August 7:
We woke up in our favorite place, said good morning to Mogul, and then drove down to either Edwards or Avon (I don’t know what’s what and where’s where) to rent bikes. The guy suggested that we bike to Vail, so we took on the task. It was really really hard getting there. When he said “uphill all the way there and downhill back” I was like cool, exercise. It was not cool. I am not in good enough shape for uphill from BC to Vail in high altitude, and also I hate bikes. We made it to the sign that said “West Vail 1 mile” and turned around. I consider it a success.
The way there I really felt like I was doing a mix of uphill and downhill. Turns out the guy was right and I was wrong. It was probably 95% uphill and if I realized how easy the way back would be I probably would’ve pushed myself a little bit more to make it to Vail. Goals for next time. Is this winter possible? Marissa, wanna give it a try (editor’s note: yes)? (Marissa we never did this – let’s go this summer. And by “let’s go this summer” I mean “let’s go to Colorado but I probably still won’t do the bike ride because I’m definitely in way worse shape as I’ve gained two kids since that last ride”.)
Anyway, as we headed back we stopped at Rocky Mountain Taco, Eric’s favorite taco truck, and ate some delicious lunch before biking back to the bike shop. After not enough time in BC, we got back in the car for our last long drive to Denver. Eric pointed out that at this point, I was becoming desensitized to the scenery and had stopped taking pictures. But I did get this one when we got off 70 in Frisco to avoid traffic. (Looks like I’m such a good car photographer that you can even see the reflection on the windshield. Insert eye roll emoji.)
We got to Denver and checked into our awesome hotel, the Crawford. It was in the train station, and the station was a super interesting place with a bar and lovely sitting area. Upon check in, we found out that the hotel had a Tesla and driver that could take us anywhere within a two mile radius. At first we were like nah, we’ll walk to dinner. Then we were like, about that rain, about that Tesla. So we rolled up to dinner in our fancy car with butterfly doors (what does this even mean? I don’t know car terms. Is this accurate? I must’ve asked Eric when I wrote this. I just looked it up. This is an accurate term which means I DEFINITELY asked Eric.) and people were staring. Not my scene, super awkward, but Eric loved the car.
We got dinner at an Italian restaurant with Sheryl. It was a cute little spot with Paninis and bruschetta and wine. Eric got a Panini. I don’t remember what was on it. I got a four bruschetta sampler: Apple-Brie-Prosciutto, Burrata-tomato-bacon, warm artichoke spread, and ummm I don’t remember the other one and I don’t remember the name of the restaurant to look up the menu, but they were all real good. Especially the warm artichoke spread. (I apparently have no pictures of this food because I was really bad at pictures. Or maybe good pictures weren’t in style yet in 2017 because I swear I always considered myself to be the family vacation photographer.)
And then Tesla home. And then bed.
August 8:
Our hotel was connected to Snooze, the breakfast spot we considered going to in Boulder but abandoned for something more local and delicious. So we decided to pop in and get some breakfast. Well it was not a pop in, because our order somehow ended up behind a large party, and it took forever, even though it was 9:30 am on a Tuesday. And also, it wasn’t very good. I don’t think I really need to talk more about this. (I’m going to talk more about this because I still remember it 3.5 years later. This restaurant was a definition of a tourist trap. It’s the place that everyone says you must go to, and I would say you must not. The portions were huge and the meals were heavy. Like really, really heavy breakfasts covered in syrups and sauces. It reminded me a Times Square food, the ultimate tourist trap. Okay maybe that’s a little extreme but seriously, find something better.)
We then went for a walk down the 16th street mall, the largest tourist trap outside of Times Square (oh WOW apparently I’m really into comparing tourist traps to Times Square. Seriously I wrote that edit before reading this paragraph. I’m just gonna leave it there because I’m amazed at my own consistency in my feelings on Times Square. I’m super curious now to see what Times Square is like in Covid times. Maybe I’ll pop in soon). It was just chain store after chain store and gross restaurant after gross restaurant. It was sort of cool, though, that there was a free bus that ran up and down the street and no cars were allowed, so no traffic. This was helpful to get us back so we didn’t have to walk back down this lame street when we were pressed for time.
I somewhat wish we had more time in Denver to maybe actually see some non touristy stuff and explore the city, but I also somewhat don’t care because Denver was not impressive and it’s just a big city that’s close to things that are interesting (like skiing).
We then drove to some Indian Chipotle-like restaurant that Eric went to last year, and it was delicious. And then back in the car to head to the airport. I’m pretty sure if Landen was not in New York, Eric would not have come back home with me.
We took no pictures in Denver, because it was boring and just a place to stop over for our flight, but we did get this picture sent to us while we were in Denver.
TRAVELING WITH ARDEN 