!!?
Red Rocks is out of this world amazing! Troy and I went to a concert there last year. It wasn’t even a band I liked, but the venue is so mind-blowing that I didn’t even care. And what a great place to get married, right?!
Wonderful post today. I got to re-live this entire trip all overthe again through your perfectly presented and ‘organiznized’ photos.
Crap. Did I spell that in the post? You always catch my spelling and grammar mistakes – and there are always plenty!
I can’t believe the trip has already come and gone, but at least we have this post to remember it by 🙂
love, c
Loved all the pics!!! I haven’t been to Colorado in years, but it was one of our family’s favorite vacations we ever took (I nailed my mom in her ear with a snowball on the top of some mountain. oooops!). It is gorgeous and super crunchy granola, but in the best way possible 😉
What’s the donut looking thing (if it’s just a donut, i’ll be sad) next to the healthy looking salad?!?
Oh! AND! Last night on Amazing Race, they were in Edinburgh! Surprisingly, they did not have to climb Arthurs Seat while carrying sheep. I was *sure* that would be a challenge 😉 They did go to some massive castle outside the city, and end up at Sheep’s Heid Inn (i think that’s the name) playing skittles and eating haggis. Definitely worth a watch since you girls have a connection to it all 🙂
That is a donut, but it was an amazingly, delicious house-made donut. It was so light and fluffy that it seemed like I wasn’t eating any calories – ha! The salad was delicious, but not healthy. It was filled with cheese.
I must watch that episode of AM! Lar took me to Sheep’s Heid when I visited her in August. It was so. . . Scottish!
I’ve never ever been before, but hey, if the food looks good, then I’ll go 😉 I love love love your outfits, and that jacket is just beauteous! Too bad the shop isn’t open anymore 🙁
I know! There’s not even a tag in the jacket. I wish the owner would open the shop back up!
New follower here!
Oh my word, I just moved from Denver to a small town in North Carolina. As if the culture shock hasn’t been enough, now you’re making me miss the city. Grr. Double grr-rrr. On a high note, I did finally hunt down Starbucks here. I seriously had to hunt it down.
Love to you! Happy to be on each of your continents!
NewlyMynted
Bacon soda. Oh my.