One quick highlight I forgot to mention during our trek through the Midwest - we booked our Round The World flights! After months of research and numerous spreadsheets, we finally committed to a general route and timetable for the remaining non-US portion of our trip!
Friday morning in Denver was a frustrating but necessary and productive use of five hours: Alex and I spent that time camped out in our hotel's business center researching the requirements and application process for many of our upcoming travel visas. We knew we needed to dedicate some of our current travel time to booking future travel, but it was still frustrating to hunker down and plan logistics while missing out on a perfect day in Denver! After printing and sending all of our necessary paperwork, we headed downtown to enjoy the rest of the day with a late lunch and some sightseeing.
Our first stop was the Civic Center Park, a green area surrounded by imposing government buildings and the very modern Denver Art Museum.
City and County Building at Civic Center Park.
Colorado State Capital building.
Sculpture in front of the Denver Art Museum.
One of the first things we noticed about downtown Denver was how clean and new everything seemed: numerous pedestrian- and biker-friendly areas, very well-manicured gardens in front of almost every building, green spaces galore and almost no trash. On top of its prime skiing and hiking location, Denver also has great bars and restaurants - we can see why people love it here (and it's not just because of recent state legislation!).
The weather was unseasonably hot - nearly 90 degrees - so after an afternoon of trekking around we were ready to cool off with a drink (or two). First, we headed to the Denver Beer Company brewery, located in the upscale Highlands neighborhood, which reminded us a lot of Brooklyn (particularly the semi-outdoor brew-pub atmosphere).
Outside patio at the Denver Beer Company.
Next, we stopped at a speakeasy I had read about, Williams & Graham, which had an altogether different feel from an outdoor beer garden: it was dark, had no windows and required a wait just to grab a drink at the bar.
Downstairs at the Williams & Graham speakeasy.
After enjoying a craft cocktail consisting mostly of bourbon (what else?) we were ready to eat. We snagged a quick meal at Linger, also located in the Highlands neighborhood, but opted not to wait in the hour-long line for dessert at the famous Little Man Ice Cream next door. I guess we'll just have to save that for our next visit! Tomorrow we head north 30 miles to Boulder and are looking forward to spending some time outdoors.