Denver City Guide
For Christmas this past year Tanya and I decided we wanted to take a trip over the holidays. We both had a few days off of work and had to get out of town for an adventure. We looked for the cheapest flights and we found an amazing deal from Dallas to Denver. We called some of our close friends Charlie and Rosie and we booked our trip. Here is a look at our adventure in The Mile High City.
Day 1
After pulling an all-nighter after Christmas Eve, well I slept about an hour and a half, Tanya pulled an all-nighter. She tends to pull all-nighters before our trips. Our flight left Dallas Christmas Day at 6 am. This has become somewhat of a tradition traveling on Christmas Day. We have found leaving early Christmas morning is somewhat of a travel hack. We arrived in Denver, grabbed an Uber then, made our way Downtown to our hotel; Hilton City Center.
We spent most of the day sleeping and recovering from our lack of sleep, then we headed off to dinner at a great local restaurant called Range.
At Range, a “ New American Cuisine” primarily focused on ingredients from the Rocky Mountain West, Tanya and I split the Herb Roasted Chicken. The chicken came in a cast-iron skillet with a side of poblano cheddar grits, black kale, and peperonata.
After enjoying our rocky mountain Christmas Dinner we walked to the downtown 16th Street Mall.
The 16th Street Mall at Christmas is a lighted street in the middle of downtown. There are many shops, restaurants, and bars as well as a free trolley that we took advantage of. Most of the shops and restaurants were closed but we enjoyed seeing the Christmas lights and the ride to the famous Denver Union Station. This station was full of people enjoying the “ Christmas Vibes” and a few drinks in this traditional downtown train station.
—We finished our evening with hot chocolate, apple cider and a hot crepe from a local street vendor.
Day 2
The next day we slept in and prepared ourselves for brunch. We walked a few blocks to the world-famous diner, Sam’s No. 3. This diner as seen on Guy Fieri’s “ Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives" lived up to all the hype. We stuffed our faces over breakfast and decided to rent a car and drive into the mountains.
We took an Uber from breakfast, rented a car and drove 2 hours to Estes Park, the home of The Rocky Mountain National Park. We were hoping to make it by sunset to enjoy the gondola and the view from the top of the mountain, but unfortunately during the winter, Estes Park Gondola is closed.
We then walked Downtown and enjoyed a cup of coffee and photos in the snow. After walking in the cold downtown, we ate dinner at a local hotel and drove to The Stanley Hotel for drinks. The Stanley is famous for its old-world charm and the breathtaking views of The Rocky Mountain National Park. The Stanley has been in Estes Park since 1903 and is full of rich history. Fun fact: The Stanley was one of the locations for the 1994 film Dumb and Dumber.
After enjoying the hotel bar, which was stocked with over 30 pages of exotic whiskeys and scotch from around the world, we decided to book a night in the world-renown ski town of Breckenridge. The only problem was that it was going to be a 4-hour drive and we didn't have any of our luggage... so we did it!
We arrived in Breckenridge after midnight and took a walk downtown in the snow. We even saw a fox roaming the city streets. After our fox encounter, we went to our hotel and called it a night.
Day 3
The next morning we work up extra early to witness the beautiful sunset on the back patio of our hotel, The Lodge at Breckenridge. This was a breathtaking sunrise rising over The Rockies. We enjoyed some breakfast and coffee and made a game plan for our day in “ Breck”
We hoped to spend the day snowmobiling through the mountains but little did we know, that the day we were there was one the busiest days and weeks of the winter season in Breckenridge. After getting told by every snowmobile tour company that they were booked out for the next week to two weeks, we decided to spend no money and use the hotel hot tub overlooking the mountains. After sitting in the hot tub during a mini snow storm we check out of our hotel and made our way to downtown Breckenridge.
Breckenridge is one of the most renowned ski resorts not only in the US, but in the world. We took the free gondola to Peak 7 and enjoyed pizza and local beer at Sevens. After watching the snowboarders and skiers come down the mountain we made our way to Peak 8 where we explored a new timeshare resort and got paid $150 to sit through their presentation. After a long day at Breckenridge, we drove to Keystone and spent a few hours skating on the city lake.
We then ended our night in Downtown Denver at Harth and Dram where we enjoyed delicious burgers and drinks to finish our trip off right. After our meal, we called it a night before getting a few hours of sleep for our 4 am flight home.
