This was a trip for Sage’s 30th birthday weekend. For years, he wanted to do Vegas, but similarly to my situation with Mardi Gras/NOLA, he felt that was going to be very anticlimactic during the pandemic. I think it could have been pretty cool for it to be not as crowded, but it’s still a fair assessment, and he’s the birthday boy. 

In lieu of Vegas, he initially wanted to do [insert several obscure road trip ideas vaguely related to beer and the outdoors here]. In turn, I suggested Colorado. The idea took flight without any big pitch on my part, which is surprising sheerly because after all these years, Sage still hasn’t come to terms with the fact that I’m Always Right. 

I don’t know why either of us hadn’t come to the Colorado conclusion earlier, honestly. It’s perfect for him, but something I’d also very much enjoy. In the same vein, when we were planning where to stay, it took us more time than it should have to realize we should spend part of our time in Denver and part of our time staying closer to the Rockies. What’s a hotel close to the Rockies, you ask? Well on a whim I googled where the Stanley Hotel was in Colorado because I couldn’t remember, and lo and behold, it’s quite close to where we wanted to go. 

Adding insult to injury, Sage and I both love The Shining, Stephen King and just general paranormal ongoings so this was going to be excitingly perfect. I don’t think either of us thought we’d be having quite as authentic of an experience as we ended up having at the Stanley, but we don’t have time for all of that today. Right now, let’s just focus on the first half of our trip: Denver and Red Rocks Park and Ampitheatre. 

We spent all of our time in Denver in the River North (RiNo) district. I’ve heard a lot of mixed things about the city of Denver itself from others. Some will suggest to skip Denver completely and stay in Boulder. We didn’t stay right in the heart of downtown Denver, and honestly, if you are in a younger demographic, I would say RiNo is where you want to stay when visiting Denver. There were a million Sages walking around in the wild. He was in heaven. 

Straight from the airport, we headed to Red Rocks, which was a good choice logistically. I was already in leggings and had my layers ready, and we had an early flight which allowed us several hours before check-in at the hotel. Red Rocks Park was really pretty, but it’s basically one of those “take a brief walk and snap a few shots for Insta to make it look like this was way more involved than it actually was” places. Not that it was on the same level of let-downs as Scarborough Bluffs, because I wouldn’t even categorize it as a let down. The views were nice in some spots, it just wasn’t an all-day hiking experience—nor were we planning on it being one. 

The only strenuous bit about the walk was because it had snowed so recently and was such a heavy, wet, snow, so it took a good bit of exertion to get through. Had it not snowed, it probably would have been easier for us to see some trailheads, but again, I don’t think there was really anything highly involved to hike there. 

It seems like a killer concert venue. So many musicians have played there, which I didn’t realize. Artists like The Beatles, The Allman Brothers, John Denver, Stevie Nicks, Dolly Parton, Soundgarden—basically everyone, when you ran down the list in the museum. Overall, we got some good photos, and it was a good “welcome to Colorado” activity. 

From Red Rocks, we headed back into town to take a look around the hotel and grab some lunch. A pleasant surprise, we were able to check in early and had pretty much the best front desk receptionist you could possibly ask for. She gave us so many thoughtful recommendations and was generally just a pleasure to interact with. She offered us a complimentary check-in beer—two test options from their in-house New Belgium brewery. Delightful.

The lobby of the hotel has some cool shops that sell everything from vintage clothes to vinyl records to cute office supplies. On one side of the building, there’s a rather large cafe and a BBQ joint called Smok. The second side of the building has more eateries, cafes, shops and even a bakery. You really don’t have to leave the property for a whole long weekend.

The room was really spacious, and we both found that we could have room to half-unpack toiletries and whatnot, and not feel completely disheveled and confused by where we had put things. It’s also one of those places that just smells really good. The beds and bedding were so comfy. What I wouldn’t have given to sleep in that bed for the whole trip, let me tell you. One minor blemish on what otherwise would be a perfect score: the mountain view wasn’t much of a mountain view. The first day was just cloudy, although it cleared up a bit the next day and we could see a little more. Still, I would say unless you are going in the summer and choosing a room with the garage doors that open fully, not worth the uncharge for the “mountain view.” 

On a random note, the products supplied in the room were of really good quality, and I loved the scent of the rum shower gel. There were also two shower heads in the shower, which, normal people/real couples would have been like, “Oooh, sensual, romantic, etc,” but Sage and I just couldn’t figure out how to turn off one without turning on the other. Still, you can probably put that in the plus column. 

Anyways, we were starving, so we decided to go check out The Woods restaurant on the rooftop of The Source. Everything was so fresh. My burrata salad was hearty with freshly grilled chicken. Sage’s burger was absolutely ridiculous (in the best way). The applewood smoked bacon on his burger was arguably the best either of us has tasted. I would have stopped back more than once if we had the time. I also wish we had known about the outdoor hot tubs and pool on the roof in advance. When I make a return to Denver, this is definitely the place I’ll be staying, and I’ll definitely be checking out the hot tubs. 

Our first brewery stop of the evening was Our Mutual Friend. It’s a small joint, but a really welcoming staff and atmosphere. I guess that’s on-brand for the name. Once again, Sage was in his natural habitat with a bunch of similar dudes walking around. 

After Our Mutual Friend, we decided to hit up Ratio Brewworks. It’s your typical industrial-chic-warehouse space with some outdoor seating. Maybe if the weather was better, I would have appreciated the ambiance here more, but I didn’t love it. The best positive: the playlist was great. Early 2000s punk rock, for the most part. However, I was bristled by the individual who chose to skip an Alkaline Trio song midway through the song. Like seriously, you can’t identify as emo if Blink-182 and Simple Plan are all you can handle but you have to skip Alkaline Trio. Amateur commitment to the emo lifestyle, at best. 

This is where I should probably note this was my first time in Colorado. I have terrible sinus issues as is, so I pretty much knew I was in for some trouble with the drastic change in altitude. I wasn’t sick-sick by any means, but there was an occasional nagging headache every time we traveled to a different altitude. My recommendation for this is to drink a ton of water—and have ibuprofen on you at all times. Natural Grocers, which was essentially a smaller Whole Foods with a different name, was just a few blocks from The Source. Early the next morning, we were able to swing by and I scooped up about 5 1-liter bottles of water, which was actually the perfect amount for the remainder of the trip. 

I’ve decided now when traveling, I’m going to make it a point to stop somewhere at the beginning of the trip and grab, like, 1 liter of water per day to have in the upfront. I stayed so much more hydrated and less hungover this trip because I wasn’t constantly on a search for water and fearing being charged $7 for mini bar water.

We were excited, via Instagram, by the new sushi restaurant in The Source’s food hall, Temaki Den, so we decided to make it a point to stop for lunch before we left Denver. It was good, but it wasn’t, like, the best sushi I’ve ever had. It was definitely one of those “less is more” type of sushi restaurants. They focused more on the quality of the ingredients (the salmon and scallops were phenomenal), rather than making things fancy with sauces. If that’s your bag, by all means, go for it. It just wasn’t the most stand-out venue of the trip for me. 

From there, we loaded up the car, and with my 5 liters of water, we made the trek up to Estes Park, to stay at the infamous Stanley Hotel, the inspiration for Stephen King’s The Shining. All about that, plus Rocky Mountain National Park, in my next post. 

Do it:

• Stay at The Source (or at the very least, RiNo)
• Say yes to a check-in beer
• Eat at The Woods
• Check out Red Rocks
• Chat up the staff at Our Mutual Friend Brewing
• Grab some fresh coffee at one of the cafes inside The Source

Skip it:

• Temaki Den
• Ratio

I’d go back to:

• Check out other eateries in The Source, as well as the hot tubs and pool
• Sleep longer in those beds