Downtown Denver

My youngest brother Tyler works in downtown Denver along the 16th Street Mall, so we had time to kill while he finished his work week. I had heard good things about a big blue bear that lives downtown, so we decided to swing by the Convention Center to take a look. Turns out, we were the ones being watched.

This 40-foot bear just towered over us. The sculpture, actually called I See What You Mean, is an eye-catcher. So much fun and so cute! I still regret that I didn't purchase a mini blue bear from the souvenir shop. Next visit, I suppose.

Denver invests in many public art installations. I think it may be tied to building regulations and/or public financing of some sort. Anyway, here are a few more.

Art is everywhere. This particular walkway was lined with sounds of Colorado, just piped straight up through the sidewalk. It took us awhile to figure out what was going on, but Adam finally got it.

Time to find the State Capitol.

I loved this fat little red squirrel! So much cuter than the giant gray beasts we have at home.

There is, apparently, some debate about which step is actually one mile above sea level, but I'm not too picky about labeling. Geologic forces and time will continue to mess with us.

The Denver State Capitol, like all state capitols, is fascinating. This one was unique in that they were able to source most of the building materials locally: granite from Gunnison, sandstone from Fort Collins, marble from Marble, and rose onyx from Beulah.

I know there is a story about why this horse is in the governor's office, but I didn't ask. The rose onyx wainscoting contained many different images throughout the building. This section, below, displays George Washington. Searching for these images is quite popular among the school kids crowd.

The hall of presidents. Someone did a very nice job on the portraits.

The House and Senate were currently on recess, but the galleries were interesting regardless.

 

Adam loves this photo. I look like such a punk. (Really, I was just tired from sight-seeing.)

Free money! Yes, please! 

If you've ever wondered what 30 million looks like, well, here you go. I wish I could grab a few bundles of that cash. Would it even be missed? Of course, then I would be paranoid that I would lose it, and the bank would ask too many questions, I'm sure. Better to stick with what I've got.

We finally found Tyler and had a quick happy hour along Larimer Square before heading out of the city.

I think this is in front of Tyler's workplace, somehow. He was not excited to have his picture taken, but Adam sure was.

Tyler's ride along light rail picks him up in front of this grand building. It's at least a 45 minute ride out of the city, but worth it. You have the beautiful sunset and mountains to the west the whole ride home.

Tastings

Thanks to Adam, I've been on my fair share of brewery tours. New Belgium, hands down, is the best tour we've experienced so far. The beer's pretty good, too.

Check out the quirky/cute/hip/colorful/creative overload that is the New Belgium Brewing Company:

Adam is proudly displaying our beer ticket (Sunshine Wheat, FYI). Tours fill up fast. Fortunately, Alison planned ahead and booked us three spots. I suggest you do the same. Now.

We sampled five incredible and very different beers on the 90 minute tour. I picked exactly the right time to finally enjoy beer. At any point in my previous 33 years, I probably would have been sipping a ginger ale instead and missing out on all this goodness.

Check out that vessel!

This room and all its giant casks are reserved entirely for the wild and sour beers, a process that takes much longer than a typical brew. Ask Adam about the details. He's really into this style. I'm hoping I can talk him into a trip to Belgium for this.

Our amazing tour guide, in front of the equally amazing employee rock wall, a gift to an original employee of New Belgium based on his years of service to the brewery.

New Belgium is ever-expanding and will be making a trip to the East Coast market very soon.

The bottling lines were on break during our tour, but I was still impressed by the efficiency.

Our guide, explaining some of the sustainability decisions at New Belgium. The brewery was actually quite remarkable for its environmental impact, as well as its employee-oriented culture. And, of course, the beer.

Not every company gets their own spiral slide. This one does. Seems like a very cool place to work.

After the New Belgium tour, we met Adam's cousin Chris and girlfriend Katie for a long lunch in Fort Collins. Then we headed over to Equinox Brewing for another awesome tasting. When it rains, it pours.

I'm starting to reach my limit of beer right about here, but Adam is just getting started. That is what experience gets you.

We had such a great time that we overstayed our welcome a wee bit. Fortunately, Fort Collins is forgiving and probably assumed we were tasting at one of its many fine establishments. We were.

The hours simply ran out on the day.We only had time for one more stop, so we briefly stopped by the Oskar Blues Brewery in Longmont. Simply amazing. Again. Although I mostly just remember all those peanuts.

Such a long and delicious day! We had a list of at least three more breweries we were hoping to visit, including Funkwerks and Odells, but we'll have to return for those. Instead, we ended our night with a margarita and a cheers! to good company. Thanks for the memories!