…when you’re there on vacation. I’m tagging along with The Fella to Denver next week. He’ll be working three of the days and we’ll be vacationing the rest. (Well, I’ll be vacationing the whole time!)
Any tips on must see things, places to go, or places to eat? Or, places to avoid?
Head to the Cherry Creek area. Don’t miss the Cherry Cricket…great burgers.
Other people will probably tell you about the sites. I like food, so I’ll recommend some restaurants I like.
Uncle is a (pretty trendy) noodle house in the Highland neighborhood. No reservations, so get there early. The fried green tomato steamed buns are outstanding, as are the ramen bowls.
Domo serves traditional Northern Japanese dishes. A former co-worker from Hokkaido told me it was the closest he’s ever had to his native cuisine in the US. Very cool building, though the neighborhood is a little industrial.
Duo, also in the trendy Highland area, is really good. Not inexpensive, but the food is interesting and really well made.
Masalaa, in Aurora, is a South Indian, vegetarian restaurant that is insanely good and cheap. It’s in a tiny strip mall in an area with zero character, but it’s totally worth finding.
Colorado is paradise for craft beer lovers. There are now something like 250 craft breweries in the state, and a lot of them are in the Denver-Boulder-Fort Collins area. I mostly know the breweries in Boulder. If you’re into that, I can provide a list. The New Belgium Brewery in Fort Collins (makers of Fat Tire) has brewery tours, and it’s probably only about an hour drive from Denver. Craft distilling is also getting big. Denver has Stranahan’s whiskey distillery. Boulder has several interesting places. Again, I’ll provide a list if you’re into drinking. Do note that you shouldn’t drink a lot your first couple of days at this altitude. It won’t take much to get you tipsy. (Also, drink a lot of water when you first arrive. It’s really, really dry. Water will stave off altitude headaches.)
Drive up to the mountains for spectacular scenery. Rocky Mountain National Park is about 90 minutes from Denver, though it might be getting a bit chilly, and I think Trail Ridge Road may be closed already.
Come to Boulder and walk around the Pearl Street Mall (if you do that, make sure to get truffles at Piece, Love, and Chocolate a few blocks west of the pedestrian mall) and hike in Chautauqua Park up to the Flatirons, or go to the I. M. Pei designed NCAR Mesa Lab for fantastic views and a small, but well done, science museum.
Have fun!
Or the 16th Street Mall, just don’t eat at Marlowe’s. I would say Yardhouse as the restaurant of choice.
Right now the leaves are turning so a trip up into the mountains would be nice before the snow starts falling.
The Chihuly Exhibit is at the Botanic Gardens.
Do you have any special interests? We have a Counterterrorism Museum. MillerCoors has tours in Golden if you’ve never seen a brewery before or tour Coors Field if you are a baseball fanand Sports Authority Field [at Mile High] probably does to if you like football. You can tour our state capitol which has a beautiful park across the street. Off course a zoo which is right next to the natural science museum and makes a nice day outing. Unfortunately, the US Mint tour is booked months in advance. Cavalia’s Odysseo ends Sunday I believe.
Agreed on recommendation of Domo. Fascinating place, excellent sushi.
They have a lovely zoo. Then there are a couple of places not too far if you like to gamble…Black hawk and Central City.
I second this. The weather 'round here has been unseasonably warm. It looks like highs will still be in the 60s next week, so I encourage you to spend as much time as possible enjoying Colorado’s outdoor beauty. Estes Park is the gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park and one of my favorite places in the state. This time of year it should not be too crowded.
They have a NASCAR team that gives up close tours of the shop. Most teams are in North Carolina and have catwalks or ropes to keep you from getting too close. This shop lets you run all over the place.
Estes Park is very nice. The Stanley Hotel, where The Shining (the book) is set, is there–it is not nearly so isolated as the place in the movie. Estes Park is not known for its great food, but we like Sweet Basilico–very good Italian food at a reasonable price.
… Second the Chihuly exibit. Mind bending. I saw it a few years ago.
The leaves are gone IMHO, but snow is capping the mountains, so a drive up to the hills is always a choice. It’s always pretty up here.
Greenbriar Inn off of Hwy36 for a romantic dinner.
I’m looking outside my window right now in SW Denver and plenty of yellow and red with a little green thrown in. Up past Longmont is where the trees are less impressive.
Thanks for all the reccomendations so far. I like all kinds of museums, especially sort of unusually themed ones. That counterterrorism one sounds great. Food food and more food–I’ll definitely be checking out the restaurants. For at least three days I’ll be wandering around on foot/public transportation in the city (we’re near the 16th street mall thing). The other days we’re going to be checking out the area, so I definitely want to enjoy the mountains. (I really do love Houston, but it is sooooooo flat. Honestly, I get thrilled visiting Austin because HILLS!)
I wish I hadn’t seen about the NASCAR thing. 
The Fella loves racing (not so much NASCAR, but there isn’t often chance for him to do the Indycar stuff he really loves.) I can bear it for a little bit for him. Same with breweries, I no longer drink, but we probably will hit a brewery tour somewhere.
One thing I’d found online was a Dia de los Muertos exhibit in Longmont that we were thinking of checking out.
Downtown Longmont has gotten much more interesting as Boulder has become increasingly expensive and driven people to the outlying areas. Haven’t seen that exhibit, but it’s worth puttering around Main Street there for a little while.
Not far from Longmont is Lyons, which also has a small, but charming, downtown with some fun things. The hours are a bit constrained, but Lyons Classic Pinball is fun if you ever were into pinball and video games back in the day. It’s basically got a rotating selection of one guy’s massive collection of machines. Not a museum, per se, but it’s sure as hell a blast from the past.
Saint Cad’s recommendation of the Greenbriar Inn is a good one (though I’ve only been there a couple of times for their massive Sunday brunch buffet). That’s on the road between Boulder and Lyons (which continues up to Estes Park). For dining in Boulder, there are a ton of really good places on or within a couple of blocks of the Pearl Street Mall:
[ul]
[li]Riffs - good small plates to share[/li][li]Brasserie 1010 - French bistro food; great happy hour menu[/li][li]Mateo - Provencal style; best fish I’ve had in town[/li][li]The Kitchen (and it’s more casual annex, The Kitchen Next Door) - farm-to-table; trivia fact: owned by Elon Musk’s brother[/li][li]Frasca - Chef trained at the French Laundry; a little expensive, and you may not be able to get reservations at this late date, but the food is good[/li][li]Salt - very, very good food; pricey[/li][li]The Oak at 14th - huge wood-fired oven in an open kitchen in the middle of the restaurant. The roast half-chicken for two is awesome.[/li][/ul]
I have other recommendations for other parts of town, but enough for now.
(You may be able to tell at this point that eating out is my principal form of entertainment.)
I don’t think Downtown Longmont is for tourists but if you happen to be there and love cheese, you have to visit the cheese shop at the south end of Main Street in the old electric building.
Smoke pot
d&r
So what did you do here?