Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Denver, I Love You

I spent July 15-21 in Denver with two of my best friends, Lindsay and Josh Wickler. I knew this was going to be a good trip when I got a call from the Wiz at 11 a.m. Vegas time that day, "Hey! So I'm at the liquor store....."

Lindsay picked me up from the airport Thursday night and upon arriving to her house around 1 a.m., cracked open not one, but two, bottles of wine. Up until 4 a.m., we slept in on Friday and took our time before getting to Happy Hour to meet Dawn Vier and Mr. Chad Wood. I hadn't seen Dawn since Nicole's wedding in Florida last year, so I was happy to catch up and congratulate her on her own engagement. She will become Dawn Wood on October 2.

After our happy (3) hour - we headed to the Capitol Hill neighborhood and stopped in to a little place called the Beauty Bar.

Denver just opened their BB location a few weeks ago and when we arrived around 9 p.m. - the place was d-e-a-d. "Maybe it just hasn't caught on yet. Or maybe its like the one in Vegas and doesn't get going until 11 or so..." "Yeah but Kate, we have something here called last call...." So I went to close out our tab and told the bartender we were going to head up a few blocks to Uptown Bar but we'd be back. "Oh you should definitely come back because at 10, we have something called the Get Back and its these guys that come in from Vegas...." GET OUT. I was just at the Get Back Vegas two weeks ago - we'll definitely be back.

We walked the few blocks to Uptown to meet up with Michael (Granquist) and there I found that in Denver, you can bring your dog to the bar. After that blew my mind and we polished off a few drinks and shots, we headed to the Get Back for a dance party under the most intense disco ball I've ever seen. I even met a boy there and had brunch with him the following day in Golden - I realize that that statement makes it sound like I was not a lady but I was! I went home to Pine and then went to Golden in the morning to meet him for brunch. Get it straight, HSCOOC!

The rest of Saturday brought some recovery time followed by a BBQ hosted at the Wickers. Check out this view from their perfect little mountain house.


We danced the night away on their deck while sipping on Raspberry Lemonade Vodkas. This is what summer is made of, my friends.



Sunday we headed down the mountain and over to Westminster to spend some time with my family. When we arrived to Andy's house, we were greeted by him and his pug, Tegan, who wears a bark collar that sprays citronella, which is apparently set off by a dog's bark or Katie Knoch's laugh. You had to be there but let's just say I was smelling like citronella for the rest of Sunday. We also met Squishy Cat, the ugliest-and-therefore-cutest-cat I have ever met in my life. Not to mention - such a lover.



Aunt Karen and Doug were in town and treated my cousins, the Wicklers and myself to some 5-way Grilled Cheeses at Mimi's Cafe. There were a total of 4 grilled cheeses at that table and I just felt so warm and full of love around all that cheese - and my family. After lunch, the group went to see Inception where I am surprised Devin and/or Andy didn't punch me for continuously saying "Ohhhh so hot oooooooooo soooooo hot!" every time either Leo or Joseph Gordon Levitt came on the screen. Highly, highly recommend this movie. And don't worry, there were a few times when I was like "Um hope I'm following this OK....." but it all came together beautifully.

Monday we spent the day in mountain towns. We first headed to Evergreen for some lunch and beers on the patio at Little Bear and then went to the lake for some paddle boating.



Afterwards, we headed to my favorite mountain town, Morrison for our ritual stop at Morrison Inn for 32 oz Margaritas and some of the best chips and salsa on the planet.




That, followed by Happy Hour at Holiday Bar with some Big Buck Hunter, made for one hell-of-a-evening.


THEN we stopped at Crossroads in Pine (down the street from the Wickler's) so our designated drive, Josh, could tie one on. There, I had my first shot of Jameson.**

**I will not be drinking Jameson again.

Tuesday - oh Tuesday - brought that Kings of Leon concert (and rain). I won't rehash my last post to you here but I will repeat that it was one of the best nights of my life.


Wednesday, we wrapped up the trip with lunch with the Granquists back in Evergreen - complete with some white wine and a nice Italian meal in the middle of the day before I had to catch my plane back to Vegas.

Thank you, as always, to my host the Wicker's - for an amazing week. This trip brought plenty of wine, giggles, memories, dancing, photos, drinking, buck hunting, eating, dreaming, talking, sleeping, adventuring, reading, rainbow-spotting, movie watching, music swapping FUN.






1 comment:

X said...

You should sell this post to the state of Colorado cuz I want to live there now. I always knew it was a cool city and only getting cooler, but c'mon, between the Get Back, dogs at the bar, the boat paddling and, last but DEFINITELY not least, the 32 oz. margaritas, it's so MY kinda town.