The Barr Scene

My first time actually exploring the Mile High City! Corey took a trip there when he was in high school. We had a layover in Denver together once which ended up being quite memorable… because it is where Corey proposed to me!

With a week between cruises, we agreed to a wonderful housesitting opportunity in Denver that lined up with our dates perfectly.

Our last cruise ended with several back to back port days. So after a 24-hour travel day post-disembarkation, and all the walking we did in the ports, I was exhausted. So why not take cat naps with these adorable cats?

Mansion Tour

We met a travel nomad friend, Kirsten, for a walking tour around the city. We clocked 10 miles that day and saw a lot of the downtown area.

One of the historic homes on the GPSMyCity Walk

First, we walked through Capitol Hill on a GPSMyCity Mansion Tour. There are so many lovely historical homes in this area, dating back to the silver boom of the 1800’s. Some of the houses had turned into museums like the “Unsinkable” Molly Brown House Museum. Others have turned into hotels, and some were for sale!

Molly Brown’s house with the sun shining brightly overhead

Downtown and Food

We walked into the CBD and enjoyed eating a Denver omelette at Sam’s No. 3, a local diner with high-quality food. The Denver is one of my favorite omelettes so I had to eat it here! Later in the afternoon we paused at the patio for Cheesecake Factory. We splurged on a slice of dulce de leche. The portion sizes are so big back in America!

Highlights from checking out downtown with Kirsten

Dinner with Lindsay

Excellent happy hour at Jax Fish House. We met over oysters and gumbo fries. It was so nice to catch up after 20 years! I hate the cesspool of disinformation on Facebook but I love that it enables me to maintain my wonderful long distance friendships.

Tennis in the Park

The Berkeley Park Tennis Courts were a short walk from where we stayed. We would have liked to have played more but we were a little busier than anticipated. The weather mostly cooperated and we got two sessions in before the snow started.

Really nice set of courts in a lovely park

Golden

We rented a car for our last 24 hours in town. It was the same price to take public transit to the airport and pick up a rental car as it would have been to just Uber to the Airport. And with the car rental, we got to do some sightseeing. There’s a lot to see right outside of Denver!

Though it had snowed the day before, it was bright and sunny on our last day. We took the short drive west to Golden for a quick walk around.

We strolled along the creek path that flows through town.

It was a quaint city that looked like a lot of fun in warmer months – tubing and craft beer. Next time I would also like to do the Coors beer tour.

From Golden it was a short drive to the famous outdoor venue which is only 14 miles from downtown Denver. I was not prepared to be so amazed.

Red Rocks Amphitheater

We were stunned by the beauty of the terrain. We visited during a day when there were no events. The whole area is open as a park with hiking trails and scenic drives, and you can just park and walk through the amphitheater itself. It had snowed the day before which made the colors stand out even more.

Would love to catch a performance here in the future

Final Musings

*I See What You Mean* sculpture at Convention Center, aka the “Big Blue Bear”

I loved our short time in Denver! It felt a lot like Seattle but with more cowboy hats. We saw similar restaurants and overall felt similar vibes.

We stayed in the Berkeley neighborhood which felt just like walking around Ballard. There were loads of great breweries, fantastic restaurants, and a young hip scene overall.

Cinnamon roll biscuit & biscuit sandwich at Atomic Cowboy in Berkeley

We were lucky to have great weather and had temps near 80, which was unseasonably warm. The nights were cool though and we woke up to snow the last two days.

Next up for us is a return to Europe via a repositioning cruise.