brews

We went on the Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey tour last night, I'm almost always laughably early to anything I sign up for (tours, work but always late to personal events) so we got there a half hour early and sat down in the Rackhouse Pub. We had just eaten Taco Bell (blah I regretted that awful tasting decision immediately) so all we got were pretzel bites (delicious) and beer.  I had Dry Dock Apricot Blonde and Chris had Great Divide Grand Cru. Both beers were awesome for totally different reasons.  If you like fruity beers Apricot Blonde tasted like liquid apricots and Grand Cru (at 11% abv) was impressive.

The tour was pretty simple, we've been on a couple beer tours and it's a fairly similar process, so really we were just there to taste some whiskey. This stuff is 94 proof and therefore had a good burn. She had us try it straight and with a micro-splash of water. The water really changed the flavor... for the better. It was pretty good for whiskey (I'm a tequila girl myself) but this place was definitely another great place to take guests new to Denver.

Stranahan's takes volunteers to label bottles when orders come in for their whiskey, we're signing up in the lottery because well... that would be awesome. You get free beers and whiskey for spending a few hours in their assembly line.

rocky mountain oysters

My friend from college who now lives in Georgia came out to visit a few weeks ago and we went on the Coors tour in Golden.  At the end of the Coors tour you're given a "golden ticket" good for 5 to 20 percent off (or up to $500) at a local shop/restaurant. We cozied up to a biker bar in Golden (we are absolutely not bikers but it looked fun) and saw rocky mountain oysters on the menu.

Chris and I are well aware of what rocky mountain oysters are (no they aren't real oysters) but my friend had no idea.  We were so excited to finally see them on a menu because they're really hard to find.

They didn't look anything like what I expected, and my friend thought it was  tongue. We were all surprised, bull testicle... not all that bad.

Later that night we went to Euclid Hall downtown in Denver and had another culinary experience with fried pig ears.  If you get the thinner pieces they taste a lot like onion rings, the big hunks had a textural issue for me and I totally cringed the first time. Euclid Hall has a really great vibe if you're in the area, it's walking distance to 16th Street Mall and has lots of "experimental food." The menu includes bone marrow, foie gras and (awesome) hops infused pickles.

snow tires

When I moved out here I asked just about everybody if I needed to invest in snow tires.  In general the response was "no, just drive carefully and you'll be fine." I'm actually a pretty good driver, I was in a tiny accident when I was 17 and learned a lot from the "tiny accident" that cost me $600. At 17 loosing half the money I had in the bank really got me to drive more carefully.

October came and went with very little snow even though I was warned that "the first snow fall comes on Halloween." The same thing happened in November.  I was warned that "the first real measurable snow comes on Thanksgiving" but we got almost nothing.  I hadn't even thought about snow tires for months before our first real snow at the end of December.

My parents came out to keep me company over Christmas while Chris was in Florida and we had a great time.  No snow meant we could head over to Golden, Boulder and Black Hawk. I had three days off work and we were off exploring the outskirts of Denver. They left on Christmas day and Chris returned.  Two days later his sister and younger brother arrived.  We headed to Boulder right away because we heard rumor that snow was coming.

The day after they arrived we got hit with snow while we were out driving around. I started sliding sideways down Colorado Blvd and then again down Colfax.  After the second time I almost caused an accident I thought it best to pull off and call a tow truck. It took hours to get the tow truck and the lady I talked to on the phone forgot to inform the driver there were 4 of us riding with him to my apartment. We all piled on top of each other in the tiny truck cab and finally got home 3 hours later.

I think everyone giving me advice assumed (as did I) that I at least had all-purpose tires. The tires that came on my car when I bought it were "summer tires" meaning they had basically no tread.  I definitely suggest investing in a good pair of snow tires if you move up north, spare yourself the embarrassment.

When we got home Ada decided to try and toboggan.

Denver

One of the most difficult parts of moving was plotting our route from Tampa to Denver.  We wanted to take the longer route and stop for a night in New Orleans and maybe somewhere in Texas but we weighed our options and figured the shortest, most direct route would be best because Ada was traveling with us.  So it was up and over, 3 days with plenty of pit stops.

There was only one stop really worth mentioning.  Just before Colorado somewhere in west Kansas is Prairie Dog Town. I'll quote the owner here that it's "the only zoo in America that lets in dogs."

Ada scoping out some coyotes, but it was the open field of prairie dogs that really peaked Ada's interest.

If you ever find yourself plotting a road trip this way try to skip Missouri, it was definitely the most boring stretch of land. But if it's the Missouri way you're taking don't forget to check out Prairie Dog Town (especially if your pup needs to stretch her legs) in Kansas.

I'm used to taking road trips, almost every summer of my younger years my mom would get my aunt to drive with her while my sister, cousin and I lounged around watching tv in the back of the van.  Always headed to Michigan the route quickly became familiar but we always had fun. Chris is not a huge road trip fan though, I'm hoping he enjoys the road trip to DC a little more.

Whether we enjoyed the trip or not, here we are 1869 miles later in Denver.