The last time Dan and I had a holiday was a great, 3-week road trip out to Colorado to go elk hunting almost exactly 2 years ago, which I wrote about on this blog… As luck would have it, I recently won us a trip back to Colorado from Southwest Airlines, and while we weren’t able to make it as long as we would have liked, (a month would not have been long enough…), thanks to a dear friend being able to pet-sit for us, at least we were able to go & have a few days of fun again! Because it’s been a LONG two years! THANK YOU, SOUTHWEST AIRLINES!
I won Southwest Airline’s “Breathtaking Beats” Sweepstakes, which included round-trip flights for two people to Denver from a Southwest hub, two tickets to a live concert at the world-famous Red Rocks Amphitheatre, and one night at the super-trendy Origin Red Rocks Hotel– meaning, I guess, that you’re supposed to fly in, go to the concert, sleep for a couple of hours, & get back on the plane and fly home! Which is, of course, nuts! I have won a few trips in my day (this is Number 7…), and we Always throw money at them- sometimes a Lot of money- to make them as long and great as possible- because, to be honest, the only reason we’ve been able to go on these trips (to Israel, Vietnam, Chile, California, Arizona, Virginia, and now Colorado) was because I won them! After I responded to the email I received from Southwest with all the needed paperwork and was declared a winner, the first thing I had to do was pick a Red Rocks concert, and I was super-lucky that the dates our BFF was able to come and stay coincided with Midland’s concert at Red Rocks- AND that tickets were available! Dan and I have lived and travelled all over the world, but we’d never been to an outdoor concert like this together, (I think my last big, outdoor concert was seeing Rod Stewart play in Israel around 1985!), and so this was a fun “first” for us- and the weather was great and Red Rocks is truly a gorgeous venue! We were warned that it could be 70 degrees or -10 in Colorado in October, and so we dressed in layers, and packed our suitcases full of sweaters, heavy jackets, and long underwear… and it was a sunny, summery 80 degrees in the shade when we arrived and we were Broiling!
Because we only had 6 days, and I wanted to squeeze every ounce of joy possible out of each day, I did my usual Googling and OCD trip-planning research (which for me is 1/2 the fun of a trip…), and booked a bunch of excursions and adventures for us, as well as hotels and a rental car. High on our list were train excursions, great local food and booze (I’m a big fan of stopping for tastings at distilleries & vineyards, as well as local brewpubs), fly-fishing, and anything cool and unique to the Golden area- and there are TONS of things to do in and near Golden, many of which we didn’t get to! I looked up the Golden CVB online, which has a lot of great info, and called them, and they sent me a trip-planning packet with maps and additional information. We’d actually passed through Golden two years ago on our way to northwest Colorado to hunt, but the only thing we’d done there at that time was go see Buffalo Bill’s gravesite at the top of Lookout Mountain Park, and have a nice breakfast at the friendly and fun Pahaska Tepee Café & Gift Shop:
The closest Southwest “hub” to us is in Charlotte, NC, which is a good 3+ hour drive from where we live in southern West Virginia, so we drove there the day before the flight, stopping for a great seafood dinner and Pumpkin Beer Flight at Eddies on Lake Norman, in Moorseville, NC, a pretty place on the water where we’ve always wanted to stop…
We spent the night at the airport Holiday Inn Express & Suites on our IHG points before flying to Denver early the next morning. While Dan and I much prefer to stay at unique, local lodgings or B&Bs (like our historic inn, the Elkhorn Inn & Theatre!), as disaster response professionals and “road warriors” for 20+ years, we’re also members of Hilton Honors, IHG, Best Western, Marriott, Wyndham, and other hotel programs, and I have to say, that, for the most part, we have been very pleased with how easy it’s been to use our points, and the quality and convenience of the accommodations, and this was no exception. We were able to have a free drink at the bar & relax when we arrived, leave our truck at the hotel for the days we were in Colorado, take the hotel’s free shuttle to the airport and back to the hotel when we returned, and spend the last night of our vacation at the hotel before driving home, rested and refreshed: Kudos to the Holiday Inn & IHG Rewards!
Due to the Red Rocks concert, and other events in Golden that week (Golden is home to the famed Colorado School of Mines & the Coors Brewery, among other things), accommodations were almost impossible to come by, and while we would have preferred to stay at one of Golden’s cute B&Bs, everything was booked solid, and so the first night we arrived we stayed at the Holiday Inn Express, Golden-Denver. I have to say that I am big fan of IHG’s super-long, down body pillows, and that’s actually something I really look forward to when I know we’ll be staying at a Holiday Inn!
As those of you who follow my blog know, we travel largely on our tummies – me even more than Chef Dan!- and so basically the first thing we did on arrival, after picking up our rental car from Enterprise (and the less said about that experience the better…) and driving downtown, was to amble down Washington Street, Historic Golden’s main drag, and find ourselves what turned out to be a great sushi joint: Okinawa– for a bang-up lunch of sushi, sashimi, seaweed salad, & sake! EVERYTHING looks 100% better after a meal like that!
We then popped into Golden Sweets for ice cream and a sampler of their beautiful, hand-made fall truffles- maple, pumpkin, etc.
An unrepentant “foodie”, (hey- I’m married to a chef!), I always look up the “hot”, farm-to-table, or “foodie” restaurants at our destination, or in towns we’ll be passing through. This time I found abejas, which turned out to be a wonderful restaurant in Golden, and, although they were fully booked, we were lucky enough to get a seat at the bar for dinner our first evening in town! We had a truly delicious, seasonal, and locally-sourced dinner there, and the service was lovely- we HIGHLY recommend it! abejas is not inexpensive, but if you are going to have One Fabulous Meal in Golden, IMHO, this is the place you should go! I started out with one of their specialty cocktails, “After School Cardoons”, made with Pecan Bourbon, Cardamaro, Pear Puree, and Caramel Syrup, and poured over a pecan-studded ice cube, and it was SO good I had two! 🙂 Dan and I split an order of Pumpkin Gnocchi to start, and then I had Seared Scallops, and Dan had the Bison Short Ribs, served with a maple demi glace, and a delicious apple-celleraic puree. To end this feast we split a scrumptious dessert of Potted Pumpkin Cheesecake, and then waddled back to our rental car, LOL!
The last thing we did, to cap off our first, whirlwind day in Golden, was pop into the Golden Moon Distillery‘s Speakeasy so I could at least try a sampler of their whiskies. Although I had an appointment for a tasting at the distillery, it was closed when we arrived for it, right from the airport, and this was, frankly, a big disappointment. I was actually quite excited about visiting the distillery, and being able to try all their products, as Golden Moon is the first legal distillery to operate in Golden since prohibition, AND all their products are certified Kosher! To quote their website: “Golden Moon Distillery produces premium hand-crafted herbal liquors and liqueurs on antique stills using the best available herbs, spices, and botanicals, using the same type of artisan production processes utilized by distillers making premium products in the mid-to-late 1800s. Golden Moon produces Golden Moon Gin, REDUX Absinthe, Golden Moon Colorado Grappa, Golden Moon Colorado Apple Jack and specialty liquors including our Crème de Violette, Dry Curacao, and Amer dit Picon”. I was only able to try their Scots and Irish-Style Single Malts, Bourbon, and Rye, and none of the craft cocktails that had so intrigued me, or their gins. absinthe, or liquors, but I’ve reached out to their Master Distiller, Stephen Gould, and I am hoping to have another crack at it!
Next: Colorado, Day 2!
