Denver - A Beer & Brick Adventure!

"Denver" - Find me on Etsy

A while back we planned a trip to Denver to check out the city, along with Boulder. When Dan lost his job we decided to still go on our trip, even though it was in the middle of our move. We had already bought the tickets, booked our stay with Airbnb, and were very excited to go. We ended up having great timing!

Our adventure began with changing our flight out three times. First to book it, then to change the time since we didn't have to worry about Dan's schedule, then to fly out of Phoenix since we were going to be at Grandma's house.

The flight in was fine, a few bumps on the decent, but faster than I though. Felt more like flying to the Bay Area than a three hour flight. Once we landed I was surprised to find that there wasn't any snow on the ground, well somewhat surprised. It also wasn't as cold as I would have guessed. This was a pleasant surprise, so once we got our (tiny! and California license plated) car rental we decided to go to Washington Park before going to our hosts' house.

One thing I have to point out right away about Denver is that there are a bajillion parks. And that is a modest guess. It literally felt like every 3-5 blocks there was another park that was, minimum, a city block. It was very refreshing coming from LA where the first park that comes to mind was completely fenced off and inaccessible to prevent the homeless from sleeping on the grass. Better they sleep on the sidewalk I suppose.

"Washington Park at Dusk" - Find me on Etsy

Back to Denver. So Washington Park was huge, if I remember correctly it was the largest park in downtown Denver, or at least the longest. We walked the length of the park and decided to head back to the car so we could drop off our things before it was time to eat and grab a beer.

The home we stayed it was very awesome. Parking was a piece of cake and I specifically picked this house out of the many options on Airbnb because of the colourful style. The owners weren't home when we initially got there, but once we got the chance to say hello I was very happy with our choice. They were very friendly, extremely helpful with giving us a good feel of what Denver is like seasonally and in more detail than you can experience in just a few days. Plus they were just good people, much better than giving money to a hotel.

We made our way to the 16th Street Mall, which is an outdoor, pedestrian only street in the heart of downtown. Similar to 3rd street in Santa Monica, but way cooler. The street still had "roads" but it was only for a free bus system that would run back and fourth along the street making it easier on students, tourists, and business people to get around quickly. It is a very clever idea and I was impressed that it was free. We decided to walk because the weather was still lovely, if a bit nippy. But honestly we were thrilled to be in cold(ish) weather. Sadly, there wasn't anywhere that was vegan friendly for food options and we decided to just grab a beer instead. After a long day of traveling and the altitude change, we weren't all that hungry anyway.

Earlier in the day we tried out a great vegetarian/vegan restaurant called Watercourse Foods. We actually ended up eating here twice, once for lunch and once for breakfast. It was a hit with the both of us, especially since we just happened to go there right before happy hour started and we got a good discount on some local brews.

"Artists' Perspective" - Find me on Etsy

The following day we made our way to Red Rocks Amphitheater. Pretty much everyone I have mentioned this to has clearly known this place, but before I went I was clueless. Actually, I think that made the experience more breathtaking because of it. It didn't take me long once we were there to see why people love Denver. The view here was amazing, and I can only imagine what it would be like to see a concert here. Unfortunately we were off season for a concert, but they leave the theatre open for people to enjoy. People were running up and down the stairs, enjoying the view, and having picnics. Talk about a great workout. Because of the altitude change, just walking up and down the stairs caused me to get short of breath.

We ended up at City o' City for dinner to celebrate our 10 year anniversary! Now, this was our dating anniversary, not wedding, but because it was a milestone we wanted to celebrate in style. When we got there we were told we would need to wait for about 45 minutes for a table. Dan was ready to leave but I overruled him. We were there, might as well wait a bit. He went to the bathroom and on his way back found two seats at the bar. Perfect! We had a lovely meal and Dan gave me a new claddagh ring, but it was too big. Darn!

The next morning we headed off to Boulder! But, Boulder is for another post.

When we returned to Denver we decided to go neighborhood hunting. We saw Lakewood before we went to Boulder which got us anxious to look around in person. It is west of downtown and was our first choice in what we thought we wanted to see while we were scouring the internet before our trip for living possibilities. Turns out it's not quite what we expected. It was nice, but way too rural and just didn't seem to offer what we were looking for. We were very surprised by this and realized that searching for a neighborhood over the internet doesn't work.

"Mile-High" - Find me on Etsy

We literally drove around neighborhoods, up and down different streets which was a great idea. It was probably creepy for onlookers, seeing us driving slowly and taking photos of homes in our California rental car. But for us, it was exactly what we needed to do.

The homes in Denver are typically broken up into two main "suburb" categories, north of downtown which was older (generally built in the 1930s) and south of downtown (generally built in the 1950s). Their main style is called Tudor and is very tasteful. Mainly brick and pointy, it was fascinating to see how many different types and colours of brick you can find. I love brick homes so this was great for me. They seemed small, but we figured out the majority have basements which doubles the size.

We ended up in the Mountain View area at Hops & Pie for lunch. This place was great! We enjoyed some vegan eats and delish beers, all while listening to some of Dan's favorite punk artists. This is what we were looking for. We followed that up with my first time in a cannabis shop which was a fun experience too. I was impressed with how much they actually had in stock knowing that they've been dealing with shortages. And yes, they checked our IDs.

That evening Dan took me to a nightclub to hear some local music. And oh boy was that a great time!

The band we went to see was called Rowdy Shadehouse. When we first got there we assumed they were going to be an 80's hair band or something similar. They were all in different patterned spandex and the singer had awesome platforms on. Most of them had long hair and just gave off the impression of the late '70s, early '80s. Our guess on their style was way off. They were a funk band. And a darn good one too! So, once again I had to hand it to Dan, he's great a finding cool things to do.

We followed up the show with going to The Great Divide Brewery's taproom, which is downtown Denver. A small place which was basically bar space and a bit of standing room. Very cool spot and of course great beers. If you're around and enjoy beer, I would check this place out. If I remember correctly I think tasters were $1 for about a $5 flight. Not too bad at all.

On our last day in town we decided to do some more exploring. While everything in Denver is about 10 minutes away (except Boulder which is 20 minutes away), it's still a big place. We looked around more south of downtown and eventually ended up just west on Federal Blvd. From our very basic understanding of the city, this seemed to be the Vietnamese and Hispanic neighborhood. We saw a beautiful view of downtown, it just popped out at us after climbing a small hill, and ended up eating at what I believe was my favorite restaurant of the trip. It was called Lotus Vegetarian Restaurant and was actually all vegan (true vegetarian) Vietnamese. Their soups were amazing and if I had done my research beforehand, we would have ended up here more than once. Next time!

We pretty much headed to the airport from here since we had to bring the car back way earlier than our flight or pay a big fine. Stupid. But! Luckily, the airport here is pretty amazing on it's own. My dad told me that they literally moved it out from downtown, so it's brand new. They have a small taproom and a great restaurant called Root Down that we ate dinner at. It was pretty neat to find a good quality (vegan friendly!) restaurant in an airport.

Our flight home was pretty rough for a while and a few times I think my bum left the seat. Apparently, this is pretty normal for Denver, because of the Rocky Mountains I suppose, but it was a bit unnerving.

Overall we had a great time, as you hopefully gathered from my tale of adventure. Some other places we stopped in at (but I missed/forgot to mention) were the 1up arcade which had wall to wall pinball and arcade machines, which was literally right next to Falling Rock Tap House with a great beer selection (about 75 taps) and a countdown clock for the Great American Beer Festival (which is held in Denver). We also stopped in at Beet Box, a from scratch, all vegan bakery which was perfect for hungry vegans in the morning.

We loved Denver. The altitude was a bit to get used to and of course we were finally back to normal once we were ready to head home. The people we talked to everywhere were very friendly, the city was amazingly clean, parks everywhere, great architecture, too much beer to chose from, I could go on. I'm very much looking forward to heading back again sometime. Hopefully, we will be able to make our way into the Rocky Mountains next time. But being in our tiny car, it would have been life threatening to go on this trip.

As a vegan, I was slightly underwhelmed with the ability to eat out. It showed me how accommodating Los Angeles has been in that regard, giving me options just about everywhere I went. Denver definitely had some great vegan eats, but if I didn't do some research ahead of time, it would be very difficult. Lot's of places don't even have a veggie burger on their menu. But I wouldn't let that stop vegans from going there. It is possible to find really good food, and the more vegans that go and eat there, the more they will need to have alternatives that are vegan! Check out my Vegan Denver yelp list for some reviews on vegan friendly eats in the area.

I can see why people love it there, and I am happy to add myself to the Denver fan club!