JLM TRAVELS: DENVER, CO
First and foremost, I'd like to share a tradition that my two best friends and I started two years ago. Aligning three schedules between three busy gals in two states (and one time, three!) can get really difficult. While Stephanie was living in San Diego I decided to switch it up and celebrate my winter birthday in sunny San Diego instead of cold bitter New York. When Dianne's birthday came around this year, the three of us got bit by the travel bug and decided to check out the scene in Denver. Having these getaways to celebrate our birthdays is a great way to spend quality time, catch up, and explore a new city we've never been to. So many new experiences, cute photos, and insiders!
This Denver post has been in the works for a hot minute. Coming from New York, I have to say that the food scene in Denver is so slept on! Every single restaurant we visited had delicious unique offerings. Farm to table was not advertised at the restaurants we went to but every thing tasted fresh and savory. It was nice being downtown, not hovered by skyscrapers, while also seeing snow capped mountaintops. The girls and I were able to explore some really cute shops, stuff our faces at amazing restaurants, and hike scenic views.
I would recommend visiting the city of Denver also known as The Mile High City to anyone to loves food and most especially and beer lovers! Denver is full of breweries! In fact, Coors Beer was founded in Golden, Colorado - which is a 20 minutes outside downtown. You can't miss visiting this quaint town and Coors' FREE brewery tour! While we were in Denver, we also checked out the Blue Moon and Denver Beer Company breweries in RiNo (River North) District. For all the dog lovers, there are so many dogs hanging out at Denver Beer Company with their cool owners!
Also in RiNo, another spot you cannot miss while you're in Denver is The Source. The Source is Denver's own version of New York City's Chelsea Market - a handful of versatile eateries and cute shops! If there's one place that must be on your Denver itinerary - it's dinner at Acorn. Make sure you're ready to eat, Acorn presents their unforgettable food family style. Trust me, you will want to try everything on the menu; bone marrow topped with bacon and coffee jam - need I say more? Don't play yourself and make that reservation! Another place I recommend at The Source is Comidas - their tacos and ceviche was so delicious!
Another place you MUST go to in Denver is Snooze AM Eatery for brunch! They have three locations in Denver alone, and more through out Colorado - in addition to California, Arizona and Texas. The girls and I ate at the location in Union Station in LoDo. It's important to note that they don't take reservations, so get there early! Once we got seated, we were amazed by the menu. They have 6 different types of eggs Benedict and offer you the genius idea to mix and match. Also, they offer 8 different kinds of pancakes and offer a pancake flight! I can't wait to go back for their French Toast Neat pancake.
Another cool place we enjoyed checking out was Avanti. At night this place is packed. It has a beer garden, multiple food joints and their upper level offers outdoor seating with an amazing view of Downtown Denver, accompanied with heaters. Eventually we found ourselves at a speakeasy that fronts as a bookstore called Williams & Graham. Luckily that night, the was bar was being ran by bartenders from a bar called Trick Dog in San Francisco, California and their menu was presented a cool art book!
For activities, we walked around downtown and window shopped at a lot of stores. Below are a few spots we really enjoyed:
Blue Ruby in Larimer Square,
Cooper & Dash in LoDo
Bouquets in LoDo
Bloom inside Union Station
On the actual day of Dianne's birthday we decided to do a sunrise (warm up) hike to Red Rocks Amphitheatre - 22 minutes from Denver. Waking up at the crack of dawn was so worth it! When planning a trip to Denver, I recommend checking out Red Rocks's event calendar and see if an artist you like is performing. We missed Dada Life by a week, I can only imagine how amazing that would've been!
After the morning hike, we went to Garden of The Gods in Colorado Springs. The drive from Denver to Colorado Springs was about an hour drive, and I must add, a beautiful scenic drive. If you're curious about the weather, it gets pretty chilly in the morning and night. During the day, the weather is amazing and can get pretty hot - note, this trip was this past March. We got to Garden of The Gods around noon and hiked for a good 2 hours. We left as soon as it started to get packed, around 1:30-2:00 pm.
Aside from drinking beers and hiking, the ladies and I were able to find a salsa club in Denver. If you love to dance, you need to check out La Rumba. Now, La Rumba is not your typical Latin night club - it's actually a Salsa + Bachata dance studio! The crowd at La Rumba consisted of most of their students, so they know how to DANCE. Their inviting energy was amazing and everyone was having fun. If you want to go out with the pure intention to dance, La Rumba is the spot.
Most people in Denver drive a car, so instead of spending money on Ubers + Lyfts, the girls and I rented a car and stayed at an AirBNB in Lakewood which was 12 minutes outside downtown Denver. The AirBNB was super clean and the perfect size for 3 people in a quiet suburban neighborhood. We stayed in Denver for 4 days and 5 nights and personally didn't think it was enough. I think if we stayed 2-3 more days it would've been sufficient. Colorado has hot springs and snowboarding outside of Denver - so I have more than just Snooze pancakes to come back for!
OTHER RECOMMENDATIONS
Stranahan's Whiskey Distillery Tour
Terminal Bar inside Crawford Hotel / Union Station
Berriegood Company for acai bowls
Little Man Ice Cream
Lingers for lunch + rooftop brunch
Beast and Bottle for American brunch + dinner
The Populist for dinner
Lucille’s Creole Cafe for beignets + brunch
Cuba Cuba Cafe for Cuban food
Bones French/Asian fusion food
Good Chemistry
I hope you enjoyed my first travel post!