A few months in to our relationship Chris invited me on his annual trip to Colorado and of course I said yes! Chris’s oldest friend, Dan (they’ve known each other since Kindergarten – totes adorbs, right?) moved to Denver after college and Chris has been out there to visit many times. Five years ago Chris started joining Dan and some other friends in attending the Telluride Bluegrass Festival.

Telluride is a 6 hour drive from Denver, but due to it’s high altitude it’s best to spend a couple of days at a midway point when you’re coming from sea level so Chris suggested we spend two days in Denver before heading even farther up to Telluride.

We had to be up at 5am to catch our 7am flight from Seattle to Denver so, as you can imagine, we were exhausted. When we arrived we headed straight for our hotel which luckily had a room ready for us. We cleaned ourselves up a bit and then headed out to walk around downtown a bit. After a very little bit of walking I was starving. At this point it was 2pm and all I’d eaten was a handful of craisins and a bag of potato chips.

Denver is a great foodie city and Chris very sweetly was trying to find a really good restaurant to take me too, but I was hangry as hell at that point and insisted we walk in to the first place we found. We ended up in the Blake Street Pub which actually ended up being really good. I ordered the portabella sandwich; pan-roasted potabellas mushrooms, red pepper and onions with avocado and tomato served on a brioche bun. I opted for a side of sweet potato fries which came with a honey barbecue sour cream dipping sauce. The sandwich, fries and dipping sauce were all really fresh and delicious and definitely hit the spot.

Having transitioned from hangry to fappy, we were off again and headed to meet some of Chris’s friends at a bar in town. The bar was about 3.5 miles away, but we decided to walk because we’re New Yorkers and also because we were planning on making a very important pit stop.

For months Chris had been telling me about Little Man Ice Cream shop in Denver and their signature flavor, Salted Oreo. I could not wait to try it and it did not disappoint. This ice cream is not for the faint of heart, it’s got quite a bit of salt so you really have to be a lover of the salty/sweet combo. Luckily Chris and I love salty/sweet things. The ice cream was rich creamy and the salt paired perfectly with the chunks of crushed up Oreos. Also, the server (scooper?) was totally cool about my food allergies; she assured me that the Salted Oreo had no nuts and used a clean scoop for me. I’m pretty much still dreaming about how good that ice cream was!

After hanging out at the bar for awhile with Dan and his friends, we were ready dinner. Dan and another friend took us to The Kitchen. The weather was beautiful and we got a table outside which always makes food and drinks taste better. I ordered the pasta bolognese which was really tasty. I liked the vibe of the restaurant and especially loved their emphasis on fresh, seasonal food, but I was too tired to really appreciate it. This is definitely a place I’d like to go back to if I visit Denver again.

After dinner we headed back to the hotel and got straight in to bed for a much needed good nights sleep.

Have you ever visited Denver? Did you enjoy the city?