Denver and the Lariat Loop

Denver is a great weekend destination! It's affordable, and you can see both the city and the mountains in a long weekend. 

#denverco #colorado #girlsweekend #redrocks #golden #boulder 

Day 1 (Friday): Fly into Denver 

In order to maximize your time in Denver, a flight on Friday is ideal. My friends and I landed around 12:30 PM, and headed straight to the train station downstairs. A ticket to Union Station costs about $10 and you can purchase the ticket on the RTD app on your phone. 

We explored Union Station for a while, and then dropped our bags off at our hotel, the Westin. Since we were staying downtown we took the free 16th street mall shuttle from Union Station basically to our hotel. 

We wanted to walk around and take in the architecture, so we walkedd to the five points neighborhood and stopped at Tap Fourteen - a rooftop beer garden. They had a bunch of tasty snacks and so many options for beer and cider. Then we headed over to Stem ciders to try some of the best cider in colorado. 

We headed back to the hotel for a while to rest before booking a late dinner reservation at Mizu Izakaya. This place had great japanese food. Then we had a cocktail at the cruise room at the oxford hotel before heading in for the evening. 

Day 2: Lariat Loop National Scenic Byway (rent a car)

We rented a subaru using Zipcar so that we could explore on saturday. 

• Stop 1: Red Rocks Park and Amphitheater. We parked near the general store and walked up into the ampitheater to see where some of the best bands have performed. Then we did a short hike on the trading post trail to take in the surroundings. Make sure you bring water, it's easy to get dehyrdated at this elevation! 
• Stop 2: Evergreen Lake - beautiful little lakeside town. We saw some elk. Stopped and had a late brunch at Willow Creek Restaurant and then walked around the boardwalk by the lake. 
• Stop 3: Lookout Mountain Park - buffalo bill's grave, views of 14ers and downtown denver 
• Stop 4: Downtown Golden - antique stores and snack at colorado plus 49 cidery and pub
• Stop 5: late dinner at pizzeria locale in boulder, explore pearl street mall, back to denver. 

Day 3: Final denver explorations and fly home 

The last day is the best to explore any miscellaneous stuff on your list. We visited a few places before catching the train from Union Station back to the airport.

• Brown Palace Hotel - this hotel was owned by the unsinkable molly brown (the woman that survived the titanic!)
• Colorado capital building 
• Tattered cover bookstore