Denver, CO
City Recap
Here is our “Fun For The Whole Family” 3 months Denver Recap.
This was the first city we lived in since we decided to embark on this travel journey. We were eager to get here after visiting with family, friends and the east coast beaches three weeks prior.
When we got to our new place in East Denver, it was a Thursday and 102 degrees. The swamp cooler (I had to Google swamp cooler FYI) wasn’t working yet and wouldn’t be until Monday. It was too hot to cook, so this was an opportunity to start sampling Denver’s food scene. We sampled over 50 different restaurants in the Denver area during our 3+ months here. As we have mentioned, there is no cuisine off limits for us. We tried, Thai, Vietnamese, Steakhouses, Sushi, Pizza, various breakfast places, etc. Denver doesn’t have its own cuisine like Charleston, SC has its low country / southern cooking or New Orleans has Cajun style. Denver does have many great restaurants. We had our favorites such as Snooze, Denver Biscuit, & Thai Pot Cafe. They also love their pork green chilé in Denver and the best we found was at Ranch House Café (corner of Colfax and Syracuse).
We saw some amazing sites such as Pikes Peak, RMNP, Mt. Evans and of course Red Rocks, but we didn’t get around to doing as much hiking as we wanted to. Having a toddler, the goal is to tire him out before he tires us out. That would be reversed if I carried him in the child carrier backpack! 😊 For our son, we thought he’d get bored just sitting in the backpack for multiple hours. So we stuck with the smaller parks such as Roxborough and Cherry Creek State Park that he can hop in the stroller or walk the trails.
Denver is extremely dog-friendly. Just about every restaurant has dog treats and water bowls for their patron’s pups. We saw “dog parking” with a sunshade at Trader Joes and dog washrooms at car washes. We even saw a herd of golden retrievers at a bar!
Denver is also VERY bike friendly. Many of the apartments we looked at had dedicated spaces in their garages for bicycles. I had mentioned Cherry Creek Bike Path before but there are many other bike paths. If you’re up for a challenge, bike up Mt Evans!
Getting around Denver – traffic is a lot worse than when I was there back in 2012. They are just starting a major highway construction project on I25 which is supposed to last for 3.5 years. A lot of people have their own bicycles to get around, but Uber has new pedal assisted electric bicycles. Ubers company is called Jump. These are the red bikes you’ll see strategically placed all over the city. Then there are the e-scooters (electric scooters). A few thousand have been added in the city in recent months by BIRD & LimeBike. I’ve seen ladies in skirts riding the scooters to work. The laws are; bicycles are to be on the road, scooters on the sidewalk. That doesn’t seem to be very well enforced. I’ve almost been run over coming out of a store by a cyclist riding on the sidewalk. Those scooters go pretty dang fast to be on sidewalks (up to 15mph). I believe someone is going to get seriously hurt and then the laws will be changed. UPDATE: 1/8/19 -Denver just passed a law to be implemented within a few weeks; use bike lanes whenever possible, stay at or below 15mph, ride in the rode when bike lanes aren’t available – unless speeds exceed 30mph, stay on the right of roadways, unless it’s unsafe, only use the sidewalk when other options aren’t available, stay below 6mph on sidewalks, yield to pedestrians and obey traffic signals.
All in all, we were in Denver for 94 days. We saw the sun ALL 94 days. They say Denver has more sunshine days than San Diego!! If you’re going to the mountains, bring layers and go early. Storms tend to pop up out of nowhere mostly in the afternoons.
Dispensaries, homeless people and tattoo shops are all over Denver but don’t be alarmed, you don’t smell marijuana like we thought we would and the homeless never bothered us.
A couple of other things we enjoyed; we went to Boulder for a day, ate at Brasserie Ten Ten (Yum!) and strolled through the Pearl Street outdoor mall. The best brussel sprouts we’ve ever eaten were at Brazen Neighborhood Eatery in the Berkeley neighborhood. Best sunset view over the mountains was on the 27th floor of Hyatt Regency’s Pikes Peak Lounge. The 16th Street Mall is a little touristy for me but a must do if you’re new in town. The Botanic Gardens in Denver were a big hit. They even have their own children’s gardens. Lookout Mountain is a quick drive from Denver, with views of the city and the Foothills. In the summer, City Park hosts a jazz festival every Sunday evening. We were 3 of the 7,000 people sharing the great music on one of the small lakes while eating some goodies from the food trucks. There are parks on what seems to be every 4th block or so all over Denver. Shea probably used a slide or two at over a dozen of them!
Our favorite Farmers Market was Old South Pearl Street Farmers Market in the Platt Park Neighborhood. On the same road is Sushi Den. I believe it was a case of a place being so built up based on their reviews that we were actually let down. It was still the best sushi we had in Denver.
I followed links like 5280 Magazine, Always Choose Adventures – Colorado, #DenverEats, other various independent foodie accounts etc on Facebook and Instagram before I came out looking for hidden gems on entertainment, food & the outdoors.
For us, the outdoors is the biggest allure to Denver. Thank You Denver, we will definitely be back in hopes of summiting some of those gorgeous 14’ers, because we know that driving up to Mt. Evans and Pikes Peak doesn’t count!!!
Below are some outdoor items that you may be interested in 😊
Activities To Do In And Around The City
The National Park Junior Ranger Program has educated our son...and us immensely. We all love…
Cherry Creek Bike Path ⦁ 42-mile paved path stretching from Downtown Denver to Franktown. Yes,…
Larkspur, CO ⦁ I’ll start off by saying the female characters/employees all over the…
⦁ 1- 1 ¼ hour south of Denver ⦁ We tried to see the United…
⦁ Mt. Evans is about a 1 ½ hour drive from Denver. ⦁ 3rd time…
⦁ This a great escape from the city. They have 2 well-manicured flower gardens, playgrounds,…
⦁ You can obviously see a concert there, I’ve seen Old Crow Medicine Show…
⦁ $7 Park entry fee ($70 for State Annual Pass) ⦁ Stroller friendly. ⦁…
This is one of my HAPPY places!! GO BRONCOS !!! ⦁ Get their…
⦁ FREE ⦁ Open from May through the end of September. ⦁ This splash…
⦁ $14 for ages 2-64, $12 children age 1, FREE under 1 ⦁ Tuesdays…
⦁ $20 park entry fee ⦁ This is about 3 ½ hours from Denver.…
$25 to enter but I recommend getting an annual pass for $80 if you’re…
We went to their Lowry location. They now have a 2nd location at Centennial Airport.…
⦁ They have been making candy since 1920. They produce over 10 million HAND…
⦁ $16.95 for adults, $11.95 3-18, FREE under 3 (planetarium and IMAX not included…
⦁ Children under 3 that are sitting in your lap are FREE ⦁ Go…
⦁ Adults $5, Kids 2-12 $3, Kids under 2 are free The train ride…
Best Places to Eat
Quince Essential Coffee House 1447 Quince St ⦁ House converted to a cool, quirky…
Maddie’s Restaurant 2425 S. Downing St ⦁ This was the review that I posted…
Pho 888 Vietnamese Noodle & Grill 539 Sable Blvd, Aurora ⦁ We came here…
Snooze an AM Eatery 700 N. Colorado Blvd ⦁ This is a real deal…
Denver Biscuit Company (we have been to their Colfax and Stanley Marketplace locations) ⦁…
Elway’s 2500 E. 1st Ave – Cherry Creek location (there's another in Downtown Denver) …
Thai Pot Café 1350 S. Colorado Blvd Suite 191 ⦁ This was the only…
Health & Fitness
7505 E. 35th Ave #302 - Stapleton area ⦁ I went here after pulling…
Denver Bronco / Mile High Stadium ⦁ This is a run/walk event that benefitted…
24 Hour Fitness – Lowry location – 7600 E. Academy Blvd ⦁ This is…
Fitwall – 2795 Speer Blvd #2 – Highlands ⦁ This is a relatively new…
Max Muscle Nutrition – 1550 S. Colorado Blvd ⦁ We originally came here because…
Onus IV - 2242 W 29th Ave ⦁ A few weeks after arriving in…
Crossfit Park Hill - 7200 E. Colfax Ave ⦁ I joined in the fun…
Currently using the pool at the Holiday Inn @ 455 S. Colorado Blvd while their…
Denver Bicycle - 6420 E. Colfax Ave ⦁ Inside True Value Hardware – just…
Misc Services
Supercuts 6110 E. Colfax Ave. #4 ⦁ We had tried 2 different haircutters before…
I met Laura through CrossFit Park Hill where we attended the 5am CrossFit class…
Stan’s Alignment & Brake Services – 1520 Chester St., Aurora ⦁ I needed to…