mountains — Travel — Mint to be Trendy

Hello Lovelies!

Josh and I ventured to the west for our first big trip of 2022! We visited Estes Park/Rocky Mountain National Park, Denver, and Colorado Springs. We kind of got lucky on timing for the trip, I learned through the middle of my booking that ‘busy season’ for most of Colorado starts Memorial day (which we were back home by then) and what ended up being a blessing in disguise was that it snowed lightly the day before we flew in. Colorado is much more prepared for snow than KY and IN ever will be so the roads were perfectly clear, and we got a snowy mountainous view.

Our time in Estes Park/Rocky Mountain National Park was spent mostly hiking. We started the morning with a hearty breakfast from Coffee on the Rocks. I had the iced coconut latte, and their sausage burrito. The burrito was greasy and coffee wasn’t the greatest but they had a really cute setup outside with a pond and mountain both in their backyard. I’d rate them a 5/10. We then headed out to our first hike, we tried to take it easy on our first full day due to the elevation change and trying to avoid getting sick. We hiked Alberta Falls and hiked a very short bit to see Bear Lake. The snow covered falls and lake were just breathtaking! We also learned that hiking in snow, is made easier by buying chains to put on the bottoms of your shoes. We had some time to kill before our dinner reservations, so we had a wine tasting at Snowy Peaks Winery, the wines were all good but they did seem to do better with the sweeter wines. We brought home their Riesling. We then went to The Barrel and I had a Pineapple mango mead that they had on hand (it was a bar so they didn’t make any of their things) the mead was ok but not great. We went to dinner at Twin Owls Steakhouse and was impressed with the food! They had beautiful mountainous views. We started with their wedge salad, then split the ribeye served twin owl style (blue cheese crumbles and pistachios) paired with potatoes au gratin. I’d rate them an 8/10.

Our second day we fueled up at Egg of Estes, I chose their banana strawberry waffle and Josh had their lump crab Benedict. I thought the waffle was good, but Josh wasn’t super pleased with his dish. I’d rate it a 6/10, just your typical small town breakfast spot. We decided to go full fledge hike and hiked up a small mountain (deer mountain trail), it was around 8 miles total, which for us was an accomplishment! After we were finished we decided to kill time from our dinner reservations by checking out a few of their breweries. We first went to Estes Park Brewery and I’m pretty sure this brewery was established before breweries were considered ‘cool’, they hadn’t done much to update the place. Beer was ok, I had their blueberry wheat and Josh had their porter. We split their super nachos, I’d rate them a 5/10. After we went to Lumpy Ridge Brewing and it was a much smaller location but the cool thing with them was they restored an old abandoned gas station. Their beer was pretty good, I had the sun lion pale ale and Josh had their german lager. I’d rate them a 7/10. We ended the night by having dinner at Hunter’s Chop House. We started with their elk carpaccio and I was surprised by how excellent this was (given the decor, I thought it would be your average run of the mill steakhouse), we then split their bison sirloin. The entree was not as good as the carpaccio, so it brought their rating down a bit. I’d rate them a 7/10, we still really liked them!

Our third day was split between Estes Park and Denver. We had some time to kill before we could checkin at our airbnb, so we took a relaxed pace with our breakfast in Estes. We went to Kind Coffee and I had their carmelo latte with a parmesan bagel and herb cream cheese, Josh had the avocado brioche toast. The food and coffee was amazing, and it was a cute place! I’d rate them a 10/10, they also had a cute outdoor area with a stream in their backyard. We ended up stumbling across a cute game store Frames, Games, and Things Unnamed next to the coffee shop so we went in and there was a kind older gentleman running the store whom I believed ran the store by himself and he was so passionate about games and very easy to talk with. He showed us how to play cribbage, and we ended up buying a board as a nice souvenir for ourselves. After spending more time than we initially had intended we headed to Denver.

We had lunch at Biker Jim’s and were surprised at the lack of decor in the place, but the hot dogs were pretty tasty! I had the conspiracy bacon cheddar brat and Josh had the el diablo elk jalapeno dog with splitting some smothered fries. We’d rate it 7/10. We then walked to Great Divide Brewing and really enjoyed their dark beer lineup. For dinner we started by going to the Cruise Room Speakeasy and I had their old fashioned with Josh trying something different with getting a sidecar. It was a cool place but their cocktails were overpriced. We walked through the Central Market and Dairy Block. We had dinner at Dio Mio and it was super yummy Italian pasta. We had their radiatori and agnolotti - I enjoyed my dish so much I’d rate the place a 9/10. We ended the night by going next door to The Infinite Monkey Theorem, I had their sauvignon blanc and Josh had their cab sauvignon. They were having trivia that night so we sat and watched for a bit.

Our next day we grabbed coffee at River and Roads Coffee and I just loved the place - it was so cute! Their coffee was great too. Next door they had a glass blown studio that we stopped in to look and ended up buying something for Josh’s mom there. We stopped for lunch at Kike’s Red Tacos and I highly recommend - we split their quesataco combo and got pork, steak, and burria as our protein of choice. I’d rate them an 8/10. Between lunch and dinner - we did a ton of brewery hopping. We started at Crooked Stave Taproom and I had their blueberry sour with Josh having their stout. Place was cool, beer was ok. We then moved to Bruz Beers which specialize in Belgian style beers, we had a few beers there and split a Denver chip company bag (you saw them in all the breweries) and understood what all the fuss was about - those chips were tasty! We then went to Clyfford Still Museum, the museum was cool but quite small - we aren’t huge into the art scene but still like to visit museums when we are on vacation and this one didn’t stick out to me much. We then moved onto Bierstadt Lager and had their slow pour pilsner (of which they are known for). It was worth the wait - it was quite tasty and they had a cool setup. They were in an old warehouse. After that we went to Our Mutual Friend and I think they were one of my favorites beer and decor wise, it was a colorful place and I really enjoyed my fruit sour there. We had dinner at Q House and split the chicken wings and duck lo mein, it was good - I’d rate it a 7/10. We ended our stay in Denver by drinking at the highly rated Cerebral Brewing and yes, their smaller oz pours are in legitimate beaker glasses. They had a cute space, and the beer was good but not as great as everyone else made it out to be.

Our last few days were spent in Colorado Springs. Our first stop was lunch at 503W and it was a cute space, and had some tasty food! I had their poke bowl, Josh had the Korean tacos and we shared their Korean french fries. I really enjoyed the meal and would rate it a 7/10. Next we took a tour at the US Olympic Training Center and I thought it was really cool how the tour was actually run by a para-olympian. Our dinner was at Four by Brother Luck and we were so excited because we always enjoy supporting the Top Chef contestants, but I think this might have been the worst high-scale restaurant we have gone to. Everything we had was a disappointment - we had the pappardelle with wild boar chorizo, duck chili, goddess salad, and the duck breast. The salad was so bad I had to send it back. The restaurant also did not portray high scale in my opinion, with the biggest downfall being the restroom. They were rundown and had cheap stalls - definitely not a restroom high dollar customers would want to use. I would rate it a 3/10 and it pains me to rate anyone that low. Afterwards we went to check out Cork & Cask and I have to say it was the cutest bar I’d ever gone to. They had the cutest velour sofas and chairs for each diner, along with a cute patio - it definitely lifted my spirits after the bad dining experience! Our last full day was spent going to Garden of the Gods and driving up Pikes Peak. Which, I must warn you that if you visit close to memorial day, they make you purchase a timed entry ticket to drive up, but it’s a 2 hour window to get there and checked in. We went to Dos Santos for lunch and had their guacamole, fish taco, and chicken Tinga taco. It was a good restaurant, I liked it, I would rate them a 7/10. After lunch we hopped over next door to Frozen Gold Ice Cream and split their cookie crumbles ice cream - it was yummy and was a nice treat after walking a lot at Garden of the Gods! Throughout the day, we visited Colorado Mountain Brewery and Pikes Peak Brewery - both cool places. Colorado Mountain Brewery was a huge space and could host a ton of people but seemed to cater to the older crowd, I’d say Pikes Peak was a bit more hip. We ended with dinner at Shuga’s and I must say we were pleasantly surprised with Shuga’s, we knew it was known for being eclectic and they certainly did not disappoint with that statement, but I also liked that they were big supporters of the LGBTQ+ community. I must say their food was absolutely delicious - which I was not expecting with them being mostly a lunch spot. We had their snack board, jalapeno bacon mac n cheese, spicy Brazilian coconut shrimp soup, and their Saskatoon sandwich. It was a ton of food - we ended up taking some of it home to eat later. All in all, I would rate them an 8.5/10. We really enjoyed Colorado and hope to be back in the near future!