Chapter 94
Denver

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(Originally posted November 6, 2013)

Monday night, we got our rental car and then drove it down to Denver because Tracy would be working at that office for the first few days. We checked into our hotel room at the Westin Denver Downtown. This hotel seemed like it should be pretty fancy, so we were excited to get to stay there on the company dime.

Unfortunately, I have to say that we weren’t that impressed with the hotel overall. One major complaint we had was that the Westin chain apparently has a “signature scent” that they pump into all the rooms. It was pervasive in the lobby and in our room. And I was allergic to it. The second we stepped into the building off the street, I started sneezing, and my nose was stuffy for the entire stay. Other than that, it’s hard to say exactly what failed to impress us about the hotel. It just felt a little generic considering how much we knew the room cost each night. Here are a few pictures.

We DID have a nice view.

By far our favorite part about the Westin was that a daily room service breakfast was included with our stay. The trays they rolled in each morning were just absolutely ridiculous.

Tracy obviously hadn’t been to the Colorado CoolTech offices before, so her days were full of meeting new people and spending time with colleagues from her department who work there (her boss, for instance, works in CO).

While she was at work, I did some writing in the hotel room and also wandered around Downtown Denver a little.

I have to say that I’m not a huge fan of Downtown Denver (I’m sorry I’m coming off as so negative in describing this portion of our trip!). I always used to really like going down there when we lived in CO, but I feel like it’s gone downhill a bit. The whole 16th Street Mall felt sort of grungy and gross. In comparison, NYC seemed cleaner, which is saying something… I actually found myself opting to spend more time in the allergen-infested hotel room rather than staying out in Denver for too long.

One of the best parts of these trips, as I mentioned earlier, was that all of Tracy’s meals could be expensed. Since she has to eat and since we always split at restaurants anyway, that meant that OUR meals could all be expensed. Tuesday night, we went to a pizza place called Lucky Pie and got a DELICIOUS meal. Here are some food pictures for you to gawk at.

Dessert was a Cinnamon Streusel Bread Pudding, and it was amazing.

On that second night in Denver, we didn’t have much to do, so we decided to go check out the gym at the hotel. We had already swam the night before and were sad that there wasn’t a hot tub. Of course, we weren’t actually planning to WORK OUT (don’t be ridiculous), but there was a basketball court in the gym, so Tracy and I played “Horse.” It was a lot of fun… until Tracy rolled her ankle, which wasn’t fun at all.

Wednesday, Tracy went off to work and I did some work at the hotel. Unfortunately, we had to check out at noon, so I would have been stranded, but I ended up just going to the CoolTech office and hanging out for the afternoon while Tracy worked. I sat in a corner and did some writing, but it was great getting a taste of the environment Tracy works in every day. The office is in a cool part of the city, and it’s really beautiful.

We went back up to Boulder that evening and stayed there for the rest of the trip. Stupey said she missed us.

On Thursday, we went with Tracy’s parents to The Melting Pot. This has been Tracy and my favorite restaurant since we started dating, and we still love going there whenever we can. Unfortunately, it’s also REALLY expensive, so it’s the kind of place we don’t get to frequent too often.

Our favorite thing to do is cook up mushrooms in the broth and then stuff them with the “Green Goddess” sauce. It’s absolutely heavenly.

The rest of the week sort of flew by. Tracy and I met up with our friend Lainey several times and actually got to meet her baby, Declan, who was already four months old at this point. He’s really cute and was very well-behaved for such a young baby.

Otherwise, Tracy went to work at the Boulder office (and met many new people there) while I went to my mom’s house to hang out and work. I loved getting to spend so much time with my family while we were there, though I wish Tracy could have had more time to enjoy being home instead of working…

Overview of May 2013

Random Photo of the Month

We saw this for sale at a candy/novelty shop in Boulder, and I wish we had bought it for Crooky…

Total Days This Month Spent Visiting Disneyland Parks
12

Total Days Spent at Disneyland Since First Getting Our Passes
58

Favorite Disney Snack
May the “Fries” Be With You from Tomorrowland Terrace (The fries were good, but it was the parmesan ranch dipping sauce that really made this snack stand out as a delicious item. And R2-D2’s involvement didn’t hurt)

Favorite Disney Meal
Fried Chicken and Mickey Waffles from Plaza Inn (I know, the fried chicken was our favorite meal last month, but nothing could beat the addition of Mickey waffles to an already amazing platter)

Disney Music Obsession
Epcot Main Entrance Loop (We usually listen to music in the background on our weekend mornings while we eat breakfast, get ready, and then lounge about the house. This month, we started to play the Epcot Main Entrance Loop as our go-to for a great soundtrack to the morning. I love all the songs from it, and I love that they RANDOMLY play it in the bathrooms by Space Mountain here at Disneyland)

Favorite Guilty-Pleasure TV Show
LIVE with Kelly and Michael (I guess I should come clean about part of my morning routine. Right after Tracy goes off to work, I always play the previous day’s episode of LIVE with Kelly and Michael on our DVR while I finish getting ready. I only watch the “host chat” segment—aka the first 20 minutes or so—but it’s always a fun way to start the day before I get down to business and start working)

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