Colorado Archives - Page 5 of 6

New Year’s Eve 2016

Published on January 5, 2017January 30, 2017 by Cheryl LockLeave a comment

^^ 2017 is looking infinitely better than 2016 already 😉

Since my wonderful in-laws were still in town for New Year’s Eve (which just happens to also be the anniversary of when Chris and I met, got engaged and got married … it’s kind of a special day for us!), Chris and I took advantage of their babysitting abilities and had a couple mini dates. We headed back to the Arvada Tavern the night before New Year’s Eve (I blogged about our first date at the Arvada Tavern here) with Chris’s two sisters, who treated us to a delicious dinner and drinks. Then on New Year’s Eve we cashed in on my stepmom’s Christmas present to us from last year and took a sushi-making making at Sur La Table (amazingly fun!) and met up with Kate and Sarah for cocktails at Corridor 44 in Larimer Square in Denver.

Then, after trying to have dinner at the new restaurant — The Butchery — in Arvada and finding out the wait was going to be hours, we ended up at Olive Garden instead! And you know what … we certainly didn’t regret it.

Some photos from our New Year’s Eve Eve and New Year’s Eve itself. Hope you guys had an amazing time, as well!

^^ Cocktails and live jazz music in the upstairs section of the Arvada Tavern before dinner.

^^ Being an amazing husband, Chris got me some anniversary presents and I got him nothing. Sorry dear — I do love you, though!

^^ Celebrating a new year with this little bundle … and things are certainly looking peachy 😉

A Final 2016 Trip

Published on January 4, 2017January 4, 2017 by Cheryl Lock1 Comment

^^ The gang’s all here …

The day after Christmas we all packed up and headed to Keystone to spend a couple days in the mountains. We rented a cabin in Gateway Mountain Lodge, which was super close to the slopes and the little shopping area, so everyone was happy.

And while my day at the mountain was cut painfully short when my lovely daughter refused to take a bottle from my sister and stepdad, who were babysitting (long story short, it was actually my fault … lesson learned), I still had a lot of fun, and I think everyone else did, too.

^^ Ready for her mountain adventure!

^^ Could the back of these pants be any cuter?

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^^ Darkest photo ever of our pit stop at Red Rocks on the way to Keystone.

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^^ This window in our cabin … can I have one in my house, please?

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^^ Although I missed out on snowboarding last season since I was pregnant, this was the first time I got on my snowboard and really just felt it all click. So. Much. Fun!

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^^ Somebody had a five month birthday celebration at the mountains, surrounded by family. Not a bad way to spend a birthday, my friends.

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^^ My stepdad bought all of us these New York shirts for Christmas and we wore them to dinner on our last night. How cute are we?!

_dsc6979 ^^ So long mountains, see ya in a couple weeks when we head to Breckenridge with some friends!

And that was our little mountain getaway in a nutshell. It was only three days, but it felt longer for some reason, which was nice. We’re off Friday to Philly and then New York to celebrate second Christmas with my Philly fam and then to attend a wedding in Central Park on Tuesday. (Ummmm … how much do I love how much we’re getting back to NYC with Lotte lately? A LOT, let’s just say!)

Bis bald, friends! I’ll just go ahead and leave you with this video of me rockin’ out on my snowboard 😉

Year In Review: So Long 2016

Published on January 2, 2017August 27, 2019 by Cheryl LockLeave a comment

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^^ A very merry, happy, jolly 2017, from our little family to yours.

Well friends, 2016 is over and I have to say … I don’t miss it one bit. Of course Lotte being born was the best thing that’s ever happened to me, but other than that, 2016 was kind of awful in a lot of ways. So we’re moving on over here, embracing 2017 with open arms and hoping that it’s a much kinder year.

We’ve had family in town since before the holiday so I’m way far behind on my WW postings, but for now, here’s a short look back at what we got up to in 2016 …

Continue reading “Year In Review: So Long 2016” →

Meeting Santa in Olde Town Arvada

Published on December 12, 2016December 12, 2016 by Cheryl LockLeave a comment

thumb__dsc6260_1024 ^^ Thoroughly unimpressed by Santa.

Hi friends,

Happy Monday! Saturday was a gloriously sunny and upper 50s day here in Arvada, so we packed up Lotte and headed to Olde Town so that she could meet Santa for the first time. Even though we’ve only been twice, I really like this cute little section of Arvada. Lucky for us the line wasn’t too long, and they were playing Christmas songs and selling hot chocolate with all the trimmings — it was a great first Santa visit for Lotte … except for the fact that she couldn’t care less.

Oh well! The pictures were still cute 😉

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^^ Sustenance from the nearby bakery for the *long* wait. (It wasn’t long … these were just delicious and necessary!)

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^^ Santa was visible to Lotte before she actually got her turn to sit in his lap, and she was hard-core checking him out. I think this might be part of the reason why she was so completely uninterested when she got up-close and personal.

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^^ Still cute, though!

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^^ Oh and by the way, after sunny, warm weather on Saturday, it snowed on Sunday. Oh, Colorado. Still, that gave me a chance to put Lotte back in her snowsuit and make a (albeit sort of lame) snowman with her.

And that was our weekend, friends. Sun. Santa. Snow. Snowsuits and snowmen.

Bis bald, all!

Oh, Christmas Tree …

Published on December 5, 2016 by Cheryl LockLeave a comment

^^ Our first Christmas tree in our new home.

Well friends, we had to miss a holiday party this past Thursday at the Denver Botanic Gardens (which is currently displaying their awesome holiday lights … at least we’ve heard it’s awesome, we haven’t been yet) because Lotte was pretty stuffed up and sick after we got home from our Thanksgiving travels.

The things you do when you’re parents 😉

Anyway, she was somewhat better on Saturday, and the weather was gorgeous (although as you’ll see from these photos, we still dressed our child like it was a snowstorm outside. Oops.), so we hopped in the car and headed off to the Christmas tree lot to find ourselves our first ever Christmas tree for our new home — and Lotte’s first Christmas tree ever.

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^^ Still a bit grumpy and snotty, as you can see :/

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Our home is definitely starting to feel festive for the holidays, friends. How early do you all get your holiday decorations up? It seems like everyone in our neighborhood had their trees up and the front of their houses decorated when we came home from Thanksgiving. I mean, I probably wouldn’t have minded doing that either, had we been home, but still, for some reason I was surprised.

Now I just have to wait for allllllll the decorations to come in that I ordered this past weekend, then we’ll be done. Man, I love the holidays.

Bis bald, friends!

Welcome to the Winter of 2016

Published on November 18, 2016November 18, 2016 by Cheryl LockLeave a comment

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Well friends – winter has arrived in Colorado. And this winter is special, since it’s Lotte’s first one. Of course at the first sign of flakes yesterday I grabbed my camera and my child, shoved her in a snowsuit that is still way too big for her, and rushed outside to snap some shots.

This holiday season will be filled with mixed feelings for me – my first baby’s first Thanksgiving and Christmas … my first Thanksgiving and Christmas without my mom. How do you even deal with those conflicting things?

For now, I’ll deal by spending as much time in the winter wonderland with Lotte as I can. Next week we’re off to New York (baby’s first flight!) to spend Thanksgiving with the family, and then only a couple weeks after that Chris’s parents and sisters, as well as my sister, brother-in-law and stepdad, will be heading out way to spend Christmas with us. I’m looking forward to hosting our first holidays in our brand new house.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

1lottefirstsnow ^^ Snowflakes in front of my face … love it!

2lottefirstsnow ^^ Oh you know, just sittin’ on a bench in the snow. No big deal 😉

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8lottefirstsnow ^^ I’m sorry Chris didn’t make it home from work before it got dark (at like 4:30 p.m., mind you!), because we couldn’t take pictures with him in them. Something tells me we’ll have plenty more opportunity, though!

Scenic Sunday Drives in Golden

Published on November 7, 2016 by Cheryl LockLeave a comment

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Happy Monday, friends!

Upfront I want to say that this is not an advertisement for Subaru, although we did pick up our new Forester on Friday and take it for a drive around Golden on Sunday, and it was just a little bit of fabulousness!

We decided to take the wheels for an introductory spin up the Lariat Loop National Scenic Byway and stop by Buffalo Bill’s Grave. We also hit up Golden City Brewery on the way back home. (I’ve blogged about these places, as well as a few other Golden hot spots, here, if you’re interested.) If you’re ever in the Denver/Golden area, I would highly recommend checking out these spots, even if only for the amazing views you’ll get …

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fullsizerender-100 ^^ I let the hubs do the heavy stroller lifting these days 😉

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fullsizerender8 ^^ That’s Denver there in the distance … oh hey, Denvy!

fullsizerender9 ^^ A pixelated up-close view!

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Is it just me, or does having a great Sunday make heading back to work on Monday just a little bit easier?

I hope you guys had a great weekend, too!

Bis bald!

Another Birthday Celebration in the Books, This Time in Steamboat Springs, Colorado

Published on October 24, 2016November 18, 2016 by Cheryl Lock4 Comments

thumb__dsc5111_1024 ^^ Have you ever seen a happier dog? Can you blame him — look at that view!

Well my friends, we made it back from our first road trip with the Little, and we’re all in tact and, what’s more, we all had an amazing time. Chris’s birthday was this past Saturday, so we decided to check out a new place — Steamboat Springs. At only a little over three hours away, it was the perfect place to get our feet wet when it comes to traveling with a baby, and Lotte obliged us by being pretty much amazing the entire time.

What can I say — she has travel in her blood 😉

For starters, we stayed at Nordic Lodge which, while totally bare essentials when it comes to amenities, was the perfect location, especially when you have a baby who needs feeding and/or a good nap every couple hours and you prefer to do that at a home base. They had a Pack ‘n Play that we were able to use for our trip, which meant we could skip taking up room in the car with ours, and they were willing to upgrade us for free to a larger room to accommodate the Pack ‘n Play, although we opted to pay an extra $50 for the weekend and actually upgrade to a suite with a separate bedroom, that way Lotte could nap in peace and we didn’t have to tiptoe around her and whisper the whole time.

I gotta say — for newbies, I think we did well!

Here’s what we three got up to …

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^^ You know my child would have a onesie specifically dedicated to traveling, although I can’t take credit for buying this — it was all my sister!

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^^ Our first night in town we walked to Mahogany Ridge Brewery for dinner which, while a brewery, was in my opinion probably a little bit fancier than you should bring a baby (and a huge stroller!) to. So we really have to give props to Lotte for sleeping through our entire meal! Great job, kid! That certainly made us feel more comfortable taking you out for more restaurant visits throughout the weekend.

03fullsizerender ^^ Chris’s traditional birthday steak dinner … just one night early 😉

04fullsizerender_1 ^^ What you see here are parents who are ecstatic that their child slept through their meal!

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^^ The cute little town, all lit up at night.

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^^ Saturday started out with this adorable face … and some birthday present opening 😉

02_dsc5002 ^^ After presents we made our way to Fish Creek Falls, a pretty little hike that was short enough to do with our 3-month-old strapped to Chris’s chest and long enough to make us feel like we actually did something — plus it was so pretty! (Bring $5 for parking! I had read that this place gets really packed, but during the off-peak season at like 7:30 in the morning, it was pretty much us alone on the trails — we only ran into two other (very small) groups of people the whole time.)

03thumb__dsc5066_1024 04thumb__dsc5060_1024 05thumb__dsc5033_1024 ^^ The falls!

06thumb__dsc5064_1024 07thumb__dsc5082_1024 ^^ The rising sun was not my photography friend on this hike, but the falls are there, if you look hard enough!

08fullsizerender_7 ^^ Again, slept like a champ throughout the whole thing! We made sure to rug her up so she was nice and warm, all cozy-like against dad’s chest for the hike.

09fullsizerender_10 ^^ After the hike we had a seriously delicious breakfast at Creekside Cafe & Grill, which just happens to literally be almost in the parking lot of the hotel where we stayed. Score! The back porch was closed for the season, but it was such a glorious day we could easily have eaten outside and been happy. Oh well — next time!

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11fullsizerender_12 ^^ Bloody Mary’s all around!

12fullsizerender_13 ^^ Under the table and dreaming 😉

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15fullsizerender_16 ^^ See? How cute is this back patio?!

16fullsizerender_8 ^^ After breakfast we went for a little walk in town to do some shopping and check out the fall colors. Although some things were unfortunately closed for the season (like back patios, for example, and the gondola), I would highly recommend traveling during this time. It was really quiet, which was nice, and the views were spectacular.

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^^ If you’re looking for a quintessential Western shop with cowboy boots, hats and the like, check out F.M. Light & Sons. It’s sort of an institution in town.

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21fullsizerender_20 ^^ Cowboy boots for days!

22fullsizerender_21 ^^ They had ’em for kids, too!

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24fullsizerender_23 ^^ See what I mean about the fall colors? Glorious!

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28fullsizerender_27 ^^ Elevated Oil is a fun place to check out if you’re an olive oil connoisseur. You can even taste test the oils, which I thought would be totally gross but actually turned out to be delicious!

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30fullsizerender_29 ^^ After shopping we hopped in the car for a (super) short ride to Storm Peak brewery, which was a really fun little brewery with tons of delicious beers on tap. Plus the weather was so nice they opened the garage doors, making it even more fun to hang.

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32fullsizerender_31 ^^ Again, ecstatic parents that their child is cooperating …

33fullsizerender_32 ^^ Lotte did wake up from a short nap here, which allowed us to take some silly pictures. Always a plus in my book.

34img_7208 ^^ Silly pic No. 1 …

35fullsizerender_34 ^^ And 2 …

36img_7202 ^^ And 3 …

37img_7207 ^^ And 4 … and trust me, there were many more, but I’ll spare you. You get the picture.

38img_7116 ^^ We tried to hang at Butcherknife Brewing after Storm Peak, but Lotte had had enough, which was fair enough — you did well little one! So we headed back to the hotel so she could nap properly, and Chris and I ordered take-out from Rex’s American Grill & Bar. In all honesty, we only ordered from this place because I thought it delivered (it does not, I had to go pick our food up), but it turned out to be delicious, so it was a win!

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02img_7254 ^^ On Sunday morning we had to get rugged up again (which someone was not happy about at first), because we took a walk down by the Yampa River.

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07thumb__dsc5106_1024 ^^ On the way back to the lodge to grab the car we stopped in Off the Beaten Path, an amazing local bookstore that I highly recommend, if you’re into that kind of thing 😉

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09thumb__dsc5120_1024 ^^ We definitely wanted to check out the area near the mountain while we were there as well. It’s really cute with lots of little shops and restaurants, and while you can tell it would probably be crazy packed in winter, again, at this perfect time of year, it was pretty empty, which is always amazing for a ski town.

10thumb__dsc5109_1024 ^^ Improvising when no ramp is available.

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14thumb__dsc5128_1024 ^^ We grabbed lunch at Slopeside Grill before heading out and ate on their deck. Chris was a bit upset they didn’t have more local beers on tap, but their veggie burger was pretty awesome (although Mahogany’s was better, if you’re keeping score) and the views were unparalleled.

15img_7264 ^^ Multitasking at its best.

16img_7267 ^^ Views on the drive home.

And that was it, my friends — our first road trip with Lotte is officially in the books, and it was a great one. Her next big trip will be in November when we head back east for Thanksgiving, and that one involves a plane. Yikes. Wish us luck!

Bis bald, friends!

Finding Our Inner Child at the Carousel of Happiness in Nederland

Published on October 7, 2016November 18, 2016 by Cheryl LockLeave a comment

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This past Monday we packed up our Matrix and drove about 45 minutes to Nederland, Colorado, to ride the Carousel of Happiness.

What’s so special about a carousel, and why would anyone drive 45 minutes to ride one? (Besides the fact that we are so obviously insane?) This carousel happens to be extra special, as it’s made up of 61 hand-carved animals (including 36 animals to ride and 25 smaller ones to keep those company, all of which were hand-carved by the same person!), which turns to the music of a 1913 Wurlitzer band organ.

The ride seriously does transport you to another time and place. You can read more about its origination, and what makes it so special, here. I have to say, for Lotte’s first-ever carousel ride, this wasn’t a bad one to visit.

_dsc4853 _dsc4856 _dsc4860 _dsc4867 _dsc4876 ^^ Look at these awesomely accommodating grandparents! Honestly, though, they loved the ride, so that was a good thing!

^^ I love this photo — look at that little face, just taking in the world around her …

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^^ You can go upstairs from the gift shop and check out the carousel from the top, which I highly recommend doing. There are actually some cute little animals hidden on top of the carousel, as well.

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^^ This little kid’s face says it all, does it not?!

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^^ Mr. Fox keeps watch on the carousel animals from above.

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After our ride (which costs $1, by the way!), we wandered across the street to grab some coffee. We would have stayed and explored the cute town a bit longer, but a fire had started in the campgrounds near the town and we were worried the road home might get blocked off. Something tells me we’ll be back, though.

fullsizerender-90 fullsizerender-91 fullsizerender-92 fullsizerender-93 ^^ Tuckered our from her full day of carousel fun!

Bis bald, friends!

Making Memories at Rock Creek Farm

Published on October 6, 2016November 18, 2016 by Cheryl LockLeave a comment

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Fall has always been my favorite season, and now that I have a little one to share it with, it’s even more fun to really take advantage of everything the insanely wonderful weather has to offer. Along with long walks and fall decorations, one other thing I couldn’t wait to do with Lotte was to go pumpkin picking. So, at the ripe ole’ age of 10 weeks, we took Lotte on her first pumpkin picking (and corn maze wandering!) adventure at Rock Creek Farm outside of Boulder.

The experience did not disappoint, although I highly doubt Lotte will actually remember it 😉 Still, I do believe a tradition has been formed …

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chris_jump ^^ Going anywhere with a child these days requires lots and lots of mechanisms to keep said child happy, like jumping up and down in a pumpkin field. (P.S. Note the face … still not happy!)

4_family_selfie ^^ Our family selfie game could use some work …

5_familyselfie2 ^^ Hmmm … better?? Lotte seems to think not.

6-fieldfamily ^^ Much better when someone else takes the photo — thanks MIL!

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cornmaze ^^ While the rest of the group may have been happy to take on one of the longer corn maze options, I, however, refused to. So it was the short loop for us, friends, and that was just fine by me!

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^^ The kids’ play section sure seems like something Lotte will love in the future!

And that, my friends, was about the sum of our first pumpkin picking trip with our daughter. Rock Creek Farm was amazing, but I’m pretty happy we went on a Friday, because one of the workers we spoke to said they get thousands of people on the weekends. Just something to keep in mind if you’re planning a visit of your own.

Bis bald, friends!

A Date Night in Olde Town Arvada

Published on October 5, 2016November 18, 2016 by Cheryl Lock1 Comment

While my in-laws were in town Chris and I had a chance to have a date night out in Olde Town Arvada, which I’ve been meaning to get to since we moved here in May.

We’ve been busy, to say the least.

Anyway, I did a little research and found Arvada Tavern, which, according to TripAdvisor, is the second best place in Arvada to eat. After checking it out for ourselves I have to say I was really impressed. The cocktails were spectacular — especially the seasonal pumpkin flavored one I tried — and the food was even better. Check it out when you’re in town.

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And of course after dinner we had to stop off at Scrumptious for some ice cream dessert. The best part about date night these days, though, is coming home to this …

^^ I mean …

We actually got to do quite a bit while the in-laws were here. Lotte went to Boulder again, we got to visit a pumpkin patch and we even took the little one on her first carousel ride. I’ll have more on all that later, for now — bis bald, friends!

Our First Fourth of July in Arvada

Published on July 5, 2016 by Cheryl Lock1 Comment

MountainGoat ^^^Mr. Mountain Goat says ‘Hi!’

Happy July, friends. I can’t believe that July is here, and even more so I can’t believe that with July comes the fact that my baby is due next month. I can barely even say that without getting my heart racing.

But for now, friends, Baby is safe and sound still where she still belongs, and we had a visitor over the Fourth of July weekend in the form of my stepdad, who tacked on a couple extra days out to Colorado to a business trip in Arizona. We did a lot while he was here — to include a pretty rockin’ backyard revival, which was totally unexpected but awesome — so it was nice having him visit for a couple of days.

One place I knew I had to take him was the Eagle Sanctuary at Standley Lake, because in college my stepdad actually used to raise baby Bald Eagles, so obviously I knew this was something he would enjoy.

And, luckily, he did 😉

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^^^How completely adorable are these tipis which, by the way, you can rent to camp out in!?

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^^^ It seriously took my stepdad maybe about 7 minutes to spot an eagle. Then another. Then another. Of the four Bald Eagles that live at Standley Lake, we saw three … not too shabby!
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^^^ The cattle dog coming down the pathway should have tipped us off to what was ahead, but we were still caught off guard by this heap of goats in the field by the lake. So fun to listen to them chat to each other 😉

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^^^ These geese, however … not so much fun! We tried sitting at this picnic bench by the water for a hot second after eagle spotting, but clearly the geese had other ideas. If we didn’t have any food for them, they made it pretty clear that we weren’t welcome!

9_BaldEagle ^^^ I love that we also found where you can rent kayaks, paddle boards and the like at the lake … that seems like it would be so much fun!

On Friday night we ventured out into Denver to eat dinner at the Buckhorn Exchange, Denver’s oldest restaurant. While I’m not a meat-eater, I can still appreciate a fun steakhouse when I see one and this, my friends, was about as fun as it gets.

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^^^ Cheers’ing with my iced tea … always a good time!
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^^^ Not my meal, obviously (although the salmon I had seriously melted in your mouth, it was that delicious), but the boys really seemed to enjoy their meat which, I guess, is the most important thing at a steakhouse, right?!
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^^^ Grainy photo, but they had a live singer upstairs who was just about the cutest old man you ever could see.
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^^^ Again, not the best photo, but how funny is this sign outside the restaurant?

The boys left bright and early Saturday morning to check out Mount Evans, the highest paved road in North America at over 14,000 feet. When we went to the mountains a couple weeks back I found the altitude really affected me during pregnancy, so I decided to beg off on this adventure, but after seeing the photos, I definitely plan on making it out myself at some point.

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Despite all the hubbub, we did also manage to have Robert help us out with our backyard …

1_MannieFlowers ^^^ All of these flowers are now officially in our garden!

… and we took a couple pretty nice walks around the lake, to include a sunset one the night before Robert left

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Robert will be back in August with some other family to meet our little baby girl, but until then, it was great having you, my dear!

Bis bald, my friends – I hope you all had lovely and safe July 4th weekends, as well!

A Final Weekend in June

Published on June 28, 2016 by Cheryl Lock1 Comment

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Hi friends,

Long time no write :/ Sorry about that. To be honest, 2016 has been a bit challenging so far, to say the least. Despite some of the biggest “ups” of my life [preparing for our first baby, for example], there have also been some of the lowest of the lows, like losing my mom. I haven’t felt much like writing here over the past three months, really, since that happened, but I’m trying to come out of my funk a bit, and this blog has always meant so much so me, so I figured I’d give writing here a shot and see how it goes … at least for now.

In other big news, Chris and I moved out of our downtown Denver apartment and into our first home in Arvada near Standley Lake, which is about 15-20 minutes from downtown Denver. So far, we’re really liking it out here in the ‘burbs, which is something that has come as quite a surprise to both of us [and our friends and family, too!]. Having the lake so close by certainly helps — Chris runs there multiple nights a week and it’s about all I can manage to drag my pregnant self on about a 10-20 minute walk most days, but whenever I do get out there, it’s simply gorgeous.

Like Saturday morning. We grabbed some coffees [decaf for me, of course ;)] and walked the five minutes to the lake entrance, then walked about 1.5 miles around the lake and back. It was the perfect length for me, and I really needed the change of scenery …

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^^ This photo is blurry because I zoomed in, but just look at those Flatirons! Gorgeous.

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We’ve definitely lived in some cities with some pretty spectacular views before, but I have to say, it doesn’t matter how many times we walk around this lake … it always stuns me with its beauty.

For Christmas my sister got me a membership to the Denver Botanic Gardens, and on Saturday we were finally able to get out there for a visit, which was really quite lovely.

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GardenGoddess 04BotanicGardens 05BotanicGardens 06BotanicGardens ^^ Just the three of us, out for a day at the gardens 😉

On Sunday I met up with my cousin at Sassafras back in Denver for brunch, where I had the most delicious beignets and shrimp & grits that I’ve had since New Orleans!

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So friends, those outings — coupled with lots of outdoor porch time — made for a pretty nice weekend. I hope yours was as lovely … or that you’re at least finding some way to stay cool in the heat! My stepdad will be here for a visit starting Wednesday, so we’re really looking forward to that.

Until next time, friends … bis bald 😉

My Birthday Weekend Getaway in Crested Butte

Published on April 5, 2016 by Cheryl Lock1 Comment

01 Road Trip ^^ Country road views on the way from Denver to Crested Butte

This past weekend just happened to be my birthday [;)], and my husband decided to whisk me away for a couple days to the adorable little mountain town of Crested Butte, which is about 4.5 hours away if you don’t get lost (aka we did on the way there, no biggie!). We stayed at the Elevation Hotel & Spa, which is the perfect spot for either snowboarding (because it’s super close to the gondola) or snowboard watching (because it’s right at the bottom of the hill everyone comes down). It was also the closing weekend of the mountain, which meant lots of costumed skiers and snowboarders, as well as some shenanigans that were fun to watch and not have to worry about even pretending to take part in (thanks pregnant belly!).

Chris also treated me to my first ever pre-natal massage while we were away (thanks hubby!), which was truly a little bit of bliss.

Ah, Crested Butte .. thanks for a relaxing getaway. Now it’s back to the real world …

02 Road Trip Views 03 Road Trip Views 04 Salida Lunch
^^^ We stopped for lunch in the cute little town of Salida on the way to Crested Butte. The Fritz had all kinds of tasty treats on their menu (and Shirley Temples were even listed on the menu!), plus they’re right across the street from the river, so it’s the perfect spot to stop for a while.

05 Salida Lunch 06 a Salida Lunch 06 b Salida Lunch 06 Salida Lunch 07 Crested Butte
^^^ Crested Butte views

08 Crested Butte 09 Crested Butte 10 Dogwood
^^^ We stopped by The Dogwood before dinner at Marchitelli’s Gourmet Noodle our first night. The Dogwood is a craft cocktail bar, which is fun even when you aren’t drinking, because you can really push the bartenders out of their comfort zone by asking them to create a special non-alcoholic concoction for you, such as …

11 Dogwood
^^^ This fizzy blueberry cream deliciousness that our awesome bartender made for me. I couldn’t finish it all, but it was sure fun trying …

12 Dogwood
^^^ Chris’ spicy jalapeno drink. Not my ideal, but he seemed to like it.

13 Dogwood
^^^ Just to prove that I was there too, since most of my photos end up being of Chris since I’m behind the camera 😉

14 Dogwood 15 Crested Butte Mornings
^^^ Early morning mountain views on our way to grab coffee and bagels from Camp 4 Coffee.

16 Crested Butte Mornings 17 Crested Butte Mornings
^^^ We squatted here for a while in the morning to drink our coffee, eat our bagels and take in the scenery. I like snowboarding and all, but this is seriously my favorite part of visiting the mountains. People watching!

18 Patio Views
^^^ After my pre-natal massage, we headed up to the rooftop restaurant next to our hotel to watch the skiers and snowboarders come down the hill in their crazy outfits. And we did see some crazy outfits — in fact, can you spot the hot dog in this picture 😉

19 Patio Views 20 Mountain Views
^^^ Our little family of (almost!) three (can you believe that belly?!)

21 Mountain Views

Bye bye, Crested Butte! I have a feeling we’ll be seeing you again…

A Holiday Getaway In the Mountains

Published on December 29, 2015 by Cheryl Lock1 Comment

^^ A blurry view of the snowy trees whizzing by on our way up to the mountains on Christmas Eve.

Hi friends,
As I mentioned yesterday, Chris and I headed up into the mountains for the holiday where we stayed at The Pines Condominiums in Keystone. The condo was splendid, with a fireplace, gorgeous mountain views from every window and a full kitchen with everything we needed to make a delicious Christmas dinner. I thought I’d share some pictures from our stay here.

_DSC2710 ^^Our dining room looking into what we came to affectionately refer to as our “Christmas nook”.

_DSC2711 ^^The kitchen

_DSC2716 ^^ Our Christmas nook, pre decorations.

_DSC2720 ^^ Chris spent most of his time stoking the lovely wood fire.

_DSC2725 ^^ Our Christmas nook, all decorated and lovely.

^^ Christmas Eve dinner was at the Black Bear Grill.

^^ Christmas eve entertainment was a roaring fire and some Christmas classics.

_DSC2731 ^^ Christmas morning Christmas nook views.

_DSC2734

_DSC2741 ^^ I thought this photo was artsy, with the Christmas lights in the foreground, but Chris just said it was confusing.

_DSC2757

_DSC2761

_DSC2762

And that was our lovely, snow-filled Christmas holiday, friends! I hope you all had a relaxing, fun time filled with friends, family and lots of delicious foods … now on to New Years!

Baseball and a New Brunch Place

Published on August 25, 2015 by Cheryl Lock1 Comment

Last Friday Chris and I took advantage of his boss’s Rockies season tickets to take in our first baseball game at Coors Field. This was especially meaningful for us because the Rockies just happened to be playing … drum roll please … the Mets! Amazing.

And it was an amazing game, as well. (Go Mets!)

On Sunday we decided to hit up Snooze (which is consistently ranked among the top places to get brunch in Denver). There are two locations near us — one in Union Station and another on Larimer. While the original plan was to get up early and head to the stand-alone restaurant on Larimer to hopefully avoid the (always present) crowds, let’s just say that didn’t happen because of someone (ahem … it was me. All my fault.), so we hit up the Union Station location instead, since there were places we could grab a coffee and hang out outside while waiting.

As a side note: I would highly recommend this course of action for anyone attempting to eat at Snooze on the weekend. We were told our wait would be an hour and 45 minutes (although I think it actually ended up only being a little over an hour), but we barely noticed because we grabbed coffee from Pigtrain and sat outside in the gorgeous weather watching the little kids and dogs run around in the water fountains.

Not too shabby.

Our waiter was some kind of wonderful. He felt pretty strongly that, since this was our first time at Snooze, we should get to experience some form of delicious pancakes, and because we both ordered from ‘the art of hollandaise’ section of the menu (hello, eggs benedict!), he sent one over for us to try on the house.

And it was … spectacular!

^^ Behold, the Blueberry Danish pancake, friends. Commence drooling now.

^^ Chris and I both picked the ‘Benny Due Can’t Decide?! option from the menu, which allows you to mix and match two half orders of eggs benedict options (mine, above, was the Caprese and Bella! Bella! Benny with the prosciutto removed).

All told, while I have to say that there will always be a special place in my heart for The Delectable Egg, I can certainly see why people say Snooze is a must-hit when in Denver. We’ll certainly be back here again in the near future, that’s for sure.

Bis bald, friends!

A Saturday Spent at Rocky Mountain National Park

Published on August 11, 2015August 29, 2019 by Cheryl Lock4 Comments

Hey friends,

On Saturday, Chris and I hopped in the car and drove out to Rocky Mountain National Park, a 415 square mile park that encompasses some of the most beautiful landscape I’ve seen yet in Colorado — and that’s really saying something.

So to start, we decided to bite the bullet and purchase an America the Beautiful National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Annual Pass for $80. An individual car entrance for just one visit to Rocky Mountain National Park is $20, and we’ve already been to Arches National Park and have plans to visit Grand Teton National Park, Yellowstone National Park and Glacier National Park (we plan to visit Mount Rushmore as well, but there’s no fee to get in to see the monument there, and the parking fee isn’t covered by the annual pass) — so we figured it will probably be worth the cost.

Now let’s talk a little bit about the Trail Ridge Road, which was the first thing we tackled on our visit … holy cow, friends, it’s insane! From the park site:

Covering the 48 miles between Estes Park on the park’s east side and Grand Lake on the west, Trail Ridge Road more than lives up to its advanced billing. Eleven miles of this high highway travel above treeline, the elevation near 11,500 feet where the park’s evergreen forests come to a halt. As it winds across the tundra’s vastness to its high point at 12,183 feet elevation, Trail Ridge Road (U.S. 34) offers visitors thrilling views, wildlife sightings and spectacular alpine wildflower exhibitions, all from the comfort of their car.

The drive up to the visitor’s center is absolutely stunning, with plenty of places to pull off along the side of the road and gawk. If you’re lucky — like we were — you might even see tons of animals, like deer, marmot, groundhogs, squirrels and chipmunks and, our all-time favorite, the bighorn sheep.

^^ Bighorn sheep! And if you look very closely, you can see a little groundhog trailing him …

While the views here are unlike any you’ll find anywhere else, you will need to pay attention to signs of altitude sickness. At over 12,000 feet in spots, I definitely wouldn’t recommend taking visitors here on their first day in Colorado. You’ll need to give yourself time to acclimate to the higher altitude, drink plenty of water and take things slowwwww. There’s no shame in taking your time on hikes around here — no one wants to have to deal with the effects of altitude sickness … blech!

Oh and one other word of wise — wear pants and bring a coat! Chris and I were total rookies and didn’t even think about the fact that high altitude brings chilly weather (we’re talking 50s and low 60s here, people), so we were forced to buy sweaters from the visitors center just to be able to make it through the rest of the day!

We took a couple of hours to see everything we wanted along the ride (I would recommend driving all the way up to the visitor’s center first, checking that out and doing the short little hike near the center, then driving back down to make your stops), and we even pulled over at one particularly gorgeous spot to stop and have some lunch we had packed. After we headed over to the super simple Bear Lake hike, which is only a .6 mile loops with no incline.

We were going to attempt the Alberta Falls 1.2 mile hike, as well, but at that point we were getting a bit tired and felt like we had jam packed a lot into our first ever trip to Rocky Mountain National Park.

But don’t worry, Alberta Falls — now that we’ve got our annual pass, we’ll be back for ya!

Bis bald, friends!

Checking out Glenwood Springs and Hanging Lake

Published on July 30, 2015 by Cheryl Lock3 Comments

Hi friends,

So last Saturday, after checking out Aspen and the Maroon Bells, Chris and I got back in the car and finished up the hour drive over to Glenwood Springs. We would be hiking the Hanging Lake trail early Sunday morning, so we thought staying in town (we stayed at the Courtyard Marriott, which is about a 15-20 minute drive out to Hanging Lake) would be a good idea so we could get an early start.

A little bit about Glenwood Springs — umm, it’s adorable. The downtown area is super cute, and we had a lot of fun meandering about Saturday night. We ended up having dinner at Grind, where Chris said he had the best burger of his life, and my falafel sandwich was pretty spectacular, as well. There are also a ton of hot springs in and around Glenwood Springs (hence the name), including the new Iron Mountain Hot Springs, which Chris and I plan to visit when we make it back to the area and have more time.

^^ Falafel sandwich with cole slaw … yum!

We grabbed a bottle of wine and headed back to the hotel for an early night Saturday, since we’d be getting at up 5:30 for our hike the next day.

So a little bit about this hike. I had read a ton of reviews on TripAdvisor about it, all of which say that this hike is incredibly beautiful … but incredibly difficult. Like, every single review says how prepared you need to be and how rocky and hard it is. So, needless to say, I was a little nervous. Having now completed said trail, however, I can tell you — yes, it’s difficult … but not too difficult. Of course my idea of difficult has been increased dramatically (thanks in particular to this hike, and this one and this one), so I’d say that my idea of difficulty might be a bit higher than others, but all I would say is, if you’re interested in doing this hike, don’t let scary reviews keep you from it. Yes it’s steep and yes there are lots of rocks to climb, but there’s plenty of room to take breaks, and there are plenty of flat bits to catch your breathe, as well.

The other note I’d have to make is about the parking lot. It’s tiny, friends — as in not much room for a ton of cars. Chris and I arrived just a little after 7 a.m. to start our hike and probably got one of the last 10 or so spots to park. And when we finished (around 9:20) there was a line of cars waiting to get in, which probably would have been at least an hour or so wait, if not longer. So my advice would be to get there very, very early, so you can avoid all that waiting nonsense.

And when you finally do make it to your hike, you’ll be rewarded with some pretty amazing stuff, friends …

^^ There was something tantalizingly pretty about this moth … even though if I look at it too long it totally grosses me out …

^^ After a mile of uphill hiking, we reached the beautiful Hanging Lake. Quite serene, isn’t it?

^^ The water was so crystal clear and beautiful, and see the fish?!

^^ There’s a short little extra hike that runs up above Hanging Lake that brings you to this pretty waterfall. Definitely worth the extra one minute it takes to get there.

And that was our nice little Sunday, my friends. I would highly recommend every single piece of our weekend. From Aspen to the Maroon Bells to Glenwood Springs to the Hanging Lake trail … it’s all absolutely wonderful.

Bis bald, friends!

A Day Trip to Aspen to Check out the Maroon Bells

Published on July 29, 2015 by Cheryl Lock4 Comments

^^ A little view on our way to Aspen last weekend.

Hey friends,

So this past Saturday Chris and I decided to stop off in Aspen on our way to Glenwood Springs to hike the Hanging Lake trail. Aspen’s about four hours away from us in Denver, and neither one of us had been before, but it’s only about an hour from Glenwood Springs, so we figured Saturday would make the perfect time to do a little stop off.

At first we weren’t sure what to check out since we would have limited time, but after a little research, I determined that seeing the Maroon Bells was absolutely what we needed to do. According to some sources, these mountain ranges are the most photographed mountains in all of North American — and now we know why.

During the summer the trail into the Maroon Bells site is closed to individual cars from 8 to 5 p.m. (unless you have a child under 2, or a few other contingencies), but you can catch a bus for $6 per person from Aspen Highlands, and they have free parking for Maroon Bell visitors as well. The parking lot does fill up quickly though, so you kind of need to test your luck. We did get lucky, though, because we arrived around 2 and were able to find a spot right away.

It was meant to be.

Here’s a bit of the (spectacular) views …

^^ This lake on the way into Aspen was too pretty not to pull off to the side of the road and photograph.

^^ The Aspen Highlands, where we parked and caught the bus into Maroon Bells.

^^ Gorgeous mountain views.

^^ So about these mountains. The Maroon Bells are two peaks in the Elk Mountains — Maroon Peak and North Maroon Peak — separated by about a third of a mile. You can hike them (they’re considered ’14ers’ — aka the name that Coloradans have given to certain mountains in the state that are above 14,000 feet), but the terrain is very difficult, so you should definitely do your research and train beforehand.

^^ There is another little hike, about 3 miles, running away from the mountains, that Chris and I will definitely be back to do at some point in the near future.

^^ Loved these wildflowers!

And that was Maroon Bells, kids. We spent a couple hours there, and then hopped back in the car to finish the hour drive to Glenwood Springs. I’ll be back tomorrow with more on our evening in Glenwood Springs and the Hanging Lake hike.

Until then, bis bald, friends!

The Coors Tour, Backyard Breweries and Bird’s-eye Views in Golden, Colorado

Published on July 21, 2015 by Cheryl Lock2 Comments

Hi friends,

So this past Sunday, Chris and I decided to make the short drive out to Golden, Colorado. Chris had never been before, and I had only been once when Lisa was visiting, so there were still a lot of things I wanted to try out in the area.

First on that list: A Coors Brewery Tour.

These tours are free, and if you’re lucky you’ll get a fun driver like ours who takes you for a quick loop around Golden and gives you a bit of historical info about the area before heading over the factory. Lisa and I had wanted to take the tour when we were there together, but the line was over an hour to wait, and we felt we could make better use of our time. This time, though, Chris and I went in knowing we’d have a bit of a wait, and it didn’t end up being too bad (probably a little under an hour) after all. A shuttle bus picks you up from the (free) parking lot and drives you over to the factory, which is humongous. The tour is unguided, and you just pick up a headset and press corresponding numbers to display cases as you walk through yourself. I think I probably would have paid more attention had the tour actually been guided, but as it was, the tour was free and it comes with three free beers per person at the end, so really it’s worth doing if you’re trying to kill some time in Golden. (Or if you happen to love Coors beer, of course.)

^^ Waiting in line to catch the shuttle to the factory.

^^ Everywhere you look in Golden you’ll see gorgeous mountains and blue skies. It’s pretty breathtaking.

^^ Some barrels during the tour.

^^ Delicious beer ingredients.

^^ The beers available each day are on display as you get down to the cafeteria area. Chris and I collectively tried the staple Coors Banquet, Batch 19 and the Colorado Native. Batch 19 was my favorite, while Chris was partial to the Native.

^^ The reservoir surrounding the factory is used to cool the machines used by the plant.

After the tour (which took us about an hour and a half), we drove over to the adorable Golden City Brewery. This brewery is essentially in a back yard, with picnic tables and wrought iron benches, flags and soft white lights hanging everywhere. The vibe here is so laid back and casual, it’s impossible to not feel like you’re just drinking some beer in your own backyard with friends. I’ve heard there’s usually a food truck parked outside, but there wasn’t one the day we were there. The brewery sells a small assortment of food (hotdogs, pretzels, a meat & cheese plate), but I would definitely recommend eating before you come if you’re hungry.

^^ Nothing but blue skies, friends.

^^ How cute is this place?!

After the brewery we took the 15-20 drive up the Lariat Loop National Scenic Byway, past Buffalo Bill’s Museum & Grave, to take in some of the breathtaking vistas.

^^ We drove up the loop for quite a while, and you can see different things from different stops. That’s the city of Golden down there, and in other spots you could even see Denver in the distance.

And that was our lovely little Sunday, friends. The Coors factory, a brewery and a scenic walk/drive? I’d say a weekend doesn’t get too much more Colorado than that 😉

Bis bald, friends!

Denver’s The Kitchen Is Great for Dates

Published on June 16, 2015 by Cheryl LockLeave a comment

Hey friends,

So last Friday Chris and I kept up a promise we’ve made to each other to try a new place in Denver at least once a month by having dinner at The Kitchen, which is conveniently located right on the 16th St. Mall. I wasn’t sure what to expect, since I didn’t know too much about the place other than that friends had said it was good, but we were not disappointed. I may even go so far as to say that it’s one of my favorite places to eat in Denver now, and it’s definitely a great place to bring a date.

Here’s what we had …

^^ Appetizers started out with organic mushrooms on toast, Maine mussels with grilled bread and the goat gouda gougère (basically a tasty fried cheese puff), pictured below.

^^ And of course we had drinks. I decided to stick with white wine and Chris had — can you guess? — a Manhattan! Surprise, surprise.

05Kitchen_Pasta ^^ This picture simply does not do my house made capellini with ramps, house ricotta & micro basil any justice, friends, because it was, in all honesty, some of the best pasta I’ve had. Ever. And I’ve had pasta in Italy. The ricotta was the perfect compliment to the capellini, and the basil was so fresh, I felt like they had just gone out back and picked it before they put it on my plate.

^^ Dessert was cappuccino and the sticky toffee pudding.

I love the feel of community that’s so important in this restaurant, too. In fact, The Kitchen restaurants all donate a percentage of sales to help plant Learning Gardens (which are actual gardens created in schools across America to help teach kids about the importance of real food) in their local communities.

So basically — hit it up, friends! Good food. A good cause. What’s not to love?

Bis bald!

When Friends Come to Visit — Part II

Published on June 11, 2015 by Cheryl Lock4 Comments

Hi all,

I’m back today with the final two days of Lisa’s visits, which were filled with quintessentially amazing Coloradoan vistas, Bloody Marys and, of course, more Mexican food.

Here’s what we got up to:

Monday:
The start of Monday saw us heading to The Delectable Egg, which has slowly become one of my favorite breakfast places in Denver. Afterwards we headed out to Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, and then into Manitou Springs — the cute little old-fashioned town right outside of the Garden of the Gods park — for a Mexican lunch at The Loop Restaurant, which happens to sit at the foot of Pikes Peak. Pikes Peak is a 14,115 ft fourteener—”fourteener” being the nickname given to mountains exceeding 14,000 ft above sea level in the area.

Tuesday:
Since Tuesday would be Lisa’s last full day, I had tried to find something fun that we could do around Denver that would be somewhat different. In the past, it has sort of become a tradition for Lisa and I to find a spot to kayak on trips we’ve taken together, and I wanted this trip to be the same. Unfortunately the past months’-worth of rainy days made it dangerous to do so in an actual lake, and when we finally did arrive at City Park (the alternative I came up with), we decided to rent paddle boats from Wheel Fun Rentals, instead. The park turned out to be very nice, actually (I had never been before) and the paddle boating was super fun! There was even a patch of land in the middle of the lake with tons of birds, most of whom were nesting or had just had their babies, so that was fun to see, as well.

We started the day with Bloody Marys at Terminal Bar in Union Station (naturally), and went for lunch at Acorn in The Source after paddle boating, as well. I’d never been to The Source or Acorn before, either, and I’m glad we made it here because it had been on my list of places I really wanted to show Lisa, and it turned out to be just as cute as I’ve heard. (Beer and fried pickles helped make it worth the visit, as well.)

^^ Post Bloody Marys.

^^ Look at these ladies … they sure do love an adventure 😉

^^ The Source is an artisan food market that occupies a former 1880’s brick foundry building in Denver’s River North District. Vendors include Acorn, Western Daughters Butcher Shoppe (pictured above), Boxcar Coffee Roasters, Crooked Stave brewery and The Proper Pour, among others. I like to think of it as Denver’s Chelsea Market, except much smaller.

^^ Ahh … beer and fried pickles. Is there anything better?

Dinner Tuesday night was — can you guess it? — Rio for Mexican again, of course! What can I say, we are creatures of habit.

Anyway, friends, that was Lisa’s trip in a nutshell. I had an amazing time with her here, and I really think I’m starting to get it down in terms of showing people around this town. There’s no end to the number of things you can do with people here, whether it’s food, drinking, hiking, walking, snowboarding or skiing — there’s pretty much something for everyone in good ole’ Denver.

Bis bald, friends! See you soon …

When Friends Come to Visit — Part I

Published on June 10, 2015June 10, 2015 by Cheryl Lock3 Comments

Happy hump day, friends.

So I just dropped Lisa off at the airport. Gosh golly I hate good-byes! We had a ton of fun while she was here, though, and I’m eternally grateful for that. I actually ended up doing a whole bunch of new stuff while she was in town, as well, which I wasn’t expecting, and that was a nice little added bonus.

I figure I’ll break her visit up into two posts, since we did so much, and I’ll cover things that were new to me more in depth than those things I’ve already talked about here.

So buckle up, friends — you’re in for quite the ride.

Lisa arrived late on Thursday, so we basically chilled for most of the afternoon, and then headed to Rio for dinner that night. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again — if you’re in Denver and you like Mexican, Rio is a must-hit.

Friday:
On Friday we headed to Red Rocks in the morning (which is always an amazing time), and then drove the short distance from Red Rocks to Golden, a small, cute little Colorado town where the Coors Factory lives. They give free tours there during the day, but the wait was about an hour and we thought our time would be better used by exploring the town a bit via car, which turned out to be pretty stinkin’ cute. I’ll come back for ya, Coors tour! We ate lunch at the Old Capitol Grill, too, and the waitress assuaged our fears of the tornadoes that were touching down in towns all around both Golden and Denver. (They ended up heading out East, so both Golden and Denver were spared.)

We had Slice Works pizza and garlic knots for dinner that night, which is always a hit.

Saturday:
Saturday turned out to be a day filled with new adventures. Lisa had discovered that one of her favorite brunch places from Louisville, Kentucky— Wild Eggs — also has a restaurant in Denver, so we hit that up for breakfast, and then while driving Lisa through the Capital Hill neighborhood and Cheesman Park, we drove right by the Botanic Gardens and decided to just stop on in. It was a gorgeous day, and Chris and I had never been to the Gardens before, but it turns out this little piece of heaven is quite the quiet sanctuary, and I think it’s safe to say I’ll be back.

^^ My Bennies Gone Wild with wild mushrooms and a side of biscuits. Yum.

Sunday:
Sunday morning found us walking along the Platte River (at least the areas where we could, since sheesh she was raging with wild waters!), checking out Union Station and then Tattered Cover Book Store, and then heading out for a little Wynkoop Brewery time before walking over to the Highlands neighborhood for some Little Man Ice Cream, followed by our Paint n’ Sip class and dinner at The Truffle Table — a wine & cheese bar — afterwards.

^^ We celebrated combined missed birthdays with beer and birthday hats at Wynkoop. There’s nothing even remotely silly about this photo, right?

^^ Our paintings came out pretty darn good, if I do say so myself …

^^ For our cheese plate at The Truffle Table we ordered Avalanche Goat Cheddar from Basalt, Colorado; Brillat Savarin from Normandy France (a cow’s milk cheese); Tete du Moine from Switzerland (another cow’s milk cheese); Cana de Oveja from Spain (a sheep’s milk cheese); and Quatizo Gouda (a water buffalo and mixed milk cheese). Of course we had no idea what any of these cheese meant, but our waitress was fantastically knowledgeable and we were all extremely happy with what she thought we might like.

And that, my friends, is where I’m going to leave you regarding this visit, for now. I’ll be back later this week with our shenanigans for Monday and Tuesday, Lisa’s final days in Denver.

Bis bald, friends!

Sun Valley Joins the Mountain Collective for 2015-16 Season

Published on May 21, 2015May 21, 2015 by Cheryl LockLeave a comment

Hi friends!

So I know you’re all: “Hey man, it’s May. And you’re over here talking about snow and ski passes and stuff. What’s up with that?”

Or some form of the above.

As any die-hard skier/snowboarder will know, season passes for places go on sale wicked early (as in I’ve been getting emails regarding my Epic Local Pass for over a month now, and I’ve already missed the deadline to sign up and receive 6 buddy passes along with it. Oops.) Anyway, the point is, the early bird catches the worm when it comes to ski passes, and this season there’s a whole lot more to love with the Mountain Collective 2015/16 pass, now that Sun Valley, Idaho and Thredbo, Australia have joined the fray.

If you live in the Mountain West — or even just plan to be in any of their six awesome locations for more than 3 or 4 days — this pass is absolutely worth it. Included with the $379 purchase are access to nine leading ski destinations, including Sun Valley, Idaho, Thredbo, Australia, Banff, Alberta, Whistler, BC, Aspen, Colorado, Jackson Hole, Wyoming, AltaSnowbird, Utah, Squaw Valley/Alpine Meadows, California and Mammoth Mountain in California.

That’s a whole lotta great places to ski or snowboard, my friends.

Included in this deal are two days of skiing or riding at each of the nine destinations, plus a 50 percent discount on all additional days with no blackout dates. Pricing for the kids’ pass (ages 12 and under) is just $99 for the 2015-16 season.

Get your passes here before it’s too late! Hope to see you on the mountains ….

Bis bald, friends!

A Whirlwind Trip With Parents …

Published on May 14, 2015 by Cheryl Lock1 Comment

Hey friends,

So we just bid adieu to my Mom and stepdad who were here visiting for the past couple of days. Despite weather that begged us to just stay inside and hibernate (and cancelled our baseball game — thanks freakin’ springtime snow!), we managed to fit in quite a bit of activity.

Here’s a bit of what we did …

^^ Friday night night after they arrived we hit up Jagged Mountain Brewery across the street and had dinner at the food truck that was parked outside that night, Scratch Comfort Food.

^^ When cold, rain and snow forced us to change our (outdoor) plans for Saturday, we headed to the Molly Brown House Museum first, and then …

^^ … to Rio Grande for some delish Mexican and marguerites, yo!

^^ Our baseball game was cancelled on Saturday night, so we decided to go see The Avengers at the United Artists Denver Pavillions Stadium 15, and holy crap guys, they have leather seats that electronically recline allllll the way back so you’re basically laying down in the comfort of a leather chair watching a movie. Amazing! Almost amazing enough to make up for the fact that the power blacked out 15 minutes before the movie ended and we had to wait 20 minutes for it to come back on. Oh well, you know what they say, when it rains it …

^^ Snows! Only in Denver could a freak snowstorm occur in the middle of May. Well okay, probably not only in Denver, but on Saturday night it sure felt that way!

^^ After the movie we hit up 5280 Burger Bar, which, I imagine, would be a meat-lovers dream come true …

^^ See what I mean? Blech! (This was Chris’s, by the way, obviously not mine!)

^^ The ice cream sundaes, however, I can definitely get on board with!

^^ Things were looking up on Sunday, which was Mother’s Day.

^^ I took the rents for a stroll to Union Station so they could check it out, and we of course had to grab some ice cream from the Milkbox Ice Creamery, which serves Little Man ice cream.

^^ That night we headed to the Green Russell for drinks before dinner at Osteria Marco in Larimer Square. This time we all chatted with the bar tender about our drink likes and dislikes, and had him custom-make some concoctions for us, which did not disappoint!

^^ Finally, finally, the sun came out on Monday! So we took advantage and hopped in the car and headed out to Red Rocks.

^^ I think it’s safe to say they liked it here 😉

^^ Monday afternoon I had booked us for the high tea service at The Brown Palace Hotel, which is the oldest (and by far the fanciest!) hotel in Denver. This was so much fun, friends. We got all dressed up and there was a live piano player. We each ordered one type of tea (mine Chai, of course), and were served in our own little pots. The service came with two types of scones (regular and chocolate chip) served with Devonshire butter and jam, as well as three different types of finger sandwiches and four different mini-desserts. I’ve never felt so fancy!

^^ How adorable are these desserts!?

^^ Even though our baseball game was cancelled I still got to walk my parents by the stadium, and Robert even went back and took a tour the day they left. It was $10 and he said it was definitely worth it. They walked the field, saw where the players get ready, sat in the dugout … seems like a dream for baseball fans!

^^ Me & Mom outside Union Station.

^^ On Tuesday we were back in the car and headed to South Pearl Street in Boulder to check out the shops.

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^^ The old-timey Rocket Fizz Soda Pop & Candy Shop was definitely one of our favorite stops.

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And that was about it, my friends. They left on Wednesday after checking out Chris’s office and having lunch at Backcountry Deli. Not too shabby for a quick five-day trip, huh?

This weekend we’re heading to A-Basin for some springtime snowboarding, and then next weekend, my friends, we’re heading out to Moab, Utah, to go camping with our friends. This, my dear friends, is why I was so excited to move out here in the first place. Our first real road trip! Wish us luck …

Bis bald!