We were lucky enough to escape to Colorado for a week in early May! My cousin was getting married so we decided to make a trip out of it! I decided to split this post in two – because the first 3 days in Denver were very different than the last 4 days we spent in Silverthorne. So this post is all about Denver. Denver is a beautiful city, that really seems to pop up out of the middle of  nowhere. Here’s all the shopping, dining and hiking we got up to in the mile high city.

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Day 1: Arrive in Denver

We arrived nice and early into Denver and checked into our Airbnb. After dropping our bags, we headed down to the Union Station. The Union Station is an operating train station that also offers a hotel, boutique shops, and a variety of restaurants.

Pro tip: Parking was a pain. But we called ahead and some of the restaurants in the Union validate receipts to allow you to park for cheaper.

We ate, drank and played shuffleboard (on the coolest shuffleboard table I have ever seen) waiting for the sky to clear before heading out to explore the city. Spoiler, it didn’t. So we headed back to our AirBnb and then out to dinner at an Italian restaurant, Marcella’s to celebrate the kick off of my cousin’s wedding weekend! Marcella’s definitely had a modern Italian vibe. The pizza was great but my favorite thing I ordered there was the white sangria! It was so fresh and flavorful with real fruit right in my glass, I sipped on them all night.

Day 2: Denver & Boulder 

We woke up early and headed to Top Golf. My family likes to golf- my grandfather built, owned and operated a golf course for many years in Michigan and golf tends to run in the family.

TopGolf is like an elevated driving range, but way more fun. The object is to hit your golf balls onto these big targets – they look kinda like dartboards. Anyway, we ordered food (which was surprisingly good), nailed some golf balls, and then it was off to Boulder!

We hiked the Royal Arch Trail in Boulder’s Chautauqua Park, and it was such a beautiful hike. It took about 20-minutes to adjust to the altitude (ahem *GASPING*), thinking to myself, Gosh, how out of shape am I?. Thankfully, our bodies adjusted.

The hike was really variable, with tall pines,  stream crossings and rocks that seemed like staircases. It was SUCH a great hike, my legs were trembling at the end. It was the first real hiking we had done in so long, and let me tell you, it felt pretty damn good to have some incline under our hiking boots.

After hiking, we swung by downtown Boulder for an apres-hike drink. Downtown Boulder was very cool and parking wasn’t too bad. Mind you, it was May which is kind of Colorado’s off-season. We walked to Pearl Street Mall, which was four blocks of all sorts of shops and diving. We stopped at the French Quarter Brasserie & Oyster Bar for happy hour and fried pickles. I don’t like pickles, but if you fry anything, it’s good I think. The mall had tulip beds ALL over, and I definitely could have explored the stores here more.

But! We had dinner reservations at Low Country Kitchen back in Denver for the rehearsal dinner. Picture string lights, industrial vibes, rooftop bar and the most amazing fried chicken. like – I’ll probably never eat fried chicken again because it was that good. My family said the shrimp and grits, and ribs were also out of this world.

Day 3: Red Rocks, Dinosaurs, and Denver

Wedding day for my cousin and his beautiful bride! We didn’t have too much time but managed to escape to Red Rocks Amphitheater just to see it and walk around. This place was sweet. One day I’d love to see a concert there! I think there are some hiking trails behind Red Rocks, but we didn’t have time to explore.

Next we zipped over the road to Dinosaur Ridge. It’s an EASY mile walk and you can see some dinosaur fossils. We just did the walk on our own, but you can pay for a tour if you really like dinosaurs. James wasn’t sure how real it all was, but I am an easy sell when it comes to this stuff. I mean, these footprints  and fossilized beach are pretty cool.

After our easy stroll we went to lunch at Recess Beer Garden. Recess had great outdoor seating which was totally my vibe, and a really nice beer list. May I suggest the Raspberry Princess Yum Yum?

The menu features American style food like building your own burgers with toppings like goat cheese and avocado, (ay-yo, my fave!) and giant soft pretzels.

It’s also in walking distance to Little Man Ice Cream, which is famous for their unique, fresh flavors. You can’t miss it, it’s literally a giant old-fashioned milk jug. We walked down there but unfortunately the line was a bit long for our liking – we had shopping to do. Thankfully, the store I had been wanting to go to was also in walking distance…

Wilderness Exchange! Think about it like TJ Maxx for outdoor and camping gear. They had all the name brands, for such great deals. James got a Patagonia tee for $17. They even had a really nice re-sale section and I got a near-new backpacking pack from Kelty for $90. I can’t wait to put this bad boy to use this summer!

Also, REI’s flagship store is right next door!! It’s an old building and it’s huge. There’s even a pump track out the front to test out the bikes. DREAMY. So sad we didn’t make it here (we had a wedding to attend!). Next time…

Day 4: To the Mountains

We checked out of our Airbnb and headed back towards the airport to pick up our rental car. Guys, on a side note, this was our first experience with AirBnb and I loved it. More on that later, full post coming soon!

Denver was such a cool city, and I know we didn’t even scratch the surface. I totally get why people are flocking there. The city itself was easy to navigate and seemed very walkable from the little of it we saw. Of course, the proximity to the mountains is a huge draw.

Cons of Denver? Traffic was REAL. Like, all day at any time of day there seemed to be traffic. We heard people have to get up before 5am to beat the traffic in order to get to the mountains in the winter. After being there only a few days, I totally believe it! Parking was also a little stressful, but it is in Detroit too (and who am I kidding – I wasn’t driving. Ha!)

Overall we totally loved it, as we knew we would, and we think you will too. Check out Cheapoair.com and book your flights to Denver! What are you waiting for?!

Denver, we’ll definitely be back!

Travel On,

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*This post contains affiliate links. That means, I may receive a commission for some of the links in this post- at no cost to you. See our Disclaimer page for details*