Days 8-10: Denver & Boulder, CO

Holy cow! Time flies when you’re having fun! We fully intended on blogging along the way, but we’ve been trucking along at maximum speed ever since the start of our travels almost four (!) weeks ago. We rise early every morning and collapse into bed each night, exhausted. The great thing about an early alarm? It’s not for work! It’s simply amazing how our attitude towards our alarm clock has changed. It is absolutely wonderful to wake up each day with exciting things on the agenda.

Several of you commented on our last post and via Facebook and Twitter, inquiring how Gus is handling all the travels. We are extremely delighted to report that he’s adjusted extremely well. He embraces each new adventure with gusto and it appears, like us, that he’s having the time of his life! Instead of being an anxious passenger in the van, he’s learned to love it and makes his own little nest and snoozes away. We couldn’t be more happy (or relieved) at how splendid he’s doing. His well-being weighed heavily on our minds before we departed and we’re ecstatic it’s going so well.

So, without further ado, here is a recap of the three days we spent in Denver and Boulder. We can hardly believe it, but our travels have already taken us all the way to sunny San Diego, CA. I hope to get several more posts published over the next week or so. I’ve been a bad blogger!

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Day 8, Downtown Denver:

Rock Bottom Brewery on 16th Street Mall:

Due to a Denver city ordinance, Gus was only allowed on the outside of the patio railing. We were quite bummed to learn that he couldn’t accompany us next to our table, but luckily snagged a table right near the railing. He was so tired from walking around downtown, that he settled right in.

This was the second of many brewery visits so far on our trip – Mitch enjoyed every drop of his sampler.

Bottoms up!

For dinner, we stopped at McCormick & Schmick’s for the famed happy hour. We ordered a round of drinks and several tasty appetizers for the table to share. It was a food-filled day. Yum!

McCormick & Schmick’s was kind enough to bend the rules and allow Gus on the patio as long as he was in his bag. Luckily, we had brought along his Sleepypod Air (review to be posted later) and he snoozed through our entire meal!

Another microbrewery was on the agenda for the evening…Wynkoop! Their patio was packed and elevated approximately three feet off the ground. The dog policy was the same and Gus could only be tied to the outside of the railing. I took one for the team and sat outside with Gus while the others enjoyed a pint.

Day 9, Boulder:

Boulder Falls is dog friendly, free and absolutely beautiful. It was the perfect way to kick off our day in Boulder.

Boulder Farmers Market + Hanuman Festival:

Crazy!

The Rib House in Boulder – Gus was allowed on the patio!

Katie and I took the free tour at Celestial Seasonings and thoroughly enjoyed the complimentary tasting room. We are huge fans of Celestial Seasonings (my fav is Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride) and it was interesting to be at the location where ALL Celestial Seasonings Tea is produced! The tour and tasting room is not dog friendly, but I highly recommend it if you ever find yourself in Boulder.

Day 10, Red Rocks:

While Mitch, his sister and brother-in-law spent the morning white water rafting, Katie, Gus and I took a short drive to hike at Red Rocks. Although we’ve both been to Colorado several times, neither of us had ever visited Red Rocks. It was spectacular! We hiked the 1.4 Trading Post trail and enjoyed every minute of it. Gus was happy to stretch his little dogger legs and explore a new park. Much to our surprise, we encountered a rattle snake towards the end of our hike. Luckily, we noticed it slithering across the path in plenty of time and made sure to give it enough space before we continued on. Needless to say, we hightailed it out of there after that!

Red Rocks is free and open to the public and SO worth a couple of hours if you’re in the Denver area.