Our First Taste of Denver

Today was our first day in Denver, Colorado. Leaving Seattle was reminiscent of my last trip to Dallas—our Alaska Airlines jet was one of about 10 jets in line to take off, and we taxied north, then south, then north again while we waited our turn. Seattle is getting too crowded! I love that Denver is only a two-hour flight away... why haven’t I come here more often?

Once we landed and picked up our rental car (a spiffy Mazda 3), we headed off to explore and pick up a few geocaches. It’s been years, too many years, since I’ve been here. My folks both grew up in Denver, and I still have two cousins here, so I’ll always have sentimental ties to the mile-high city. Today we had lunch in old-town Golden, drove up to Red Rocks, then north to Boulder. From there we did a loop drive up Boulder Canyon, then south through Black Hawk and back to Golden, with lots of stops along the way.


We’re staying at the Hyatt Regency in downtown, just across the street from Bubba Gump Shrimp. I thought this was an urban legend, but no... it really does exist. We wanted to check our dinner options, so wandered east toward what was obviously a restaurant sign, and found nightlife central. Denver has an entire pedestrian boulevard, lined with shops and restaurants, lit by gaslight-imitating streetlights, bricked with the real thing. No cars, just peddle-cabs, horse-drawn carriages, and the occasional hybrid-electric bus.


We chose Marlowe’s, in the beautiful and historic Kittredge building, which was built in 1891 and once boasted a rooftop beer garden and amusement park. It was Denver’s tallest and most modern office building, with iron columns, steel beams, electricity and steam heat, elevators, and faced with pink granite and rhyolite.

Marlowe’s has inviting wide-open windows to the street, lots of outdoor tables, and a huge list of wines (many of which are half-price after 7:30 pm). Our Caesar salads were terrific, so was our South Australian Chardonnay. It was fun to sit and enjoy the show as it walked past out windows, and we loved being just a couple of blocks from the hotel.