Iowa Girl on the Go

My oldest daughter, Katie, and I spent last weekend in and around Denver, Colo., visiting my younger daughter, Lauren, who moved to the Mile High City in January.

We arrived Friday night after a 10-hour drive from Ames. After checking in to the Hyatt Place Hotel near the Denver International Airport, we were ready for some food and drink. Lauren suggested the Bent Fork Grill, which did the trick. I ate a cobb salad and ordered pint of Colorado Native, a local brew.

The next morning, we headed to Snooze, an “a.m. eatery” with three locations in Denver, a few more in Colorado, plus restaurants in California, Arizona, and Texas. I had never heard of this place, but it was really fun. Apparently, the wait for a table on a weekend morning can be a couple of hours long, but we only waited about 30 minutes. The wait was made even more pleasant by A) the warmth and sunshine as we stood outside and B) the free coffee (in reusable orange cups) available to anyone standing in line. What a concept! Why don’t all restaurants serve free drinks while you wait?

The Snooze atmosphere is part Jetson’s/part Epcot theme park. Lots of fun décor and seating options. We sat at a round table with two curved benches that Katie said was like eating breakfast on the Disney teacups ride (above).

The menu is fun and enormous, with promised “fresh twists on America’s favorite classics & creative morning cocktails.” We decided to share three menu items: a flight of pancakes (again, what a great concept), consisting of one sweet potato pancake, one blueberry Danish pancake, and one pineapple upside down pancake (above); huevos rancheros; and Snooze spuds deluxe (hash browns, cheese, eggs, and more). All the food was good; we loved all the pancakes, but the sweet potato was our favorite. We should have only ordered two items to share; we left a lot of eggs and hash browns and such on our plates.

Our next destination was Denver’s open-air Mile High Flea Market (above). One of Lauren’s co-workers told her this was a must-experience weekend activity, but I will just say that I didn’t find it all that interesting. It’s huge and sprawly and messy, with vendors selling antiques (a.k.a. junk), clothes, tires, kitchen appliances, furniture, luggage, cosmetics, electronics, prepared food, produce, and a lot of stuff nobody needs. We each found a pair of shoes we liked, priced at two pairs for $25. Open weekends year-round, there is a charge to get in to the flea market ($2 per person on Fridays, $3 on Saturdays and Sundays).

You can’t visit Colorado these days with at least one visit to a marijuana dispensary, right? So we went to two. As a teenager growing up in the 1970s, I remember buying (illegal) pot in a sandwich bag for $5, and you had absolutely no idea what you were smoking.

Today, weed is big business for states in which recreational use is legal, and the options are amazing. We visited the Oasis Cannabis Superstore (“the largest selection of cannabis in the world” according to the sign) and talked to a really friendly, happy guy (above) who told us way more than I could understand about the different cannabis strains (more than 100 available in this store alone) for smoking, plus edibles and other products, like creams and lotions that apparently cure what ails you. (I wonder how the Girl Scouts of America feel about the Girl Scout Cookies hybrid sativa weed for sale?)

The other place we visited was a neighborhood dispensary called Star Buds, which was much smaller but no less friendly. I didn’t take any pictures in that one.

By now it was mid-day, and we decided to head west to Red Rocks Park, about 10 miles outside of Denver. The park and amphitheatre are 6,450 feet above sea level, with great views and natural rock formations. This was my first time visiting, and I had been told about all the super-fit people who go to the amphitheatre to exercise. It was a beautiful spring day, and the place was full of people stretching and jumping and lifting and whatever else you can do on the stairs. (There’s also an opportunity for hiking and biking nearby.) Apparently, there have been concerts held for more than 100 years in what is now a 9,525-seat open-air theatre.

We had eaten such a big breakfast that we really weren’t hungry, but it was about 2 o’clock and we were lured to the outdoor seating area of the Ship Rock Grille, a restaurant on site, mainly just to sit on the lovely patio (above) and soak in the beauty of the mountains and rock formations. We ordered a couple of appetizers and I enjoyed a pint of Alaskan Amber.

Our next stop was a place called The Source, the ultimate hipster destination in Denver’s River North District. The former 1880s brick foundry building is a collective of food artisans and retailers offering visitors everything from freshly baked bread to craft cocktails, street tacos to flower arrangements.

We poked around in the shops and then sat down in the Crooked Stave brewery and ordered a few sample-sized brews. The brewery focuses on IPAs and Belgian sours (“wine-forward, barrel-aged”); neither style appeals to me, so I just sat and enjoyed the people-watching while Lauren and Katie sipped weird pink beer in cute, tiny glasses (below). Like I said, it’s a hipster paradise.

After that, we drove back to the hotel for girl talk and pizza. The next morning, we headed north to Fort Collins, one of my favorite college towns. This is a small city in which I could definitely see myself (or my kids) living. It’s a nice size, easy to get around in, and has the most wonderful downtown, filled with independent shops, bars, and restaurants – with very few chains in sight.

We were there on Easter Sunday and were worried that shops and restaurants would be closed – or serving the dreaded $30-per-person Easter buffet – but we needn’t have worried because the downtown area was hopping (no bunny pun intended). We had our choice of a dozen or more places to eat, and we chose to dine on the outdoor patio of Rare Italian, a restaurant serving a lovely brunch menu – everything from pancakes to lasagna. We ordered cocktails, too, because why not?

We also met up with a friend, Adam, who lives north of Fort Collins but is originally from Iowa, and after eating brunch with him we went to Black Bottle Brewery, one of many, many breweries large and small located in Fort Collins. I wanted to try several different styles, so I ordered a flight and enjoyed all three (above). (Can you buy Black Bottle beer in Iowa? Please say yes.)

We walked around Fort Collins’s Old Town Square, basking in the warm sun and enjoying the friendly vibe before grabbing ice cream cones at Walrus Ice Cream shop, a locally owned sweet shop celebrating its 30^th year in business this year.

After that, we headed back to Denver for more girl talk and a dip in the hotel pool.

Our weekend went by too fast; we had to leave for our long drive back to Iowa first thing Monday morning.