On Monday, I finally got to meet Chris's friend, Jess. The Taste of Colorado was happening all weekend and we had decided on Sunday that we would head downtown to Civic Center Park to check it out. Chris suggested we check to see if Jess wanted to meet up with us, as we had been trying to connect with her since our arrival in town.
We headed out from our place around 1:30, after hanging some things on the walls and getting the place more "us". It wasn't a super hot day for our couple mile walk and we don't mind stretching our legs. Along the way, we stopped at a liquor store where we bought a Mike's Margarita in a can! Chris had brought along a disposable coffee cup and we poured half the drink in there to start, so we could enjoy it for the remainder of our walk to the Park.
About a block past the liquor store is where Jess was seated at a table of a hot dog joint awaiting our arrival, which is only a couple blocks north of her studio condo. Introductions made and off we went.
The Taste of Colorado was a bit of a disappointment for a foodie. The food vendors, save one or two, were the standard fare of every other festival we have been to. I was hoping for the restaurants of Denver, lots of wild game selections and any other dishes that would scream Wild West. There were the usual retail vendors and a small midway with kiddie rides, as well. So, we made the rounds, but being unimpressed, we made a beeline for the 16th Street Mall.
Jess has lived in Denver for awhile (tho, how long exactly I don't know) and as we were walking along she suggested stopping at Yard House for some happy hour drinks and apps. We were game! Very cool place! They have, I believe, 137 taps + 6 rotating! The beer menu was 4 pages long!! Divided by type, which is so helpful!!! Jess made sure to show me the pipes in the ceiling which keep each beer to the exact temperature recommended by the brewery! I look forward to another happy hour visit!
We had our first Moscow Mules ~ this drink is offered pretty much everywhere in Colorado, I have discovered. Don't know if it as an official or even unofficial drink of the State of Colorado, but it very well should be! The Moscow Mule, if you haven't had one yourself, reminds me a bit of a mojito. I like the Mule better, but that may simply be for the reason that I like ginger beer, which is one of the two ingredients (Russian vodka being the other...well, some mint leaves, too).
While enjoying our Mules, we also had the spinach artichoke dip with homemade pita chips. Chris and I split an order of 2 blue crab cakes, while Jess had chicken lettuce wraps (to be honest, we should have ordered those to share instead of the crab cakes.....next time!).
As we headed back out to 16th Street, Jess asked if we had had Little Man Ice Cream, yet. Nope, haven't even heard of it. She hailed an uberX ride and we were shuttled off to the Highlands. Coincidentally, our driver had moved to Denver from Chicago (South Side!) just 6 months ago!!! Back to the ice cream.....this place is super well-known as there was a line (which never died down while we were there!). It moved pretty quickly, as there were 3 windows within the super-huge, larger-than-life metal milk jug that is the building!! Jess already knew what she wanted (Salted Oreo), but Chris and I did two samplings: me, Mexican Chocolate and Malted Whopper and Chris, Mexican Chocolate and French Toast. Both of mine were fantastic! I tried the Whopper first and was certain I would go with it for my tiny scoop, but then, the chocolate and cinnamon won me over (as it always will!). Chris went with French Toast. Tho I didn't taste it, I suspect one cannot go wrong with any choice!
We sat across the street from the milk jug, to sit in the grass while enjoying our chilly desserts. We then leisurely walked back to LoDo, crossing the Platte River, which was a very beautiful and peaceful park area. While strolling, Jess told us about different buildings, to include showing us where she had once owned at the Spire Building.
We walked Jess back to the hot dog joint and then continued on our way, along Colfax, back home. (Jess was pretty concerned for our safety and wanted to hail us another uberX car, but we assured her we had done this on other nites, so she asked that we call her when we arrived home.)
It was a much longer day than I had anticipated, but well worth it! We enjoyed back-to-back evenings with new friends and it was only our second full weekend living in Denver!
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