Kraig and I spent the first weekend of April visiting two of our friends in Colorado. They live in Denver, so that’s where we stayed. Denver is such a fun city with beautiful sights accompanied by a foodie and beer scene.

We spent our first day exploring Denver.  We had a delicious breakfast at Jelly and I got the Tres Leches Pancakes.

After breakfast, we went for a walk around Cheesman Park.

These photos do not give the mountains justice. They looked so beautiful and dramatic in person.  I was shooting with my iPhone 5.  

After Cheesman, we grabbed some light bites at a Mexican restaurant before heading to OMF Brewery to do some beer tasting with friends.  My sister-in-law’s little brother lives in Denver, so we met up with him for a drink there.

After OMF, we grabbed dinner at Linger which has amazing cocktails and small plates to share for the table. My favorite plate there were the lamb kebabs.

The next day was spent exploring A LOT. Our hosts Tyler and Jessie were so kind and drove us around to see so much which was very thoughtful of them. We had amazing breakfast tacos in Denver, drove through Boulder, headed to Estes Park, and saw glimpses of the hotel from the shining.

Boulder

Brewery/pub in Boulder.

Driving to/in/around/from Estes Park.

And visiting near one of The Shining hotels.

Colorado, you’re one fun, beautiful state! The only precautions I want to tell readers about is how dry the air is which I didn’t expect. My skin was getting worse out there than it does during a New England winter. Make sure to drink plenty of water and pack lotion if you’re planning a visit. We also both felt slight cases of altitude sickness in Denver and while we were up in the mountains near Estes Park.  We started taking Ginkgo Biloba a few days before flying out to Denver and continued to take it while we were there to help prevent altitude sickness. You’re suppose to start taking it two weeks before changing altitudes, so maybe if we followed that guideline, we wouldn’t have felt the altitude difference as badly. Nothing too serious happened, just shortness of breath and more difficulty walking. Needless to say, we did not end up doing any hiking. We both definitely want to go back for another visit and will make sure to start taking Gingko earlier for our next trip.

Thank you Tyler and Jessie for letting us stay with you and a wonderful, fun weekend filled with amazing food, company, and beer!