oh colorado. i missed you. your craft beers, snow kissed mountains, delicious food and your 80 degree weather in october. it was nothing short of a perfect weekend. i am so grateful for this life that has given me the opportunity to travel & to experience life with friends both near & far. and i am beyond blessed to have a friend that has become family after so many years. this birthday present was incredible and more than everything else that we did, just being able to sit and talk to tracie for the weekend and laugh was more than i could have ever asked for. knowing that whenever we see each other it’s like a day hasn’t gone by we haven’t been together. that kind of comfort in a friend happens very few times in a lifetime. they’re the ones you know will always be there, forever. through your big and small moments in life. they know all your most embarrassing moments (b/c they partook in most of them), stood beside you at your wedding, flew in and stayed up all night for days so you could rest a little after your first child. the ones who tell you that everything will be okay and make you actually believe it. and that will fly you around the country and pamper you for your birthday because they know you can’t do it as often as you would like anymore. the good ones. the best ones. i am so lucky. thank you tracie, for an incredible weekend. i had so much fun.
and also, thank you to my amazing amazing husband who has been my absolute rock lately. you have been so supportive of me lately also. between all your do for madison & i day in and day out as mr. mom in the mornings, to being behind my decision to completely change career paths, forcing us to juggle schedules even more, to even this weekend… and all the little things you did to make sure i had a great time even though you knew i missed you & madison so much (and have major anxiety about being away from you both). my faith in you has only grown stronger lately, and i love you. so happy to get to share this life with you.
THE EATS & DRINKS
pinche taqueria – street tacos in a restaurant & they might be the best i’ve ever had… get the rajas con crema y maiz (roasted chile poblano, creamed chipotle corn, cotija, sour cream) & the pollo a la crema (braised chicken and spinach, creamy chipotle sauce, cotija cheese, sour cream). the creamed chipotle sauce is border line crack. i would like to swim in it. daily.
osteria marco – incredible italian restaurant. no pasta though, which i was upset about at first, until i ate everything in site. we didn’t need pasta. every single dish was amazing. start with the burrata (you HAVE to), we also did a round of the focaccia col formaggio. and for an entree i had the short rib with red wine risotto, parmesan crisp and buttered broccolini. i have never in my life had better short rib. order it. tracie had the rabbit which was equally amazing. two enthusiastic thumbs up.
great divide brewing company – one of my favorite things about colorado is the craft beer scene. it’s amazing! there are so many breweries and little gastropubs i feel i could go my whole life without trying them all! the GD is one i have been wanting to try & it did not disappoint – 3 for $3 flights (um… what?!) and a super laid back tap room attached to the actual brewery where they do tours on the weekends on the hour. we tried the hercules, the titan, the seasonal peach cream & the nomad. hercules was by far my favorite of the night. tracie really really hated the peach cream (as you can see from the photos). she said it tasted like dog shampoo smelled…. think about that one for a minute
the snooze – they say breakfast is the most important part of the day, and it was my the only part of my day on sunday. we ate so much and couldn’t stop. it was that good. we shared an upside down pineapple pancake to start, along with a brewmosa. i think ordered the breakfast burrito which was the size of a small infant. smothered in green chile which was phenomenal. i miss good green chile in new york. i wanted to bottle this stuff up and take it with me. tracie’s was equally delicious. she had the eggs benedict (the bella bella benny to be exact) and the Taleggio cheese mixed with the cream cheese hollandaise… well, it was a party in your mouth. best breakfast ever.
the terminal bar – this bar was inside the historic ticket office at union station. you order your beer from the ticket counters and they feature a TON of local craft beers. it’s was unique, large & the beer selection was amazing. my newly recommended beer from the list is the black shirt brewing company – red rye pale ale
THE HIKE
i am not so outdoorsy. and i have never understood hiking. i remember when i was little we used to go and i would pout. why would we walk up this huge mountain just to turn around and walk down? what is the point? those were the questions i found myself asking. but ironically i found myself really enjoying our hike in boulder on sunday. maybe i have finally grown up a little and started to appreciate things for what they are (plus i ate that huge burrito before the hike, so i needed to burn it off. lets be serious here). we did the royal arch hike which is a 3.2 mile route along the boulder flatirons. i was more agile than i expected (you can laugh) and i found myself wanting to rock climb. i think i have found a new thing i want to get into… hiking & rock climbing? not sure brian is going to get on board
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