Our Sweet Valentine's Day!

This past weekend was Valentine's Day and it has to have been one of the best, if not the best ever.  Sean planned a night for us at the The Broadmoor, a famous resort in Colorado Springs.  It was like nothing we'd ever been to.  After a crepe breakfast, with strawberries and cream, we set out for the Springs.  It was about an hour drive away and the drive was beautiful!  It was a hazy afternoon and the mountains on our right looked surreal.  When we arrived at the Broadmoor we were both taken back at the views and the resort.  They thought of everything!  There were no rooms left, so Sean had no choice but to get us a suite.  The nicest room I've ever stayed in.  It had a great view, a fireplace, and lots of space to really enjoy.  We popped some champagne and were ready to take it all in.  Sean surprised me with a beautiful pearl necklace to wear on our wedding day, and of course yesterday.  I really wasn't expecting anything like that, or anything at all really. I made him some gluten free chocolate chip cookies and we both enjoyed those.

We walked around the grounds and relaxed before our dinner at 8.  

The Menu Affair

Last night Sean and I attended an event at the Fillmore, a famous music venue, presented by Westword, a local newspaper. They featured over 30 of Denver's restaurants, ranging from all kinds of cuisines. At first it was a little overwhelming, so many tables to visit and dishes to try! Our first stop however...the bar! We both tried a new vodka by Finlandia, grapefruit flavored. It actually wasn't bad! I'm a big grapefruit fan, and mixed with a little soda water, it worked! On to the food! A small plate of hummus and vegetables, which was a nice start. We later passed another table with hummus and pita bread. I enjoy a good hummus, so it's nice to know you can find it here when you're eating out. A change from a heavier appetizer. Next we had a sampling of spinach salad with walnuts, diced apple, dried cranberry and a balsamic vinaigrette. Again, a nice starter. I was feeling good about the night because I had a feeling I was going to over do it. We passed on the chili table, which I think I regret, and moved on to the other side of the room. The place was packed too!! Lots of people, mostly younger. We had a sampling of beef tenderloin I believe with a BBQ sauce, which I wasn't too crazy about. Too much BBQ sauce I thought why ruin a good meat! My favorite food these days was next, Indian; chicken with rice and a potato ball. It was good, but the other Indian food we came across upstairs was even better! They served real jasmine rice and a nice blend of curried vegetables and chicken. We saw several BBQ tables but didn't try any, a burger table, home cooked Spanish food of some kind, and of course...a dessert bar! This was the best part! It was a layered mousse served in the perfect sized cup; chocolate crunchy niblets, whipped cream, chocolate mousse filling, really good. It came from a dessert bar in downtown, one that Sean and I will have to check out! Apparently the chef of the restaurant won a reality show on the Food Network. I heard a partial story on him and need to know more. Denver's celebrity chef! We met some great people that night too, a couple from the east coast and a friend of theirs. Overall I thought it was a great time! We tried some really good food, a list of restaurants we want to check out, and made some new friends!
Oh, and I decided I'm going to start blogging about my food findings here in Denver! Look for that to come!
And one last thing I forgot to mention, there was no quacamole!! I would have liked to have tried that.

The great housing crisis

September 10th was the magic day! It was suppose to be the day we moved into our townhouse and the day our things arrived. Perfect!! Not quite. We found on Monday that our stuff wouldn't come until Thursday or Friday. The night before our lease was to start we went to the townhouse office to sign the lease. Almost there until the dog came up. "And since you don't have a dog, you don't have to worry about this page." We do have a dog, a big one. When we applied for the townhouse back in May we put on our application that we have a dog. Appaerantly that was overlooked by someone on their part. We would have to wait 12 hours before they would tell us if we could live there or not. So, the search began! Sean started looking on craigslist and found a few apartments. The following morning we looked at 3 different places, all in Lakewood, all similarly priced. The third one we really liked. It had 4 floors, 2 patios, 3 full bathrooms and a really nice kitchen! Looks like that was the winner! We signed the paperwork, but it didn't prove to be over. The owners weren't so sure about a dog living in the house. After a few hours, we finally were approved! It was a huge relief. Now our things needed to come! That was another mess, literally!!

First Weekend

Our second weekend in Denver proved to be a fun one! We started out the weekend by heading out into the city Friday night. It turned out to be a chilly Friday, so Sean and I hit up the Gap for some warmer clothes before we went out. Our first stop was Pour House. I can still the plates of food we ordered that night since we hadn't eaten dinner. The bar reminded me of your typical bar in CT, same music, similar set up. After getting our fill there, we moved on to Sing Sing. I had heard about the bar from Sean and his friend, he has this picture of Sean sitting on a piano in what looks like a meditative state. I know realize he was probably channeling some famous singer, or really concentrating on hitting the notes. Its a dueling piano bar! In the center of the place, on a stage are 2 pianos and surrounding them, cabaret style tables. There was a good group of us and it was our first weekend in Denver so Sean thought it would fun it we all got in the spot light. After seeing the wait staff do their number, and other groups of friends get up to be embarrassed, it was our turn. You write your name on a piece or paper, request a song, attach a few bucks, and hope that you get called. After thinking I hadn't done a good job of delivering our request, with $20 inside, we were finally picked! (I had run up as quickly as I could and dropped off the goods in front on one of the piano players, but I didn't think he saw it) I'll spare you the name Sean gave us, but on his request he wrote there were 5 of us from CT and they were to choose our fate. It was...drum roll please...New York, New York!! So there we were all five of us in line, kicking and dancing to "Start spreading the news...." It was a lot of fun! Our 15 minutes of fame! I think the best part was after Sean and I left to go home, I decided to belt out a few more lines of the song, and someone yelled "Go home @#$&*!" (It really wasn't that bad of name, I promise)

Saturday there was a 5K, Skirt Chase, that my sister told me about. I thought it was a cool concept. The women start first and then 3 minutes later, the men. We decided to give it a shot! For some reason I thought the entry fee was only $10 day of race, turns out it was $40! There we were, paperwork filled out, the race starting in a few minutes and $80 to contemplate paying!! So we did. I felt awful! How could I think it was only $10, a race is never that cheap!! We had a great time though. It was a nice course, out and back, but with a slight incline on the way back but a downhill finish. I just missed my 25 min range, but I was pleased, since it was my first race being in CO and not having run in the higher altitude much.
After the race is was off to a Rockies game! We scalped some tickets and ended up sitting in the first tier by right field. Unfortunately the Rockies lost, but we didn't let that slow us down. We were off to The Tavern, if I have the name right, with Brian and 2 of his friends. It was a cool place, close to the stadium, so you had that in the back drop. We hung around there for a little bit then moved on to another bar, but at that point, we were done. We did meet 2 great girls though!

On Sunday we slept in, so no church for us. It was such a nice day, we decided to drive out to Boulder. It was something else to see! This town in right at the foot of the mountains. It's a college town and a really nice one at that! Lots of shops and places to eat. Kind of like a Westport, but more liberal in the mountains. I'm glad we went on such a nice day.

Labor Day Heights

On Monday we decided to get out and go for a drive. It was a beautiful day. We dropped Tahoe off to get a bath, since the previous one left him very dry and itchy, and headed west, to the mountains. I didn’t know exactly where we were going, thought we were just going to drive around for a bit. Sean surprised me by taking us to Mt Evans. He’s been before but he said it’s the one place that we need to take our close friends and family to see. It truly was something else. The way to get there was via Idaho Springs. It was funny to see a town down in the canyon, away from the city or suburbs. All they had around them was mountain. The drive up to Lake Echo was out of this world! Walls of trees surrounded us. It didn’t seem real. When we got to Echo Lake, the temperature was already in the 60’s, about a 10-15 degree difference from when we started our drive. There was the lake, surrounded by the mountains, really quite a find. I wondered what the water temperature was like, most likely a little to cold to swim in. We spotted to use the restrooms at the lodge, which I really needed, and made our way up even more. It was $10 to get to the top, and about 6 more miles of driving. Sean had warned me that we’d be traveling up some pretty steep and narrow roads. I was ready for them! It was really neat to see how the land changes from short trees to just brown and rock. Looking back at the pictures its looks like a desert planet, like Mars, only brown. Only about a mile or 2 from the top we spotted some Mountains goats! A solo one at first then a little further along a mother and baby. Now I wish I snagged a picture. We made it the top after climbing and turning up several bends along the way. The summit was breathtaking. I know I won’t do it justice describing it, but it was beautiful. I really felt this sense of adventure as Sean and I climbed to the very top. I felt a little lightheaded and my breathing was not the same. It made me feel like I was actually climbing a mountain, well I was, but from the base! I told him, it’s probably the closest we’d get to standing on top of the world. I couldn’t think of another way to start our new life in Colorado.

The first two nights we stayed with Sean’s friends Greg and Mike in their apartment in south Denver. Mike’s girlfriend was also staying there so there were 5 of us in an apartment made for 2! There area definitely has a college feel to it. It was like being back in the dorms! People seemed very friendly. We ate lunch at a really cute café, Star Café. I wish it were closer to where we’ll be living. I could see it becoming a favorite spot. The brunch menu was extensive and eclectic! I had a dish with polenta, butternut squash, pine nuts and a poached egg, a really good combination. I highly recommend it!
I had my first break down that night. I felt so bad for Sean, but I couldn’t hold it in anymore. I was exhausted from not getting any sleep, not being in our own place, and absolutely hungry!! It only lasted a short time though. Later Sean told me he thought that I hated Denver already, but he told himself it couldn’t be since we hadn’t even been there a day!!

Goodbye East coast

Saturday morning we let ourselves sleep in, even though the plan was to get an early start and make it to St. Louis for the night. We didn’t get on the road till 12 and ended up driving straight across country. Sean did most of the driving – Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, and Kansas. Whew! He did it on 2 rock stars! I wouldn’t even take a sip of it because the smell practically kicked in my gag reflexes. I did enjoy being a passenger though! I think everyone should take a drive like that. I imagined what it must be like for all those parents who drive their kids across country for college. West Virginia was beautiful with rolling, lush, green mountains. Ohio and Kansas were the toughest to get through, they were never ending! St Louis was nice at night. It was good to see the arch close up like that. We drove through around 11 and caught fireworks probably from the end of a baseball game. We stopped outside the city for gas and that was something else. We pulled into people screaming at each other, a police officer hanging out in the parking lot, and just a bunch of interesting people inside the convenience store.
After St Louis, the next big city was Kansas City. Smaller city, but nothing really to make me want to visit.
Right before I took over the wheel around 6:30 in the morning we drove into the sunrise, well away from it since were heading west. We were in Kansas and these massive windmill like things peppered the landscape. They looked like giant aliens in the morning dawn. An eerie feel came over me.
At last, our destination states! As we drove past the endless seeming plains, I anticipated the mountains. What would it be like to see them rising up for the landscape? About 100 miles outside of Denver we spotted them! It would be long before we were in Denver. We finally made it around noon. We did it!