Corona-Cation Week 1... Part 1: Denver

It's been like.. a hot minute since I've stopped by here because this Corona chaos life is overly chaotic right now and I no longer have anything that resembles a routine. I do not thrive when there is no routine. I mean, I don't get upset by it, but I'm not as productive until I can figure out a new routine. What that really meant is that blogging went to the way-side.

So here's a probably not very short recap since when we left off... 10 days ago.. which feels like SO MUCH LONGER since so many things have happened in those 10 days.

Friday

I was in Denver when I last posted for my cancelled conference/waiting on Teh German to arrive.  It SNOWED and I couldn't stop smiling about it.

I've still not decided how pissed off I am that some "clever" barista didn't actually give me a venti beverage by putting all that stupid whipped cream on the bottom of my cup.  #RUDE

After my outing, I headed back to accomplish work things and get some dog snuggles.

Dinner was from, no shit, the Fat Shack, and I'm not sorry to admit that I ate all the fried oreos in that bag like the fatty I am.  I did NOT eat everything in the plate though, but I DID share it with the dogs, soooo it was a win for all.

My dinner cheerleaders.

After eating, Booth and I snuggled while we watched Anthony Jeselnik stand up on Netflix.

I fell asleep while watching TV and soon after, I headed to bed.

Saturday

Originally, Teh German and I were scheduled to run a 7k on Sunday, butttttttt it got cancelled on Thursday or Friday.. so instead, I found a local running group and did my 7k on my own so I can say I actually earned that medal.

I treated myself to post-run brunch.  The local ran I went to normally serves pancakes after the Saturday run, but due to Coronavirus (CV), they were not allowed, so I had to figure something out.  Boo.

I wasn't disappointed to find the Denver Biscuit Co. or something like that.

"Sweet" tea + a biscuit with fried chicken, apple butter, egg, and honey.

After feeding myself, I headed back to my host's house to shower and do laundry before heading to the airport to pick up Teh German.

Our first stop was actually burgers at Highland Bar or something to that effect, it was within walking distance of Prost, which was more important since Prost parking is a situation.

After eating, we walked over to Prost, which we've talked about since December 2018.

My new furend from Prost.

After beers, I wanted dessert.. so we walked the opposite direction of the car to check out Little Man Ice Cream (confirmed name, as it's in the photo for reference, lol) and I was not disappointed.  I ended up with a waffle cone with marshmallow ice cream that had Lucky Charms marshmallows in it.  Samples were not allowed because CV, so it was a blind choice that made me proud.

But then we had to walk back in the Denver chill (which is rather extreme once the sun goes down, mkay?) to the car and I had regrets.... and frozen fingers..

We made it back to the car and then headed to our hotel, which was unfortunately placed in a warehouse district in maybe not the best section of town.  Oops.  I didn't realize any of this when I booked it, and it wasn't even the cheapest option.  Teh German was not really pleased, but he also doesn't make our travel arrangements to sass my decisions... until then, he will deal with the travel arrangements that I make.

Once we got into the room, Teh German went to bed.  For various reasons, he hadn't slept much the 2 nights prior to coming to Denver.  I'm not actually sure how he fell asleep since it was the temperature of the sun in our room.  I ended up calling the front desk twice and finally just hauling my ass down there in my no-bra, pajama-ed outfit to complain.  I ended up with 2 box fans and opening the window, which I didn't even know was a possibility in hotels in 2020.. Butttt here we are.  Thankfully, it was a brisk 30°F outside and with the fans pulling the air in, it was rather pleasant except for the interstate and highway noise outside the hotel.  Siiiiiigh.

Sunday

While Teh German slept our vacation away, I did my research for places to eat and things to do for the day/trip.  I ultimately decided on a plan for the day.  We grabbed brunch to start the day.  Then we headed to a wildlife refuge that we could drive through.  It was actually less capturing than I anticipated... andddd I wish we would have waited a day to go, but oh well.

We saw birds, deer, prairie dogs, and buffalo.  I won't lie, the prairie dogs were the highlight for me.  IDK why, but when they'd pop up their little heads or dart away, I was supre

After the preserve, we decided to drive around.  We were going to make a loop out of Denver up into the mountains, then swing around and come out in Boulder, buttttt Teh German was like, why not just drive up to Breck?  And I said ok, since I can be flexible, dammit.

It felt like HOME.
I will not lie.

When we got up to Breckenridge, we immediately noticed that there were no people on the slopes, which was bad news bears.  But, we trekked through town towards Breckenridge Brewery anyways.  We managed to find a super sweet parking spot... and then someone tapped on the window and informed us that the brewery was closed.. which explained the super good parking spot.  Siiiiiigh.

We relocated to one of the slopes parking lots and then headed into town for some shopping and to stop in at the Irish Pub that Teh German had noticed was open as we drove by.

After some sticker and sweatshirt (for Teh German, tyvm) shopping, we headed to the pub and Teh German had a beer and we shared some tots.  We spent some time scrolling and chatting.  We had plans to see a comedy show at 7, so we left Breck by 4 to head back to Denver.  Since getting down the mountain is always faster (and more gas efficient) than going up the mountain, we had plenty of time to spare before our 7pm show.  We went to the ticket office to get tickets (since there was a $10 fee if I bought them online) and then headed to a German restaurant a block away to pass the time. 

I had some apple schnapps and made sure to send a selfie to Papa G, since he's the king of schnapps.  After 1 beverage, we paid up and headed to the comedy show.

The show was pretty funny, it's crazy how different regions have different types of humor.  This is probably an over-generalized statement, but based on what people were laughing at in Denver vs what people laugh at, at comedy shows in Charleston.. they are not always the same things, in the same ways.

Either way, we were glad we went.

After, we debated on dinner and opted out since we weren't really hungry, heading back to our hotel room for relaxin' time instead.

If you aren't using this trick to close your hotel's curtains, you are wrong.

Monday

Monday was the day that everything in Denver shut down...  Booooo.  We ended up eating breakfast at the hotel so that we had room for our 1pm food tour.  In almost all the places we went to, we were informed that we were the last people that would be in the restaurant until CV passes.  Which was kind of a bummer, but also kinda cool. 

We had 6 different noms and nothing hurt my feelings.  Actually, the hot dog was too spicy for me to eat, but that just meant more for Teh German.

1. Neapolitan pizza
2. "Please wait to be meated"
3. Something delicious from the Butcher Bistro.
4. Hot Dog from a famous hot dog place.
5. Soft shell kobe beef taco from a fancy taco place.
Not pictured: Fancy sheeps cheese with apricot preserves.
6. Ice cream from Union Station.

Walk alone. Pave a maverick's trail, or venture hand in hand together with hope.  Seek out hidden treasures buried well within the cockles of this fair city's heart that is home to the adventurous, where passion churns deeply.  This city summones dreamers to come and do.

Never eat more than you can lift.

I can resist most everything except temptation.

You are cleverly disguised as a responsible adult.

After our food tour, we were out of things to do... and unfortunately, everything was closed by that point.  I even called Prost to ask if they were open and you could only get take-away beer from them.  Boooooo.

So we headed back to the hotel to be lazy for the rest of the afternoon.  I did opt to pick up Cheesecake Factory for dinner because dat pineapple upside down cake cheesecake is LIFE.

We spent the evening watching some show about people who live off the grid in Alaska/Washington state and I have never NOT identified with anyone more than in that situation.  Eventually, it was bedtime.

Tuesday

I had asked for late checkout on Monday when we came back to the hotel, so we lounged around until we had to check out at 2.  We had Cheesecake Factory leftovers for brunch... and I also had the rest of my dessert.

Dis my excited face.
The more chins = the more excitement.

Photographic evidence of our laziness.

We checked out of the hotel and headed straight to the airport to drop off the rental car and get through security.  Security was a breeze (thanks Pre-Check) and we found our gate.  We scrolled for a bit and then decided to go grab Smashburger for dinner since food wouldn't be served on the flight and we were going to be getting in after dinner time east coast time.

We got boarded and endured the 3 hour flight back to the east coast.  I, unfortunately, made poor life choices and did not hoard enough media to entertain myself throughout the flight.  I used all my Disney Emoji Blitz lives and finished a book and then had nothing else to do.  Siiiiigh.  I did manage to use the plane's wifi to watch an episode of Reba (it's a guilty pleasure, mkay, mind yo bizness)... but then the 2nd episode wouldn't play no matter how many times I reset the wifi, sooo I just gave up and started playing solitaire until we landed.

We made it home by midnight.  I had everything unpacked and the suitcase put away before Teh German came upstairs.  We were in bed by 1245...  and the "normal" routine started at 0530...