Denver Weekend, Part 1

I just realized I didn't tell you about Denver yet.  

It was the best ever and we loved it and want to move but obviously it's really far away and we have no clue what we'd do there.  

You know how it goes.  

It's true, though!  We had a blast and even though Jay was there for work, I had a great time doing our fav city method:  eat, walk, google, instagram, repeat.  Seriously.  Might be the lamest ever, but it works for us and that's all that matters.  

We arrived in Denver on Saturday morning, after a long way-too-early flight with

This place showed up on tons of lists:  tv-featured restaurants (we're huge Diners, Drive-Ins, & Dives fans), cheap restaurants, must-try Denver staples, etc.  The wait was about 45 minutes and WELL worth it.  Sam's is a diner with the most massive menu ever and TONS of Southwestern-style foods.  

It was at Sam's that we got our introduction to Green Chili, which isn't in fact green at all.  Green Chili is a thin tomato-based chili made with green chilles and pork and it's used as a soup/chili OR as a topping for just about everything, burgers and burritos included.  At Sam's we got an effing mac and cheese dip with green chili, AND a combo platter with a burrito that was smothered in the stuff.  Both were epic, and sharing an appetizer and entree was MORE than enough food.  As advertised, the portions at this joint were not to be messed with.  The food was glorious and spicy, the prices were super reasonable, and our server was great.  We couldn't have been happier - what IS it about a huge meal right after a tiring morning of traveling, anyway?  

After lunch we wandered around the city for a little while figuring out our next move.  Denver is home to a ton of breweries, so we walked way downtown to Great Divide Brewing Co, which was a blast.  We didn't take the tour because in our opinions brewing tours are all the same, but we had some beer (Jay had a grown up one, I had a sample size, calm down) and loved the atmosphere - it was a really lighthearted crowd, boisterous, food trucks outside, inexpensive beer options, all the Saturday-afternoon fun our little hearts could take.  Also.  You know how some breweries will just let you taste little bits of beers while you decide what you want?  Well I guess that can get taken advantage of pretty easily at places like this, so Great Divide charges $1/sample BUT donates the proceeds to local charities.  Hell yeah.  

After Great Divide we went to check in to the hotel, which wasn't downtown so we had a teensy drive.  We were at the Hyatt Regency Denver Tech Center, and it was a lovely facility with FREE PARKING, which is always a plus in big-city hotels, doncha think?  The hotel was near the event Jay was in town for, not our choice.  Of note, every night the hotel had water infused with different fruits, which was hugely enticing to the sober pregnant lady who was INSANELY dehydrated from the altitude.  Every night it was like....what fruit will be TONIGHT?  Jay liked the cantaloupe the best, I liked the blackberry+strawberry offering.  Oh, and.  THIS was our view.  Whoa.  

After a little rest in the hotel we started back with our internet restaurant search, and landed on

TAG is in a cute little neighborhood called Congress Park that has lovely trees, smaller single-family homes that look like they've been well-cared for but aren't new at all, happy kids playing in driveways, the works.  So, after dinner we walked around the area and

And that was day 1.  Food, drinks, sunshine (so much sunshine!), and everyone we talked to about the city was just LOVELY with tips and "enjoy your stay" and we loved that everyone seemed really proud of their city.  

Sunday-Tuesday coming up next!  It's kind of....more food+sun+nature, which is the best way to spend a long weekend, we think.