It’s the first Colorado Trip Postcard!

I spent time in three main places when I visited Colorado last month: Denver, Littleton, and Buena Vista. Today is the Denver/ Littleton post card, and the Buena Vista one is coming after. So stay tuned for that.

The first thing to know is that, since I stayed with my sister, there’s no hotel recommendations here. So sorry about that! At the end of each post there will be a roundup of links and information of places I visited so you have the information at hand if you want to visit them too!

****

Wednesday

I flew from Port Columbus to Denver International on United. I flew United Economy, and I have to say it was a nice flight. United has screens on the back of all the seats so you can watch TV in flight, so I got to watch some HGTV and a bit of hockey while I read The Flight Attendant on my iPad.

As we know, Denver is at altitude. In Denver and Littleton, the only symptoms I noticed was that I got winded more easily, so I had to move more slowly than I usually do, but that was it. My symptoms were worse when we went to Buena Vista, which is at a higher altitude, but in Denver proper it wasn’t too bad. (In addition to my lung issues, I’m also anemic, which doesn’t help things!)

My sister picked me up and we went to the Tavern in Littleton for dinner. The burger is great here, as are the chips and salsa. The salsa is sweet, which is what I prefer, over really hot or spicy.

Thursday

This was a great day! I went with Mel and her fiance, Jason, to Union Station in Downtown Denver. Two of her friends, Jess and Bethany, were flying into Denver and taking the light rail from the airport to Union Station. Union Station is also a working Amtrak station, which was so cool.

One of the best things about Union Station is that there’s so much to do there—and you can do nothing. There are many tables, chairs, and other comfortable seating options for people to talk and relax (or in my case, sketch!) There is the bar, as seen here, and also a great coffee shop.

We had brunch at Snooze, which is a breakfast/brunch/lunch place, sort of like Scramblers or First Watch here in Ohio. The menu was full of great options but I finally decided on the Shrimp and Grits (in my opinion the eggs added nothing, so I just removed them and ate the glorious rest of the dish)

There is a small branch of Denver’s Tattered Cover bookstore in Union Station, but we walked a block or two down the street to the original location, which was fabulous.

What makes a fabulous indy bookstore? First off, selection. I want a broad selection of books, not just current best sellers or popular books. I want to be able to dig around and find Penguin Clothbound editions (Which happened here!), or books I’ve never heard of but look interesting. I want there to be lots of shelves to explore and fun things to look at that aren’t books (things like bookmarks, socks, pens, tote bags, etc.). If there are places to sit down and read for awhile, even better….and if there’s coffee or other treats? YES PLEASE!

Tattered Cover checked all these boxes and more, so I was really pleased with this experience.

After that we went back to Union Station to wait for Mel’s second friend to arrive, and I sketched a bit, had some great coffee, and read my books.

We had dinner reservations that night at Linger in Denver, but first we stopped at ViewHouse in Littleton for some snacks:

Dinner, like I said, was at Linger, which is sort of a tapas-y place—meaning that the entrees are shared, but they’re not really big, so you order a few of them. This was my least-favorite place to eat in Denver, mostly because it just wasn’t my kind of food. Maybe my taste buds were off for some reason? But it just seemed like it was trying too hard to be trendy, and the flavors got lost.

BUT all was redeemed by a trip to Little Man Ice Cream!

We ate ice cream at the little tables outside, since it was such a nice night, and this was really delicious.

After that, we went back to Mel’s house, and the next day we headed to Buena Vista! (That’s Part II)

Where I Visited—Links and Information

Tavern Littleton: 2589 West Main Street, Littleton, CO 80120, 303.730.7772 https://www.tavernhg.com/littleton

Union Station: 1701 Wynkoop, https://unionstationindenver.com/

Snooze at Union Station: https://unionstationindenver.com/dine/snooze-an-am-eatery/

Tattered Cover: 2526 East Colfax Avenue, Denver, CO 80206, 303-322-7727, https://www.tatteredcover.com/

ViewHouse: 2680 W. Main Street, Littleton, CO 303-797-4829 (other locations around Denver), http://www.viewhouse.com/

Linger: 2030 W. 30th Avenue, 303-993-3120, lingerdenver.com

Little Man Ice Cream: 2620 16th Street, 303-455-3811 https://www.littlemanicecream.com/