Denver, Part 2

I told you it would come sooner or later. I was waiting on more pics, which I still haven't received. Figured I might as well get on with it.

We went to Denver for 2 reasons: We're huge Steelers fans & there was a Monday Night Football Steelers/Broncos game. Plus, when my Mom isn't driving truck, she lives there & we hadn't seen her in a long time.

First of all...

STEELERS 28, Broncos 10. :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)

I assume you'd like to know more about our trip than the awesome score.

Ok, fine. We flew into Denver via Minneapolis, on Delta/Northwest. We had no problems whatsoever - there or back. The Denver airport was big, but reasonable to maneuver.

We mostly spent a lot of time w/ my mom, my aunt Monica & her husband, Ed (now my uncle, I suppose).

I was raised by my paternal grandparents & while I'm now close w/ my mother, I'm not exactly close w/ her family. Frank & I stayed w/Monica (Mom's sister) & Ed. They're only about 10 years older than us & we got alone fantastically. They're a lot like us. We had a ton of fun just hanging out & BS'ing w/ them. Mon is the person on my mom's side of the family w/ whom I'm most frequently associated. Everyone has always said we're a lot alike. This seems to remain true. ;-)

Moving right along...

My mom picked us up and dropped us off at my aunt's house. Once at my aunts we took showers and naps. Now, I picked F up from work at 5 a.m. on the way to the airport, so he was pretty tuckered out after 12 or 13 hours at work. Or so I thought! He took a 20 min nap, then a shower. I took a shower, then a 1.5 hour nap. While I was sleeping, Frank decorated my (BRONCO'S FANS!!!) aunt & uncle's driveway! So, while we went to the game, they came home to Steeler celebrations on their driveway! Woo-hoo!!!

Eventually we got on the road. It was a little more aggravating than we thought it would be to get to the stadium. Mostly 'cause I'm a terrible passenger, my mother got a little bit lost and there was a 5 car pileup, so traffic was a bitch. The great part was there were TONS of Steeler fans on the road! Once we got in the vicinity of the stadium we parked and met up we/ our friends Jen & Gabe. Now we know Jen & Gabe from Raleigh. SHE is a Steelers fan, HE is from Denver & a Broncos fan. :-) We met up w/ them for a little tailgating about 2 hours before kickoff. Here's a very blurry pic of Jen & I tailgating followed by a VERY blurry one of me, my mom and the hubster. There are more pics, but I haven't gotten them all from other people's cameras.

So anyhow, we headed into the game - there were OVER 20,000 STEELER fans! How awesome is that!?!? Steeler Fucking Nation! We had so much fun. We were cheering, chanting, towel waving maniacs!!!

My favorite part of the whole weekend was seeing my Mom so incredibly happy. She's always loved the Steelers and has never been to a professional football game. We bought her a ticket to the game for her birthday & it was SO worth it. Spending time with her & seeing her have an awesome time was absolutely worth all the money spent. And then some.

This one is my favorite!

Damn that uy in front of us w/ his friggin' orange pom-pom! Still, an awesome pic of the hubster & I having an amazing time!

After the game we went home & partied w/ Monica & Ed for awhile. By the end of the night we both looked like this:

The nest day Frank, my mom & I all went out to breakfast. I asked the ladies on the Colorado Nest board. where to go. I told them we wanted to go downtown, loved food, didn't like chains, didn't want to spend a shit load of money & were a little hungover. A bunch of them suggested Snooze. It was INCREDIBLE!!! Holy crap, seriously. If you are in Denver, you must eat here. I cannot even begin to explain the awesomeness. Frank got Eggs Benedict. I got a spinach & avocado omelet w/ a side of bacon. My mom got a scramble w/ eggs & sausage. Not even exaggerating, this was the best breakfast any of us had ever had. DH said his hollandaise was absolutely perfect. The spinach in my omelet tasted like it had just been picked. My bacon & my mom's sausage were the best either of us had ever had. Oh, and the hashbrowns...my God were they good! F doesn't even like hashbrowns and he ate ALL of his! PLUS, PLUS, are you ready for this!? They brought us a "surprise" (i.e. FREE) gourmet pancake to snack on while we waited for our food. It was Pineapple Upsidedown Pancake w/ Vanilla Vean Cream & Brown Sugar Mousse. HOLY SHIT!!! I cannot even attempt to put into words how abso-fucking-lutely delicious it was. PLUS, the coffee was amazing. They get the coffee once a week from a small family farm in Guatemala. PLUS, all cocktails are only $6 and come in big ass glasses. I had a kiler Mimosa w/ fresh pineapple juice & Frank had what was apparently the best damn Bloody Mary of all time! In addition to all this, the service was awesome, the place was super freaking cute & hipster-esque, and the owner was all over - bringing food, seating people, filling drinks, etc. We loved this place SO much that F even bought a t-shirt. Here he is, showing it off, after more than a couple drinks. :-) If his beard weren't in the way you'd get a better look at it, but...eh! What can I say? ;-)

That afternoon we spent many hours in Dave & Busters. Frank loves that place & we don't have one here in Raleigh, so whenever we're in a town that has one we try to get a few gaming hours in. The next day Frank & I took Ed's car into downtown Denver & just walked around & checked it all out. We parked in LoDo (Lower Downtown), near the end of the 16th Street Mall and just walked around for awhile. We stopped in to the Wynkoop Brewery for a couple of beers and some pretzels. I had Pumpkin beer & Frank had Chile Beer. Both were very well made and very tasty. The pretzels were baked in house & delish, also, they do brewery tours, but only on Saturdays. Plus, they have competitive improv & pool tables in the basement. We would totally go back!

We wandered around downtown & grabbed a couple more beers at the Tilted Kilt. It was a cute place w/ hot servers & a damn decent tap selection.

One thing we particularly like was that SO many places used local meat, produce, dairy, etc. whenever possible. PLUS, many of them not only recycled but also composted!

We really liked Denver. In fact, we liked it so much that we've put it into the #3 slot of places in the States we want to move to next year when we leave NC. 1st place: back to Pittsburgh, 2nd: Portland, OR (we're going to check it out in 2 wks) & now in 3rd: Denver.

On our last night there, Frank & I decided to make dinner for my family as a thank you. Frank made his infamous lasagna & I made a massive salad. It was really pleasant to spend our last night in Denver just hanging w/ my family, BS'ing, enjoying great food and relaxing. After everyone went to bed, F & I had a few more cocktails while cleaning up. ;-) Here are a couple of pics of us being silly, tired & drunk at Monica & Ed's house.

All in all, an awesome time. Great game, great time w/ my mom, totally being on the same page w/ our new friends a.k.a. my aunt & uncle, a beautiful city & truly enjoying one another's company. :-)