9:30 am – wake up, shower

10:30 am – get to Union Station in downtown Denver for brunch at Snooze. 45-50 minute wait, so we put our name down and explore that area of town. We walked by Coors Field which looked beautiful from the outside and all the bars and restaurants near the stadium.

11:15 am – got seated at Snooze. I had banana nutella french toast and alex had 2 delicious versions of eggs benedict. Delicious food but terrible service (screw you, Scooter).

12:30 pm – Denver mint!….closed on a Friday. So we walked around downtown and checked out the Colorado State Capitol building (beautiful), the park in front of the building, and the arts district.

2:30 pm – Stopped by the original Quiznos and then original Chipotle. Modest, normal versions of the national chains, but still cool to say we went there. Sidenote – Cory Nelson, Danny Gill, Alex Cohn, Greg Guice and I all went to the original Chipotle the last time we were in Denver. We “took the tour” and signed our names on the ceiling in the basement and got free shirts. Alex and I asked about the tour and the girl at the register said corporate told them to stop because (stupid) people kept on falling down and hurting themselves (serves them right for not knowing how to walk down stairs). So that was a loss for us.

3:15 pm – Back at Tropin’s to relax

4:00 pm – I left for Red Rocks Ampitheatre for a concert (more on that later) while the 3 Musketeers left for a pre-happy hour happy hour nearby Tropin’s apartment.

5:00 pm – 10:00 pm – I went to Red Rocks solo to see Snarky Puppy, Billy and the Kids, and Railroad Earth. I had visited Red Rocks so I knew it was beautiful but hadn’t hear music there. I arrived at 5 when doors opened so I got to explore the whole venue, including the Red Rocks Hall of Fame and various exhibits about performers, the history of the venue, and plenty of memorabilia. There were A TON of steps, so I got a good workout going to the show. Snarky Puppy started right at 6:05 and played a full hour. It was one of THE BEST hours of my life. They were too good for mortal ears. I could spend pages writing about their music, so if you want more just ask me separately. I stayed for all of Billy and the Kids but left because I wasn’t into their long jam music and all the dirty hippies around me (Danny Gill, you would’ve hated them).

5:00 pm – 10:00 pm – Alex, Andy and Julie went to meet Aaron Falber and his girlfriend for a happy hour. They then went to Illegal Pete’s for burritos for dinner. Nicole Swartz met up with them and they went back to Tropin’s apartment.

10:45 pm – We got to Matchbox bar at 10:45 pm via our Lyft driver, Nicole, who was super cool and had a really big, awesome car. We were there until 1:30 am, which was way later then we expected because it crept up on us. Jessi Lee, a wonderful soul who went to U of R with me, brought her boyfriend Shane to hang out with us. I looked up people I knew in Denver on the drive in on Thursday night and found out she lives here. It was so great to see them and so cool that she met up with us. We hung out at a picnic table in the back the entire time. There were a lot of dudes at the bar (apparently one of Denver’s nicknames is “Man-ver”) and a lot of interesting types of people.

1:30 am – Biker Jim’s, which is notorious Denver late night food. I got an elk jalapeño cheddar hot dog with caramelized onions and cream cheese with mac and cheese bites on the side. Super delicious. Jessi made friends with everybody in the restaurant.

2:30 am – Back at Tropin’s. I was in bed at 2:45. Alex stayed up and went to bed while I was already passed out and apparently snoring (thanks, Dad).

Day 2 in Denver – great success!!

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