Yes, it does seem as if we just returned from our long weekend in Algonquin Park, because we did. However you can't always control options for travel - in this case Desire2Learn - the company behind our learning management system for our online learning program - is hosting their users conference in Denver this week. Paul decided to come along for the fun like he did last year in Chicago. While I attend sessions he'll wander the city and we'll hook up at night. we have arranged to tack on a couple of vacation days for Thursday and Friday so we can enjoy the city a bit.
As far as travel days go yesterday was pretty uneventful. We flew from Buffalo where I was able to purchase 2 flights for the price of one flight from Toronto. The drawback being that there is always a connection somewhere and we generally leave at an ungodly hour. We can handle this since we'd rather save our money for things like shopping, eating, and drinking!
As I said, the travel was uneventful. My usual observances - people with excessive gas should be banned from air travel. . . I now know why folks mock Jersey accents (we connected through Newark) . . . people who text on moving sidewalks and don't pay attention to the fact that said sidewalk is coming to and end and fall and hurt themselves are stupid . . . people with giant suitcases who insist on trying to bring the on the plane with them are stupid as well. It is $ 23 to check a bag on Continental (if you do it online) - pay the small fee and stop holding EVERYONE up as you struggle down the aisle with said bag and then feeble look around for assistance whilst trying to stuff bag in the overhead bin (even though our plan was full of boy scouts heading to a jamboree in New Mexico no one volunteered to help . . . hmmm).
Other than that everything was quite uneventful.
We got a great deal on a rental car through priceline. The GPS got us to the hotel easily (although it does seem to be confused by the downtown Denver area). When we got to the hotel our room wasn't clean yet - we dropped off the bags and headed out into the city.
Tonight we are going to see a concert at Red Rocks - Sarah McLaughlin with the Colorado symphony. I had ordered the tickets online but saw that I could pick up the tickets in person yesterday at the Boettcher Concert Hall. Since we had time to kill and I like avoiding long lines to pick up tickets at concerts this is what we did.
On the way we walked past the Convention Centre where we smiled at the huge blue bear stading outside of the convention centre looking in. That’s "I See What You Mean," a 40-foot tall blue bear peering into the window of the Colorado Convention Center. The steel and fiberglass sculpture was created by Lawrence Argent:
The artist has described I See What You Mean as a stylized representation of native fauna. As the bear peeks inside the enormous facility at the conventioneers, displacement and wonder pique curiosity and question a greater relationship of art, technology and whimsy.
Getting the tickets was a breeze and we still had time to kill before our room was scheduled to be ready. What to do . . . what to do?
Martini Bar!
I had seen a sign for one across from the theatre complex so off we went to a spot called the Corner Office. The decor was funky. Bar extensive. Music cool - in short, a brilliant spot to hang out for a spell.
The we found out we were right on time for happy hour. Suddenly we were VERY happy. We ordered two drinks and a bunch of snacks to share:
Lava Lamp and Paper Shredder
slider, mahimahi fish taco, shrimp spring rolls
We lived the vibe of this place so much that even though it was now 3:30 and our room would be ready we stayed for another round of drinks and some more small plates. My Paper Shredder had so much booze in it that I neglected to take pics.
We wandered back to the hotel along 16th Street, Denver's large pedestrian only street, checking out places to go and things to do around the hotel. Our room was ready so we settled in.
Not long after I had booked the room I received an e-mail from the hotel manager asking me if I wanted to upgrade to a suite for an additional $ 25 on top of the inexpensive conference rate negotiated by Desire2Learn. I thought . . . 'what the heck?'. Well, this has been the best $ 25 I have ever spent - this is the largest hotel room I have ever seen - in fact, it is bigger than every apartment I've had over the years. One could easily live in here. Paul is very pleased. We have 2 TVs which means he can sit up in the sitting room after I crash for the night and I can be up early in the morning while he sleeps in.
The early morning travel and martini bar caught up with me so I slept for a couple of hours. Getting up JUST in time to shower and change and head out to the Jazz bar that Paul wanted to go to for dinner. Vita Restaurant is in the 'up and coming' Lower Highlands area of Denver (where there was free street parking!) and combines sophistication with a casual, inviting atmosphere. This place was clearly quite popular with the trendy 20-something crowd.
We sat inside because we wanted to listed to the live jazz trio. No doubt we were mocked by the 20-somethings for sitting inside - they were all hanging on the patios. It was so freaking funny when the skies opened up and the rain dumped down on them - poor things were drenched while we were fine sitting inside with the jazz, great food, and wonderful drinks. Ahh
I had heard much about St Germaine liqueur - a delicious blend of elderflowers - so when I spied a cocktail on the menu that had it as an ingredient I had to try it. The St. Ginger had Skyy Vodka, St. Germaine Elderflower Liqueur, muddled cilantro, Ginger Ale. YUM
Our server made some excellent suggestions for dinner. We shared the housemade flatbread, spinach & cracked black pepper Ricotta, garlic marinated sundried tomatoes, chili aioli as a starter. Our server's favourite item on the menu was the pork tenderloin which was a chili spiced pork tenderloin, bleu cheese & sweet corn Johnny Cakes, fennel & parsley salad, chili oil emulsion. I was happy when she asked me how I wanted my pork cooked - there is nothing worse than restaurants assuming it is 1960 and pork needs to be coked until it is a dry, tasteless lump on the plate. The chili-spice rub was amazing with just the right amount of heat.
Dessert looked interesting but we were too full and tired to indulge further.
So far our food choices for Denver have been spot on - both places were impromptu . . . both places left us wanting to go back for more.
I have friends that live in Denver but I have yet to go. Enjoy guys!!!
Posted by: bellini | July 10, 2011 at 07:18 PM
Oh, I love it when you travel! I love to read and see all that you share, thanks. One of my favorite little places to eat in Denver is Le Central. It is French food and here is the link for their website: http://www.lecentral.com/ If you go to the website, down the left side you can scroll until you come upon Prixfixe Menus and if you look at this week, and particularly Thursday, you can see they are doing a bit on the Bastille Day theme...thought you might enjoy that maybe. It's great food for a great price and a fun little place to eat. Anyway, just a thought. Have a great time in Denver, can't wait to see/hear about it all!
Posted by: Kayte | July 11, 2011 at 08:44 AM
Lucky you bellini - I wish I had a good excuse to pop this way more often.
Darn Kayte - I wish i had known about that sooner. With my birthday being Bastille Day that would be a great way to celebrate. As it is I turned the plans over to Paul and he has taken care of everything for me. :-)
The menu at Le Central looks delicious.
Posted by: JDeQ | July 11, 2011 at 04:24 PM