We spent our third and fourth day of our spring break trip in Denver, which was only about an hour and a half drive from Estes Park. We drove down in the evening so that once we got there, we could just check into the hotel and relax. While we wanted to see as much as we could while we were there, we also wanted to just soak up the time we had together away from work and school and just enjoy not having to do anything.

The first thing we did next morning was drive thirty minutes outside of Denver to Lookout Mountain in Golden, Colorado. I’ve have friends that have gone there and said the views were great, so we wanted to check it out. Like in Rocky Mountain National Park, once we got up in the mountain, there was a lot of snow, so we had to be careful when we were climbing around on the rocks. Though it was pretty hilarious watching each other struggle through the couple feet of snow to find good vantage points.

Andrew was a little more adventurous than I was, so there were some rocks that he climbed up and I stayed back. He almost gave me a heart attack when once he got really close to the edge and then slipped a little on the rock! But it does make for a cool picture.

We were going to hike the couple mile trail that led down to an observation area on a lower section of the mountain, but the trail was so steep and so slick with snow, that we didn’t make it very far. I don’t mind tramping through snow on a flat surface, but I could imagine one of us slipping and falling right off the edge. So we drove instead.

We didn’t realize but the lookout point was right next to the Buffalo Bill Museum and grave. I didn’t think it sounded very interesting, but Andrew thought it would be fun to go through, so I was a good sport and tagged along. Tickets were only $5, so why not? The museum was really just a timeline of Buffalo Bill’s life. If you’re not familiar with who he is, Buffalo Bill was a showman who put on rodeo shows to showcase the wild west. I was so bored; no matter what museum we go to, Andrew has to read every little sign. Normally I don’t mind, but I skimmed through the museum and was ready to go!

We headed back for Denver to have lunch. I looked up some local restaurants online and we settled for Cherry Cricket, a restaurant downtown known for their burgers. I don’t like burgers (I know, I know, sue me) so I ordered a salad. Andrew loved his burger. He said, “This is the best burger I have ever had.” He was disappointed that we couldn’t come back again for dinner or lunch the next day. xD

My salad was as delicious as it looked, by the way.

After lunch, we visited the Denver Botanical Gardens. I read great reviews online, but we were really disappointed when we got there. Back in St. Louis and Kansas City, everything is in bloom, and my eyes and nose definitely both know that the pollen is in the air. In Denver, however, it was still winter, so there were very few actual flowers in bloom. I guess that was more my fault in not thinking it through, but it was disappointing to go to a garden and not see flowers.

To kill time afterwards, we visited the Denver Public Library and City Park, both which were only a couple minutes from the gardens. We spent probably an hour just roaming through downtown and seeing the capitol building (at least what we thought was the capitol building! haha) and some of the cool architecture.

Tired from being on our feet all day, we got something quick for dinner and then went to sleep! We are an old married couple.

And that sums up our first day in Denver!