The Gloriousness of Bacon and Beer

I decided I should go ahead and keep with the time travel theme of my posts so I'm gonna tell you about what was a tremendous November weekend in the great state of Colorado. As it starts to get warmer and ever so much muggier here in the Big Apple, it leaves me seriously missing the lack of humidity in Denver. My bangs especially miss that awesomeness. I thought I'd pretend I was back there for a minute and tell you about a weekend full of bacon and beer.

Denver is notorious for festivals. I don't mean creepy clown filled festivals, I'm talking stuff like bacon and IPA festivals. Holy mother, are we in Denver or heaven? I got confused for a second. Last Fall when I got word that the same weekend would house a day full of IPA and a day full of bacon, my fingers flew across my keyboard like lightning in order to email and let Patrick and Dave know about it. Although I would've thought they might be in, I didn't expect both of them to literally book a flight the same day we talked about it. That's right, I've got killer friends. Be jealous. Festival tickets were also bought and a couple of months later, I was saying hello to two of my favorite boys on the planet.

Saturday kicked the weekend off with the Boulder IPA Fest held at Avery Brewing in Boulder. Avery is by far one of my favorite Colorado breweries and not just because I could drink their taps dry but more because the people are badass. The guys know their stuff and they're damn cute on top of it. I may have done a little stalker staring a time or two whilst there but we won't talk about that. I wasn't really sure what to expect from the festival but I was ecstatic over introducing myself to a whole slew of new IPAs that were sure to be spectacular. When we got there, they handed us our tasting glass, 16 tickets - each good for one taste - and our tasting sheet that described the glory we would soon behold:

 I'm not happy:

Nope, not at all.

Guys, the weather was awesome. Seriously. It's like pairing the right wine with the right cheese. Beer and sunshine just go together. Alisa's friend, Emily, also came in town for the fun:

Man, we have smart friends, don't we?

After we all did our initial round of choosing which beers to start out with, the tasting commenced:

I love those boys.

Out of 102 different IPAs, I feel like we did some serious damage between the 6 of us (I didn't forget you were there, Todd!). Thing is, those "tasters" were literally about 3/4 of a full beer each time so out of 16 tickets, we managed to get through about 8 each. Um, I'd say we got our money's worth. It was a phenomenal event, truly. Once again, Avery does not disappoint. I'm gonna see if I can bribe Patrick and Dave to meet me in Denver for it this year.

The next day, we woke up like kids on Christmas ready for the Denver Bacon and Beer Festival. Coming off such a great day prior, we were hyped up for our second festival bonanza. Only, something terrible happened. By terrible I mean delicious but I mean terrible. We figured we'd need some stamina so we decided to start the day at Denver Biscuit Company. Folks, I led my friends astray. When they needed me most, I marched them right into biscuit battle with no hope of protection against the buttery temptation that is DBC:

We didn't stand a chance. See, we were supposed to just have a little something to start our day off right. I mean, we were going to a dang bacon festival afterward! Who did we think we were?! Case in point, we stuffed ourselves and honestly thought we were gonna die. This is at, oh, 11:00am or so when we had the entire rest of the day ahead of us to sample bacon dishes from vendors all over Denver. Whoops. What's the solution in a situation like this? Go for a couple of beers at Goosetown Tavern.

After doing nothing more than make ourselves feel worse, we finally got to the venue. Patrick proudly declared that no matter how full he was, he was gonna own that festival. May I present you with round one:

My entire body hurts just looking at it. Dave and I gave it our most valiant effort but we literally could not stomach more than two bites of food the entire afternoon:

Though he's eyeing Donnie's plate real nice:

Maybe he's just eyeing Donnie. 

Despite my biscuit coma misery, we still managed to enjoy the shenanigans:

I'm gonna track that dude down and steal his bacon costume.

We stuck around as long as we could but eventually the only thing we could imagine putting in our body was either water or liquor. We opted for the liquor. Back to Goosetown Tavern we went to meet up with Mindy. Side note, we also met Jake who was our bartender extraordinaire and who has now become a very important person to me. Funny how life works, isn't it? Anyway, we got to the bar around 6:00pm and ended up nearly closing the place down. We stayed for three rounds of trivia and literally ended up having one of the most fun nights I can remember, at least up until that point considering this is a time travel post and I have enjoyed a few epically fun nights since then but who's counting?! I'd say this was a mighty good end to a magnificent weekend:

These things just happen:

Best. Weekend. Ever. Denver, we love you.

A Georgia Peach In The Rocky Mountains

I've lived in Colorado for nine months. That's exactly nine months too long to go without having my mom visit. You'd think after living out of Georgia for so many years, I'd be used to being far away from her. Guess what, guys? You never get used to being far away from your mom. After Allison got to have a whole week with her back in May, I decided it was my turn. So, she booked a week to come visit over 4th of July. Hooray!

Welcome to Denver, Mom! Aren't you just as cute as ever:

After we got Mom's stuff settled at my apartment, I treated her to breakfast at Syrup. I told her we'd need a solid meal in order to face a day full of brewery touring. Don't underestimate her, though. This woman can hang.

Once we were nice and full on benedicts, hash and pancakes, we headed up to Boulder so I could show her Caffe and then meet friends at Avery. Mom is a huge beer lover and I knew Avery would be a favorite for her. I totally love it there. The boys are cute, the beers are awesome and everyone is damn friendly. They know so much about brewing and it's just fascinating to sit and chat with any one of their bartenders or staff. They really take pride in what they do and it shows. Mom did several different tasters including a bock that literally tasted like campfire. It was amazing.

From there, I took her to Denver Beer Co. where she very happily tasted their graham cracker porter and kaffir lime wheat. We had fun:

Even in altitude, Mom held her own. I guess that's where I get it from.

We met my friend, Alisa, later that evening at D Bar where I was shocked to find their food as good as their desserts! I had this pizza salad wrap thing that was dang delicious. Anyway, you don't wanna know about that. You wanna know about this chocolate fudge cake:

And this almond ice cream sandwich made with waffles and three different kinds of cherries:

Nope, we were not disappointed.

Throughout the week, Mom got to meet different friends and hop around to some of my favorite local spots. She had her first Moscow Mule at Parallel 17 where she also got to meet my girl, Mindy:

She came with me to Three Lions which has totally become a second home for me:

She also came to 'observe' one of my CrossFit classes where the guys were ready to put her to work! They graciously allowed her to sit out but only this time... We got margaritas and Mexican after because that's just what you should do:

On 4th of July, I was off of work and super stoked to take Mom up to Evergreen. I knew she'd love the drive and Wildflower Cafe even more:

She tried a basil bloody mary and proclaimed that breakfast all around was the best she'd ever had. There's a literal inability not to smile when you're around this sweet lady. She just brings joy and sunshine to everything, even breakfast.

Afterward, I took her down to Red Rocks where she truly was blown away:

She'd never seen anything like it. I so loved watching her gaze out at the rocks with a look of wonder on her face. It touched my soul.

Since we were so close to Golden, we headed over to Golden City Brewery and sat outside for a while before we decided we were melting. It was such a hot day so we decided to head back to Denver for something a bit more refreshing; air conditioning and blueberry vodka lemonade:

The next day was what's called First Friday here in Denver. Each month on the first Friday, locations all over Denver do open air art walks which are so cool. I'd been to two different locations before so I was thrilled to take Mom to try the one up on Tennyson Street. We did a little happy hour at Udi's first and then it was off to meet my friend, Chelsea, to roam the streets:

I loved seeing Mom have such a good time. I knew she'd really enjoy anything art related so it made me happy to share something she's passionate about with her. Before we knew it, it was time for dinner at Root Down. We drank delicious apricot gin cocktails and heard such fun stories from Chelsea about growing up in Minnesota (including how they make homemade snow!):

It really was a perfect evening.

As if Mom being in town wasn't terrific enough, we got to see my awesome friend, Jessica, from San Diego the next morning. She and I had talked for weeks about going to Denver Biscuit Company when she got here and it was number one on the priority list. I was SO glad we got to do it:

I mean, let's just hit the pause button on life for a second:

Goodness. Nothing but goodness.

The rest of Mom's trip, we really just bummed around town and had so much fun together. Cocktails, sunshine, conversation:

Even though it was a Sunday night, it absolutely didn't stop us from having a night on the town. Sometimes, you just let life lead you wherever it wants to take you and it turns out perfect. I found it completely hilarious that ALL the guys would not leave Mom alone. They loved her:

Who would blame them?

Due to some funny circumstances, we ended up at a bar downtown known for punks, beards and lots of tattoos. Mom, in her sweet Dog Paddle shirt, was a total hit:

I'll be cracking up about that entire night for quite some time.

So sadly, Mom's last night in town inevitably arrived. I wanted to cook dinner for her and just enjoy our final hours together simply. Homemade pesto with roasted chicken, baby kale salad and crisp prosecco, mmm:

It's been ages since I've shared such special one on one time with Mom and I'll honestly cherish it for a long time. Things have not been easy for me since I've arrived in Colorado. That's a hard but truthful fact. Mainly, having to face a lot of hardship alone has been incredibly trying and heartbreaking at times. Not being able to just walk down the street to Allison's place or call up my closest friends to meet me for a margarita makes a vast difference when going through a hard time. So, having Mom come be with me for a week was healing for the spirit and comforting for the soul. I'm so fortunate to have gotten even a small, temporary breather from feeling so blue.

Thank you for coming to see me, Mom. Thank you for hugging me and for letting me cry on your shoulder. Thank you more for helping me smile and see the glorious goodness I have in my life because you're my mom. You're the greatest person I know and I miss you more than any words could explain. I love you.