A Weekend Away: Boulder, Colorado

Home to a multitude of microbreweries, the original purpose of this trip to Boulder was to take a biking brewery tour (which is part of my 30 before 30 list)! Turns out the biking portion was just not meant to be, but we still had an awesome time on our little escape from reality.

On the way into Boulder, we stopped for the obligatory tour of the Celestial Seasonings tea factory. Right after you sign up for the tour, they give you a cup to start sampling while you wait. It was so busy… but I’m glad we waited! The mint room was my favorite… talk about sensory overload! :) Danny felt nauseous a couple of times throughout the tour; said the smells were too much, but I thought it was all pretty awesome. They were right in the middle of processing a big batch of Sleepytime, one of my favorites. I also found it interesting that their 3 top selling teas don’t actually contain any tea (Chamomile, Mint, and Sleepytime)!

Our hotel wasn’t anything super special… usually I try to avoid hotels right next to highway intersections, but hotels in Boulder are expensive, especially for the holiday weekend… and unless it’s a fancy, planned out trip… I’m cheap (or at least I try to be)! But it was updated, clean, we got free breakfast, and we did have a nice view of the mountains from the room! I’d recommend it to a friend. :)

After getting settled in, we drove a little ways to find a Hibachi grill (outside of Boulder) and then went to see a movie. I didn’t pick the movie this time and maybe I should have done a little research before I agreed :)… we saw Calvary. Yes, it actually has very good reviews, but it was definitely not my kind of movie AT ALL. Also, to be fair, I fell asleep about 5 different times throughout the movie, so maybe I would have thought differently had I seen the whole thing, but I’m pretty sure I used the word ‘terrible’ as we walked out. Or maybe that’s what they were going for… the movie affected me emotionally. Hmm. Still, not a fan. Has anyone else seen this movie?? What did you think??

The next morning, after sleeping in (what is that, right!?… no puppies=sleeping in=amazing… still missed the pups though) :) we planned our little brewery adventure. We had a guided tour planned but it got cancelled on Friday right before we left Wyoming, so we decided to improvise and create our own:

Our Self-Guided Brew Tour Plan:

These are all part of the Boulder “Beermuda Triangle” as one guy called it… all close together, all close to our hotel and easily accessible by bike from the Boulder Creek Path! Redstone had a 12:30 pm free tour on Saturdays and the Boulder Beer Company had free tours at 2 pm and 4 pm on Saturdays. The plan was… go to Redstone first for the 12:30 tour, then head to Boulder Beer, grab lunch and catch the 2:00 tour, then finish it off at Twisted Pine before heading back to the hotel.

Other breweries in that general vicinity: Sanitas Brewing Co., J Wells Brewery, and FATE Brewing Company… then of course there are a ton more outside of that little radius. Check out The Beer Mapping Project to find more, or to find some in your area.

Our hotel had free bikes to rent/use, so we went to sign the waiver for those, and got our bikes. I went to adjust my seat… it was broken… wouldn’t go up at all. Now, I can handle a little bit of low-riding, but this was tripping-over-my-own-knees low (maybe this should have been our second sign). I asked for a different bike, but the only other one they had available was out of commission as well. :/ The signs were piling up, but I didn’t want to give up yet. We walked to a bike shop/rental place that was close to the hotel (recommended by the hotel staff). As it turned out, they didn’t have any bikes left to rent.

I finally accepted it just wasn’t meant to be…

Instead… we hurried back and hopped in the car to make it in time for the 12:30 Redstone Meadery tour. I mean… how often do you see mead these days?! Turns out it’s basically wine made from honey… how did I have no idea!? Who doesn’t love honey… and wine made from honey!? Even more amazing. Actually, it had a very unique flavor. They had “Nectars” (lowest alcohol content, made with the least amount of honey), “Honey Wines” (higher alcohol content, made with more honey, and a more complex flavor), and “Reserves” (thick, port-like… reminded me most of the ice wine we had in Canada). This place was fun and unique… and the tour was riddled with mead-iocre puns lol… definitely a good visit.

We didn’t make it to any other breweries… instead we just ended up grabbing lunch and going shopping. As the typical boy he is, Danny has no clothes. Or shoes. And the shoes that he does have are half eaten – a.k.a. well-loved by Finn. Even the lady in Macy’s asked if he needed some new flip flops. :) We then wandered down Pearl Street and had dinner at Sforno. I’m a sucker for homemade gnocchi, and this place did not disappoint!

Our last day was spent sleeping in again (amazing, again!) :) and wandering around NCAR. Their little weather trail had great views… we’d planned to actually go hiking around the Flatirons but someone forgot his shoes… :/

I love getting little weekends away here and there. We get so busy, it’s hard to fit things in… but it’s fun to explore, even when you don’t go too far away from home. Even though it was a nice relaxing weekend, we came back and went straight to sleep! Naptime ended just in time to pick up the pups. :) And now it’s back to reality…

Happy Labor Day!

Until next time,