We spent three days in Denver on a July weekend to celebrate Jamal’s birthday. There were so many fun things to do in Denver! You just have to know you’re not going to stay in Denver proper to do all of them. Denver for purposes of this episode consist of many of the surrounding nature areas and towns.

We describe the wild adventure to get to Denver and exploring the neighboring cities, beer culture, rooftop bars (obviously), nature (even though Jamal said no hiking on his birthday!), and Rocky Mountain vibes.

We went to Boulder to visit friends, Golden to drink beer and Aurora to have a nice cup of coffee at a friend’s local shop. We explored the downtown and had one hell of an afternoon tea that still tops the top 5 ranks of the best we’ve ever had.

Fun things to do in Denver that we did and would recommend:

• Flight delays and summer storms
• Going off 90 minutes of sleep
• Visiting past travel friends
• Hiking in Boulder
• Rooftop bars in Boulder and Denver
• Coors Factory in Golden, Colorado
• Hiking the Rocky Mountain National Park in Summer
• Afternoon Tea in at D Bar in Downtown Denver
• Red Rocks Amphitheater

3 Days in Denver – Episode Transcript

3 (54s):
Welcome to this weeks episode of the Travel Squad podcast. Today. We’re going to take you on a quick weekend trip to Denver, Colorado for Jamal’s birthday that we went on a couple years ago. Happy

2 (1m 6s):
Birthday.

4 (1m 6s):
Thank you.

3 (1m 8s):
Turning 22 again.

4 (1m 10s):
Well, I wasn’t that young. When we went As with any of our trips, we had some interesting mishaps, lots of hiking for Kim sake, lots of Rooftop bars and lots of good sleep. I’m just kidding guys. You know, we never have any sleep on

3 (1m 26s):
The of first night, we got a lot,

2 (1m 29s):
But you know what? Despite the lack of sleep we made the most of it, don’t you think guys, we explored Boulder. We summited a mountain in the Rocky mountain national park, and I was really sick when we did that too, by the way. And then we fucking dominated downtown Denver,

4 (1m 44s):
Dominated it

2 (1m 45s):
Dominate.

5 (1m 46s):
And if you can’t tell by now, we spend a lot of our weekend getaways exploring national parks and having easy days. So

3 (1m 54s):
Lots of using is

5 (1m 55s):
Let’s get started

2 (1m 56s):
Easy day. Number one.

3 (1m 57s):
So we started the trip with an easy day.

5 (1m 60s):
It was Friday night. We were flying out to San Diego to Denver and won’t bump on our flight gets delayed,

3 (2m 8s):
But we don’t realize it until we’re already at the airport. Right.

4 (2m 10s):
We didn’t think much of it. Cause we were already a couple drinks in from the airport bar where we not. So we were having a good time. Then we find out our flights delayed because there was weather interruptions and just made for a whole fiasco. That’s honestly pretty frigging ridiculous,

3 (2m 26s):
Delayed a couple of times, right?

4 (2m 28s):
It got

2 (2m 28s):
Pushed back, pushed

4 (2m 29s):
Back. Yeah.

3 (2m 30s):
So we finally do get on the plane much later than intended

4 (2m 34s):
In two and a half hours after the fact.

2 (2m 37s):
Can I just say on this flight, Jamal and Brittany were in one aisle and Kim and I were on the same aisle on the other side next to the window. And this was a weird one because Kim was in the aisle. I was in the middle and there was no seat at the window. And there were snacks in the seat where there was no seats. Do you remember that Kim? And so you and I were like, holy shit, look at all these snacks. So we grabbed them and we look at your mom, Brittany, look, dude, someone left their snacks and we were like trying to offer you them. And you’re like, nah, it’s good. So we put them back because we decided not to eat the snacks. And then the guy behind us reaches forward, he’s all, I’m just going to grab my food.

4 (3m 22s):
I forgot all about that. But before we get too far into it, I think we should mention why it was actually delayed. It wasn’t just for any particular reason, there was actually severe thunder storms, lightning storms in the Denver area. So our actual flight was actually coming back from Denver to San Diego and then it was flying back San Diego to Denver. So our airline was just doing that leg back and forth part of their routine. So they had severe weather that caused serious delays. So we got on the flight two and a half hours after our original takeoff point and then normal flight time. But by the time we landed and hit the tarmac in Denver, what did we have to do?

3 (4m 5s):
Every other flight also was delayed because of the storm. So we all got there at the same time.

5 (4m 12s):
It was a landing clusterfuck and we had to wait on the tarmac for an hour after we landed.

3 (4m 17s):
We’re all excited to be there. And then we get stuck on the plane for an hour.

4 (4m 20s):
I know we were already delayed two and a half hours. Flight time was normal. We thought, okay, we’re delayed. But no, we were delayed even more and sat on the tarmac for one hour. And it was just so frustrating and annoying at that point. Yeah.

2 (4m 33s):
You know, I had given up candy crush for about two years up until that point, maybe two and a half. And the only reason I started up again was because Kim pulled out her phone and started to play candy crush. And I totally played the game for her over her shoulder. And I had to download it

3 (4m 46s):
Because if you heard our episode 13, where we talk about how to survive a long haul flight or really any flight, we talk about how, when we play candy crush or at least me, it’s always when traveling and now he is addicted again.

2 (4m 58s):
Right? So I blame

3 (5m 0s):
The last two years

4 (5m 4s):
Playing candy crush.

5 (5m 5s):
So we finally make it to Denver and we’re so excited, but now we have to get to our rental car. And so of course we had over to take the shuttle, but it was taking so, so long for the shuttle bus to come and take us. So we purposely take the wrong shuttle bus because I looked on Google maps and I see that they’re kind of like all in a row on the same street

3 (5m 28s):
We were waiting for like Hertz or something. We jumped on an enterprise.

5 (5m 31s):
Yeah. So we jump on, we get off at the wrong location, knowing that it’s the wrong location. And I’m like, it doesn’t look too far. We’ll just walk to the next rental car place over surprise, surprise. We were walking on the side of the road,

3 (5m 46s):
Pulling our luggage and

2 (5m 47s):
Am

3 (5m 48s):
Very late.

2 (5m 49s):
It’s not even like a little dirt road. It was a highway.

4 (5m 54s):
Yeah. And looked like it was going to be well. I mean, we were already just so delayed flight waiting an hour on the tarmac. We get out there. We were waiting 30 minutes for a shuttle that never came. We didn’t really understand why we saw another shuttle to one of the other rental car locations nearby. And we’re like, this is the first one that we’ve seen. We have to take it and just walk. It’s going to be quicker than waiting for the other one. And I

5 (6m 15s):
Feel like someone checked a luggage on this flight.

3 (6m 18s):
We both did because we had to pay for a luggage. Cause we took frontier. Right. And we, we shared two big luggages. Usually we just bring, carry ons and do it for free. But we split two and two in each of the luggages and had big ones this time.

5 (6m 32s):
So that was another thing, even though it was a weekend trip and we usually only pack a carry on, we couldn’t do that. So we shared baggage and check the,

3 (6m 41s):
Which was probably also a cluster. Fuck. If I’m remembering why

4 (6m 45s):
Check

3 (6m 45s):
It though, we had to. Cause we, we only wanted to pay for two bags and that was your guys’s and ours,

4 (6m 52s):
But why don’t we just take

3 (6m 53s):
The carry on costs, money to,

4 (6m 56s):
Oh, I don’t remember that. So

3 (6m 57s):
Travel pack for you guys. If you want to save money and you have to check a bag and pay for it, just do one and share the bag. I think I had a duffel bag and I just put it in your suitcase. Cena that’s

2 (7m 6s):
Right. Good memory. Yes. Yeah.

5 (7m 8s):
’cause I remember being at the baggage carousel thinking like, oh my fucking God. Now we have to wait for luggage too. Before we had

3 (7m 15s):
So finally get to the car and I’ll place

4 (7m 18s):
It to the car rental place,

3 (7m 19s):
Send mom and dad in there.

4 (7m 21s):
Oh my God. Big, big line. And only two people pretty much working the counter. And by big line we waited three hours to get from the back of the line, to the front of the line to get our rental car. Why? Because of the storm, there were so many Flight delays and cancellations that people that lived within a five hour drive of Denver to other states in the area were actually renting cars to drive. Cause all of the flights were pretty much canceled because of the delays. So

3 (7m 53s):
Everyone’s plate got in at around the same time.

4 (7m 55s):
So even though we had our reservation, it should have been a quick little thing we had to wait, like just thinking about it now just, oh, it brings back to your old memories having to wait three hours being so tired in the middle of the night. And not only that, obviously, you know, when we plan our trips, we had a jam packed day, but the next day we were actually going to be going to an early breakfast with our friends from Machu Picchu who like the Inca trail with us who live in the Denver area. So,

2 (8m 23s):
And it was an hour drive. So we had to wake up like at five, I think it is to get ready to leave by six to be there by seven.

4 (8m 30s):
Yeah. So point being, we waited three hours to just even get our rental car. Okay.

5 (8m 34s):
So that was from 1:00 AM to 4:00 AM that we waited to get the rental car and it took us 30 minutes to get to our Airbnb. So we didn’t get in until about four 30 and we slept for an hour and a half

4 (8m 46s):
To wake up.

3 (8m 47s):
I really wanted to cancel and just not go. And Brittany was not having it. Yeah.

5 (8m 52s):
I wasn’t because we had made plans with our friends and it would have been like a very, very last minute cancellation. And they had specifically told me they had gone out and gotten food. Yeah. Cause they were leaving on a trip themselves. And I was like, all right, we’re just going to have to fucking suck it up and go later.

2 (9m 10s):
Hardest part is waking up once you’re up. It’s good to go. But wait a minute real quickly before we get to the breakfast, I remember mom and dad were standing in line, Kim and I were sitting up against the wall, charging our phone

4 (9m 21s):
Candy crush.

2 (9m 22s):
I was like, wait, your

3 (9m 23s):
Mom and dad came.

2 (9m 25s):
And all of a sudden the bus that we didn’t take because we got on the wrong bus on purpose comes and people are flooding off of that bus. And we’re just like, thank goodness we weren’t on that bus because the line was out the door of the rental place. So good call Jamal and Brittany Good call.

5 (9m 45s):
So our Airbnb, we picked it for a few different reasons. It was 30 minutes from downtown and it was central to every place we wanted to hit. So it was very convenient for us. It was also two bedrooms and had a nice living room. Kitchen areas. Love Airbnb is for the convenience of everything. The kitchen layout.

4 (10m 2s):
Usually we do a lot of cooking when we have Airbnbs ourself, but not so much necessarily on this trip. Because again, in the morning, first thing one we got in so late, we didn’t even have time to buy breakfast, but two, we were going somewhere to breakfast. So the first actual morning, which at this point, Saturday morning, after our fantastic full sleep of an hour and a half, we went to our friends, Jen and David, again, who hiked the Machu Picchu, Inca trail with us or we with them. However you want to look at it.

3 (10m 30s):
Absolutely

4 (10m 31s):
Very hospitably had us in their home to see them had breakfast. So it was really nice to just catch up with them and reminisce about the trip and they showed us their house up in the mountains. It’s really beautiful,

5 (10m 42s):
Beautiful, beautiful property.

2 (10m 44s):
Shout out to you, Jen and David, thanks for having us.

5 (10m 46s):
And they meet some of them most amazing French toast for us. Oh, it was so good.

2 (10m 52s):
Walk us through the spread.

5 (10m 55s):
What I do remember is the French toast and then they also made smoothies.

3 (10m 59s):
Yes. And we had coffee and we ate outdoors on a picnic bench and it was so nice. Yeah. It was wonderful. And I’m really

5 (11m 8s):
Glad that we made it to the breakfast.

3 (11m 10s):
Yeah. We powered through, we still looked good too. That’s key. Okay. We

2 (11m 15s):
Looked great.

5 (11m 16s):
And we asked them for some recommendations to do in the Boulder area, they did recommend for us to go to F flat irons to look out to the city of Boulder.

3 (11m 26s):
I didn’t do that. It was a little hike. It was hot as fuck. But

4 (11m 29s):
Flat irons is the park out there, correct?

3 (11m 31s):
Yeah, there was that little Creek and then we hiked up the mountain and it was really nice. You could see out into Boulder and it was pretty people had dogs up there for even just having a lot of fun up there

5 (11m 43s):
Having a photo shoot.

2 (11m 44s):
Yeah. You guys fun story for you. So we’re on the top of a Boulder overlooking the city and there’s no one there. So Brittany lifts her dress and kind of like

3 (11m 56s):
Moons and

2 (11m 57s):
Moons us. So Jamal takes a picture of

3 (11m 60s):
Her all the time. Yeah.

2 (12m 1s):
And so Brittany is like posing for the camera and there’s no one there, but Brittany doesn’t know it because she’s too involved in her photo shoots. So I’m like, oh hi. How are you? Good morning, you know, to like an invisible person. But Brittany just throws her dress down. Her face turns like white and she

3 (12m 20s):
Starts running.

2 (12m 21s):
Yeah. She just like quickly looks to see who it is because she’s totally exposing herself. And she realizes that no one was there and I got her so good. Her heart stopped.

4 (12m 33s):
Yep. But minus the heat in that area, that flat irons was a cool little park to just kind of get a good overlook of the city of Boulder, really kind of out in the middle. I don’t want to say the middle of nowhere because it is a city, but yet you feel kind of isolated in nature, just being in the Rockies. So it’s really, really serene and cool park in the area to do a little bit of hiking. We would have done more, but we had a big hike the next day that we were going to do on top of that. But it was just really, really hot, not a lot of shade for us to want to do more at that point. What did we do to cool off

3 (13m 5s):
Rooftop bar

2 (13m 6s):
Rooftop bar

5 (13m 9s):
With margarita

3 (13m 10s):
Margarita

5 (13m 12s):
Favorite?

2 (13m 12s):
And so we went to the rooftop of Rio Grande de

4 (13m 16s):
Not the actual river in

3 (13m 17s):
Boulder.

5 (13m 18s):
And Kim found out a pro tip Kim shared with us.

3 (13m 22s):
Okay. So they have a deal. You can get too many margaritas or you can get one big margarita. And the two mini’s was like a dollar cheaper than the one big and the two minis equals more margarita by volume than the one big what

5 (13m 38s):
A steal,

4 (13m 38s):
Save money, get more.

3 (13m 40s):
And then you can get two flavors. Yeah. And go strawberry.

5 (13m 43s):
I remember, I think I got two mangoes, but oh, they were delicious.

2 (13m 47s):
Yeah.

4 (13m 47s):
So as everyone’s well aware, Kim loves the rooftop bar. This

2 (13m 51s):
Wasn’t,

4 (13m 52s):
This wasn’t, This wasn’t a rooftop bar, but I mean, we’re talking only like three stories high, so it’s not anything big or crazy, but still really nice to have that experience out there in the Rockies. But luckily up there they had umbrellas. They shaded it. It was nice.

3 (14m 9s):
Yeah. Did

4 (14m 10s):
We eat? Or we just got drinks

3 (14m 12s):
And drinks and I think chips and salsa.

4 (14m 13s):
Okay. I was, I don’t remember getting anything to eat specifically

3 (14m 17s):
There because we just had breakfast.

4 (14m 19s):
Yeah. And another thing that Boulder is famous for, I don’t know, maybe the older crowd who listens to us will remember this, but if anyone’s familiar with the story of John Benet, Ramsey, she and her family lived in the area. So we were intrigued because we’re, it really, all of us are into murder mysteries. We

3 (14m 38s):
Love crime. Documenters

4 (14m 39s):
Went to go see her home. Obviously you can’t go in, but the house is still there

5 (14m 44s):
And it was for sale. So it looked pretty vacant and creepy.

2 (14m 47s):
It was like a mile away too from the bar that we were at. And so, you know, we just decided to drive by and it’s just, I can’t believe how big the house was like, it’s big. And it’s a very beautiful neighborhood. And it’s just so crazy because this house is just so dark and gated off and nothing else is gated. It’s just so lively and colorful. And then there’s this house. But I do remember reading that, you know, I know it is for sale, but when they used to have open houses, it was like a lot of looky loos people who are just intrigued with the story who wanted to see the house. So

4 (15m 20s):
Kind of like crazy did go look on the outside. Yeah.

2 (15m 23s):
But I don’t think I would do it.

4 (15m 24s):
It go inside. Yeah. That’s a little much. Yeah. We were just curious to see it. And again, not in a, necessarily a gruesome or creepy way, but we do love like murder mysteries. And as sad as that story is and feeling for her and her loss, family’s lost. It was just really intriguing since we were there. We were like, I just want to see the house

5 (15m 42s):
And her murder happened when we were all alive. So it’s not like we just knew of a random murder in the past that we didn’t live through. This is like something we watched on the news

4 (15m 51s):
Captivated. The news for years

3 (15m 54s):
Still are captivated by it. Yeah.

2 (15m 55s):
I still don’t know who the murderer was. Yeah.

4 (15m 59s):
But after that,

3 (15m 60s):
We thought we would be super tired and want to go back and take a nap and you’re powering through the day

4 (16m 5s):
And we rallied, what did we rally and do the

5 (16m 8s):
Cores to our factory.

2 (16m 9s):
I just got to say that when we were driving around Colorado, I can see why the cores beers, cans look the way that they do it is the exact picture S scene of the Rockies

3 (16m 24s):
Mountains and trees.

2 (16m 26s):
Like if you’ve never been to Colorado, look at a course, can that’s what color feel like you were there?

3 (16m 33s):
Yeah. So we went to the Coors Factory and there’s a line to take a tour free

4 (16m 39s):
Tour,

3 (16m 39s):
Free tour and comes with what, what does it come with?

4 (16m 42s):
Free beer,

3 (16m 43s):
Free beer. Woo, woo. You

4 (16m 45s):
Know,

3 (16m 47s):
That’s why,

5 (16m 49s):
And you don’t even have to forget your whisper cause they give you one, oh,

2 (16m 54s):
LowBlow

3 (16m 56s):
No one had a freak out on this part of the trip.

4 (16m 58s):
So this one was really interesting. It was self guided, but obviously they gave you an electronic device with an ear piece. And I think it was either GPS located or you clicked a button when you were in front of someplace and it told you what number to push. And then it would kind of tell you about this area, their process, et cetera. So it was just really interesting to see, not even just beer, but just a factory of mass production going on. So that was intriguing in and of itself. But obviously the highlight was after we were done with the tour, they have a beer garden at the bottom of the factory and plant and we all had ourselves some free beer. And when it woo. Yeah, when we say free beer, they weren’t just giving little baby cups.

4 (17m 41s):
They were giving almost like full pints.

2 (17m 43s):
I remember getting a little bit, you know, tipsy,

5 (17m 47s):
Even three full samples, just one, not two, three samples. You guys know I can’t handle that. I’m like a one and done girl. So I gave out my, I think my third drink sent me over.

4 (17m 59s):
I unfortunately couldn’t drink too much because I’m obviously always trying.

3 (18m 2s):
So I had to step in and take one for the team here. Thank you,

2 (18m 6s):
Kim, for your noble contribution.

3 (18m 9s):
Also it wasn’t just Coors and Coors light that they had, they had blue moon and they had a bunch of special flavors that they did not sell in any stores outside of Colorado.

4 (18m 20s):
Yeah. So obviously anything that’s under the core’s parent label, they had to try again, blue moon is under that. And yeah, the stuff that they sold in Colorado was actually like craft beer. So you wouldn’t think of Coors as craft beer, but the ones that Kim is referencing, they were craft specialty beers. Even IPA’s really unique compared to what you would think from just cores.

5 (18m 41s):
And I think after this, we did go back to our Airbnb and just kind of rest for a bit because the next thing, and last thing we did for the evening was we went to ale house, which also had another Rooftop. Kim. She picked it. Of course

3 (18m 54s):
I found all the Rooftop bars in the Denver area within a 20 mile radius. And we hit them all. We

4 (19m 1s):
Did three and I think three too many. I

3 (19m 5s):
Can never have enough Rooftop bars.

4 (19m 9s):
I enjoyed the mall. I enjoyed them all. Especially

2 (19m 11s):
The,

3 (19m 12s):
It will be someone that wouldn’t have a good time when Rooftop, okay.

2 (19m 16s):
Show me someone. Who’s not going to have a good time with us.

5 (19m 19s):
That’s true. That’s true. So at your house, we had a dinner with a view of downtown.

3 (19m 24s):
It wasn’t like a high Rooftop. I think it was just like two or three stories

4 (19m 27s):
At the time we were eating was starting to get dark. So the city lights were starting to come on to.

3 (19m 32s):
And then we kind of called it an early night because we had been up so early with such little sleep and we started the next day bright and early. Was this your actual birthday? Jamal?

4 (19m 42s):
No, it wasn’t. We were in Denver, maybe like three days before my birthday,

2 (19m 47s):
But your birthday was a Wednesday,

4 (19m 49s):
But this was my easy day.

5 (19m 51s):
Yeah, it was your easy day. So you guys, In Episode five, we talked about road tripping to Sequoia and Kings canyon, national park. And specifically we got lost in Kings canyon.

3 (20m 2s):
Wasn’t my fault.

5 (20m 4s):
And Jamal on our way home specifically said on our next trip together, I do not want to height. And this is a trip we took for his birthday.

3 (20m 15s):
He also said on my birthday, I do not want to hike.

5 (20m 19s):
So I planned a trip and we hiked.

2 (20m 24s):
And if you could see Jamal’s face, he’s giving his famous Scott,

3 (20m 28s):
He’s giving the same score. He gave us when we forgot our passports in China,

4 (20m 33s):
Disappointment. No, but I ended up having fun, but I don’t know how many times I have to tell Brittany, like I still want to hike. Like when I do it, obviously I have a lot of fun, but sometimes I just want to do nothing on my birthday. I kind of sit and relax. And so Brittany always takes, and I say this with love makes me do what she wants to do on my birthday.

5 (20m 52s):
Yeah. So we hiked Rocky mountain national park and then his next birthday, I made him hike, Carlsbad caverns. And then what did it make you do the following birthday after that small

4 (21m 2s):
Channel islands? Yeah.

3 (21m 5s):
So you always go hiking for your birthday.

4 (21m 7s):
Luckily this year or not this year 2020 coming up, my birthday is going to be on a weekday. So we really can’t do anything. I don’t think

5 (21m 15s):
We can.

4 (21m 17s):
But anyway. Yeah. So we woke up the next day here on Sunday to do hiking at Rocky mountain national park, which for all the shit that I’m giving Brittany about making me hike one, we had a good time too. I was looking forward to it because obviously we love to hit off the national parks. So this was another check mark off the list of the national parks

2 (21m 37s):
For the record. I don’t know what happened, but I was sick this weekend. So,

3 (21m 42s):
Well, this was bad. You were like neti, potting it up at the Airbnb.

2 (21m 45s):
It was. And Brittany rented a two bedroom Airbnb and I gave Kim the bedroom and I slept on the couch. Yeah. Because I’m like, okay, well clearly it would be really disrespectful to sleep next to Kim in my state. So

4 (21m 58s):
Thank you. Went to Walgreens to actually buy in any pot. I

2 (22m 1s):
Did. I

4 (22m 2s):
Remember that.

2 (22m 3s):
And she also gave me a demonstration of how to use the neti pot. You’re such a good brother. They really are. They really are. But I want you to know that not even a cold can keep me out of the Rocky mountains. I wasn’t about to sit it out and you know, if I needed a break, they gave me a break. So it was good.

4 (22m 17s):
Yeah. Something almost did keep us off the trail that we wanted to do though.

2 (22m 22s):
No,

4 (22m 24s):
It’s always a bear with you.

3 (22m 24s):
It’s very crowded in summer at Rocky mountain national park. There’s a lot of crowds as with any national park in the summer. It’s the peak season.

5 (22m 33s):
There was a huge line for the shuttle and we needed to take the shuttle to get to the Trailhead because there was no more parking left at the trail ahead. And the line was so long shuttle.

3 (22m 44s):
It was waited like 30 minutes in it before we decided to leave it.

5 (22m 49s):
And the shuttle buses were coming and picking people up, but it was just too much. So we’re like, screw this. We went back inside and I talked to a ranger and I’m like, what hike would you recommend? Instead, he actually gave us a really good recommendation. He recommended the deer mountain trail and we were able to drive to the trail, head and park there. And it was a really nice summit.

3 (23m 11s):
Yeah. And it turned out to be really nice forested trail. Not many people on it. No.

4 (23m 16s):
How many people I know is completely shaded, not once. Were we in direct sun at that was enough for me to love it. Yeah, no bears on the trail. Those Aina right.

2 (23m 26s):
Not Myers on the trail. No shits on the trail

4 (23m 29s):
To stop.

3 (23m 30s):
After the national park, we went back to the Airbnb to shower chill for a minute before we were going to go out on the town, where did

5 (23m 39s):
We go?

3 (23m 40s):
Rooftop bars. Yes. I went to this place called linger. That was in a central part of Denver. And it was really cute. They had an old, what are those like trailer

4 (23m 52s):
Volkswagen bus? I thought it was, that was kind of cut out to be the bar

3 (23m 56s):
Camper trailer kind of hipster looking thing. And that’s what they made the bar out of. They just had a bunch of cool stuff up there. We were lounging drinking.

4 (24m 4s):
This was actually the highest rooftop bar of the Rooftop bars. That was

3 (24m 8s):
The best one we went to. Yeah.

2 (24m 10s):
And I think we were looking over a little man ice cream.

5 (24m 12s):
We have more.

2 (24m 14s):
So the only next logical step is to go down and get some little man ice cream.

3 (24m 19s):
And it’s a little man ice cream is a little old ice cream tin or milk tin, how they used to have it back in the day, but it’s gigantic. And that’s the building. So it’s really cute and really good ice cream.

5 (24m 29s):
And there was a way line, not only on the sidewalk, but around the corner. Yeah.

3 (24m 34s):
It was a huge, and they had live music going on out there and people were just sitting in the courtyard and chilling. It was great vibe

2 (24m 40s):
And the ice cream was pretty bomb. I don’t know if people say bomb anymore, but I

3 (24m 43s):
Did say bomb all the time.

4 (24m 46s):
I just think that place had the first real Denver vibes that I felt, I don’t want to say it, the hipster town now or anything like that. But I think kind of is, but I don’t want to label it and have any of our listeners in Colorado be a little upset. But I felt like when we were at linger and then got little man down there that we were just kind of in an ambiance of their current culture and it was really nice. Yeah.

2 (25m 10s):
Well I think this is also the first time that we’ve been downtown because we were in Boulder the day before and we were hiking all day this day. So it’s like our first

5 (25m 19s):
Limps of downtown. Yeah. So our next day we hit up Red Rocks Amphitheater.

3 (25m 24s):
It’s one of the must sees, went in the area it’s beautiful. And we didn’t get a chance to see a musical show there. And that kind of sucks. It would be amazing to see one there, but it’s open to the public during the day.

4 (25m 36s):
A lot of people were going there just to like hike it because of all the steps. Why don’t you tell people what red rock actually is? Kim

3 (25m 44s):
It’s natural red rock formations that they’ve built an amphitheater inside of. So where there’s a stage and like amphitheater style seating. There’s huge Red Rocks in the background. Like you’re in the middle of a mountain. It’s really cool.

4 (25m 58s):
So a lot of people, like we said, it’s open to the public, go there to actually do hiking. We saw people walking their dogs out there. So beyond just four shows, definitely a tourist attraction and local attraction to do hiking and exploring of some of the mountainous areas out there. And

2 (26m 14s):
You know, what else was out there heat.

3 (26m 16s):
And it was very, a

2 (26m 16s):
Lot of heat.

3 (26m 17s):
So we were there at the end of July and it was very hot. I would love to go back and see it when it’s snowing me.

2 (26m 23s):
Oh, how beautiful would that be? Oh my goodness.

5 (26m 26s):
So from there we went to downtown and Kim and I actually put other clothing in the car so that we can change or

3 (26m 35s):
Drop

5 (26m 36s):
Jane change for midday because we were headed to Afternoon Tea in at D

4 (26m 43s):
What does the D stand for?

3 (26m 45s):
Kim likes the D yeah.

2 (26m 49s):
It’s interesting because they have a D bar. Well, they did have the D bar here in San Diego and it originated in Denver. And also we didn’t mention this, but this morning we ate at snooze. I believe it was this morning. Oh,

3 (26m 59s):
That’s right. We snooze.

2 (27m 2s):
And

3 (27m 3s):
Don’t miss that.

2 (27m 4s):
Yes. That originated in Denver. But they have one here in San Diego and they don’t take reservations and it’s a line out the door and they closed by like what? 12 to 2:00 PM. Yeah. So we totally hit up the two places that we have in San Diego

3 (27m 22s):
DVR isn’t open in San Diego anymore, but we did make a reservation for afternoon tea here because Brittany and I are in love with afternoon tea.

2 (27m 30s):
It’s fun. It’s

3 (27m 31s):
Really fun. And it’s

5 (27m 33s):
You, you, you get to dress up and all of the foods,

3 (27m 37s):
I love little foods to eat,

5 (27m 42s):
But the lemon curd at D bar. Oh my God. Mm mm. It was so bad. I literally came of that lemon curd.

4 (27m 50s):
I don’t remember it. I don’t remember

3 (27m 53s):
It. Wow. It was fricking bomb. I

5 (27m 56s):
Would say you probably remember like the clotted Britain, Jamal.

4 (27m 59s):
I love clotted cream. Give me a clot, a cream and a scone.

3 (28m 3s):
You remember the cranberry lay?

4 (28m 5s):
I do. It’s not as good as mine.

3 (28m 8s):
And they had little mini, grilled cheese and a little tomato soup to dividends.

4 (28m 14s):
Do you remember that? That was, that, that one was actually pretty good

2 (28m 17s):
For Debar. I believe you do need reservations.

3 (28m 21s):
Most of them you do.

2 (28m 22s):
So make sure you make the reservations. Don’t just walk in and tell them that the Travel Squad sent you.

3 (28m 27s):
We’re looking for afternoon tea in Denver, go to Debar highly recommend

2 (28m 31s):
You tell them. After you made the reservations that the Travel Squad saying you,

5 (28m 35s):
The bar is located in the downtown area. And so while we were there, we roamed downtown and went to the convention center to see the big blue bear. Oh,

3 (28m 43s):
It’s so cute.

2 (28m 44s):
It was cute.

5 (28m 45s):
It looks like it’s peeking into the window of the convention center.

4 (28m 48s):
That’s the only bear we saw on the trip.

2 (28m 53s):
I mean, it’s the only bear that we saw, but who knows

3 (28m 55s):
What they’re saying? It’s true.

2 (28m 58s):
Denver reminds me a lot of San Diego because Denver has a lot of the craft breweries, which just like us. And when we were in Aurora, we went to a coffee shop that is owned by

4 (29m 10s):
Yeah. Legends, legends, coffee. Yeah. My friend Tyson. Wickline who I went to school with that Woodland Christian. I mean, I’m friends with his brother, too. Jake. He owns a coffee shop in Denver, not downtown Denver. I’m trying to think of Laura. So I specific, thank you for reminding me of that. Then give a shout out to him. Yeah, we specifically, it was delicious. We specifically wanted to go there to try his coffee and he’s opened it from the ground up himself. Really, really nice. Really good coffee. Cool. Little hangout atmosphere. Put Starbucks to shame, huh? Yeah.

2 (29m 45s):
Yeah. So go there and tell them Jamal, since you

4 (29m 49s):
Will know who that is.

5 (29m 52s):
So really we only spent three full days in Denver. And so Monday, which is the day we’re talking about now was our final day before we flew home and we had some time to kill. And so we went to a place called 10 barrel brewery before our flight. Yeah.

3 (30m 7s):
It was just a chill, a little brewery we were at. And as we were sitting there though waiting for the time to come to go to the airport, we kind of realized we could have crammed all of this into two days and not taken Monday off.

5 (30m 19s):
We did realize

3 (30m 20s):
That it really could have gone a little harder and save that one PTO day.

4 (30m 23s):
That’s definitely true. So if anyone’s planning on trip, but I’m glad that we didn’t considering the unforeseen of the flight delay that we had, because if we tried to really do all this in two days, considering the flight delay, obviously I know, of course I

3 (30m 39s):
Know I’ve hit all those Rooftop bars. I have a

4 (30m 40s):
Lot of faith in the Ts squat here, but nonetheless, it would have been a little rough. Yeah.

2 (30m 46s):
Yeah. And I think the other thing that you have to take into account is that we travel a lot and we’re go, go, go. So if we were to put this in two days, it would have been a lot, but we would have been able to do it. So go at your own pace on what you think you can do. Not what we’re telling you. We can do.

3 (31m 2s):
Anything’s possible though.

2 (31m 4s):
Yes, I do believe that.

4 (31m 5s):
Well, I, thing that was really cool about 10 barrel brewery and where we were, it was in a district that, what do you remember the name of

3 (31m 14s):
The district?

4 (31m 15s):
Yeah. And if it has a specific name, we’ll put it in the show notes, but it was really interesting because a lot of the buildings that they had there, I don’t want to say they were graffitied or tagged because that’s not what it was, but they were like painted by local artists and murals. And it was just really cool vibe in that area. So yeah.

3 (31m 34s):
Called the rhino art district and rhino stands for river north.

4 (31m 39s):
Yeah. I knew it was a specific district to them. They’re so perfect. Yeah. That was really cool. So even if you’re not going there to just drink beer, check out the murals that they have painted, that’s really interesting part of their city. Okay.

2 (31m 50s):
Apparently it looks like they now have a 10 barrel brewing here in San Diego.

3 (31m 54s):
I’ve been to it

2 (31m 54s):
On east street.

4 (31m 56s):
Yeah.

3 (31m 56s):
That’s a nice brewery. It’s two story as well.

2 (31m 59s):
Oh wow. Denver is just populating here as here in San Diego.

3 (32m 2s):
A lot of similarities between the two right at home there.

5 (32m 6s):
So do you guys have any final thoughts before we move into questions of the week? Nope,

3 (32m 11s):
But I am ready for your questions of the week.

5 (32m 14s):
Well, I had one final thought. Okay. What is it by a final thought was when you go to national parks, it’s good to have a hike in mind or things that you want to do in mind. But when things don’t work out, go ask the Rangers because they do have a lot of good recommendations

3 (32m 28s):
They really

5 (32m 29s):
Do. And they will get you to places that are off the beaten path. And I’ve never gone wrong with a ranger recommendation.

4 (32m 34s):
Yeah. Because I mean, the Rangers they’re out there actually hiking these things themselves, you know, people don’t become Rangers without liking nature, be hikers themselves. So yes, there’s the main things, which is what we did the research on, on the original hype that we’ve wanted to do. But that recommendation was great. Cam it’s your time.

2 (32m 55s):
I should know the week

3 (32m 57s):
Questions of the week. Do do, do, do, do. Okay.

7 (33m 2s):
What rhymes with weak

3 (33m 3s):
Weed. And that is our first listener question actually. So Colorado was one of the first states or the first state to legalize marijuana and

4 (33m 11s):
Recreationally

3 (33m 12s):
Recreationally. And so we went there a couple of years ago. This was before it was legal in California. So we were wondering the same thing. And the question is, what’s it like there with weed being legal? You know, you could think in your head there’s pot shops everywhere. And there’s people smoking everywhere, but that was not the case.

5 (33m 28s):
No, we rarely saw people. You

3 (33m 29s):
Wouldn’t even realize that it was legal. They do have dispensaries that are open to the public. You don’t have to be a Colorado resident, which you can go in and check out. Even if you’re not planning to buy any weed, it’s just a cool experience. But yeah, you wouldn’t know any different, it’s just a part, it’s not a big deal.

5 (33m 44s):
Right. Another question that we got was, do you really need to rent a car? Yeah, absolutely.

3 (33m 48s):
Yeah. Yeah. I would say because it’s so spread out,

5 (33m 51s):
Everything that we wanted to do, Denver is so central to so many different areas and because of everything that we wanted to do and complete, and there not being a lot of public transit to those areas, I think it’s absolutely necessary to have a car.

4 (34m 3s):
Our final question was, does the altitude affect you? So we’ve obviously all heard the name mile high city. If you

2 (34m 11s):
Haven’t, you’re hearing it now

3 (34m 13s):
Now not to be confused with the monologue

4 (34m 15s):
Club. Definitely not to be confused.

5 (34m 19s):
Jamal and I joined the Maya high club on our way to the mile high city,

4 (34m 28s):
But no. So it’s called, Denver’s called that because of its higher elevation, close to an actual mile of 5,280 feet. So one of the questions again, does the altitude affect you? And if you’re in downtown Denver or any of the other areas, not necessarily so much, you need to be kind of at an altitude for most people have about 8,000 feet. So if you actually start doing some hiking in the Rockies, potentially,

5 (34m 53s):
Actually someone did die in the Rockies a few weeks after we came back,

3 (34m 57s):
Did they fall?

5 (34m 58s):
No, it was due to Alta.

3 (34m 60s):
Oh, well be careful guys take it slow. You’ll definitely feel it in your breath if you are experiencing altitude sickness. So just slow down, drink water, go to a lower elevation

5 (35m 11s):
Descend.

4 (35m 12s):
But like I said within downtown, not necessarily, but again to Brittany’s reference of what happened in the Rockies, doing some Hiking could potentially have it happen. So if you’re not, don’t worry about it. Yeah,

3 (35m 22s):
You’ll be fine. And on that note,

5 (35m 25s):
That was Jamal’s birthday weekend and

2 (35m 27s):
Denver in a nutshell

4 (35m 29s):
Made me take a day off of work.

3 (35m 32s):
You guys have ever been to Denver. If you have any questions that you’d like us to answer on the podcast, please either hit us up on Instagram at Travel Squad Podcast, or email us at Travel Squad Podcast at gmail.com. And we will be sure to address all of your questions in a next episode. All right. Thanks guys. Thank you so much for listening. I hope you enjoyed learning about Denver and Boulder and the surrounding area, and I’ve hoped that we’ve inspired you to take this trip for yourself

4 (35m 57s):
As always, please subscribe to our podcast, leave a review, tell us what you’d like and tune in every travel Tuesday for new episodes.

2 (36m 5s):
And if you aren’t already be sure to follow us on Instagram and Twitter at Travel Squad Podcast,

5 (36m 10s):
To make sure to pack your bags, grab your passport. Because next week we are taking you to Cusco Peru, and I

3 (36m 16s):
Have a juicy story for you. All right. Bye guys.

5 (36m 21s):
Bye