Colorado Trip Day 1

Two weeks ago, on my birthday, we flew off to Colorado. It was a quickly planned vacation, but I think I planned it well and we had an amazing time. Combining our free flights (Southwest points, holla), free or dirt cheap lodging (my aunt's house and camping), and a free "rental car" (my sister's vehicle)... the trip was inexpensive and we didn't feel obligated to skimp on things we wanted to do. We wanted to do three things: spend time with my sister, go camping in the mountains, and visit tons of craft breweries. Well, we did pretty good!

The first day we got there super early in the morning (my sister picked us up) so we stopped at Snooze in Denver on the way from the airport to my Amanda's college. Oh my gosh, it was amazing and we need one here. Fortunately for us it was early in the morning on a Thursday, and we still had to wait a little bit but the line was really building up by the time we left. I ordered the pancake flight, and it came with three pancakes: milk chocolate and white chocolate chip with espresso infused maple syrup, red velvet with cream cheese icing and pecans, and sweet potato with pecans, ginger butter, and caramel.

Aaron ordered the breakfast burrito; it was huge and did not disappoint either:

After that, we headed to Golden to drop my sister off and then Aaron and I headed up to Fort Collins. Our first stop when we got there was Fort Collins Brewery where we tried a couple of flights. My favorites were the pomegranate wheat and the wheat wine. Aaron liked the Incredible Hop imperial rye IPA.

After about an hour in FCB we went to New Belgium, where we had reserved spots in the tour. It was not to be missed! Our favorite experience of the day was definitely here, surprisingly. Neither of us has ever truly loved their beer, so we weren't expecting this to be our favorite of the day. Our tour guide was awesome and they have a great setup. Not to mention, the beer we tried was excellent. Of course it got better and better as glass after glass was handed to us! We were lucky enough to try some excellent beers from the Lips of Faith series. We love the Tart Lychee!

After too much fun at New Belgium we headed down to Odell Brewing. They had a big tap room where we enjoyed two flights of tasters. It was lots of fun! 

After dinner we went back to our hotel, which was our biggest splurge on the vacation and it was so worth it. Our room was comfortable and modern in a historic hotel building that has around 40 unique, renovated rooms. Our room was the "honeymoon suite", so it had a big soaking tub and a comfortable king size bed with a fluffy down comforter. We really enjoyed it!

It was a wonderful way to spend my birthday! Thank you to Aaron for making it so great!