4 Day Trip in Colorado!

My husband and I got to go to Colorado for four days on a work trip. He had to work from 7-3:30 so I went out and explored during those times and then we would meet up and go find some fun things to do together. It was a very fun trip and I would recommend stopping in the state if you can!

We flew out of Utah on a Monday morning. The new Utah airport is gorgeous and I thought it was so big but when we got to the Denver Airport it is still small in comparison! We picked up a rental car and headed to Centennial Colorado. Only about a half hour drive. We had some work meetings we both attended to in the morning and then we had the rest of the day to adventure out.

Our first food stop was at Real De Minas. It was authentic Mexican food and it really was good! I got the enchiladas and my husband got the pick three plate with an enchilada, chimichanga and a taco. The star of the meal was the bean dip that they serve with the salsa and chips at the very beginning. We scraped that bowl clean!  

After lunch we headed to downtown Denver. The traffic wasn’t bad at all but it was around 1:30 pm. We stopped at Little Man’s Ice Cream which was such good ice cream. The atmosphere is fun too. The little store is a milk jug just extra huge to have it be a building. A lot of people were there taking pictures. Very iconic spot, but the ice cream can hold its own popularity because it is really that good.  

Every blog and video I have watched has said you could walk through downtown to one thing to another. Well, let's be honest it really isn’t the most fun thing to do. We thought we had a 10–15-minute walk from Little Man's ice cream to Larimer square... It really is more like a half hour walk and we were in dress shoes and sandals and it was 90 degrees. We ended up turning back around to pick up our car so we could just drive there. While we walked we did run into Confluence Park.There was a place where you could go sit on benches and there was access to the water. It was a nice hang out spot.  

We ended up driving over to the 16th street mall and Larimer square. Parking was easy to find for on street parking but the garages were $2.00 every 10 minutes so definitely stick to on street parking which was $1.00 for an hour. We walked to Larimer square and wow what a beautiful street. They have flowers everywhere and lights strung up with the flags hanging down the center of the street. The restaurants looked very fancy so we didn’t try any of them but we did walk the street which was worth it just to see it in person!  

The 16th street mall was a bit small. There wasn’t anything too fancy about it. We did find an old-time soda shop on the corner called Rocket Fizz which was so fun to go walkthrough. They had all glass bottles of lots of old sodas and the old-time candies too. We found Ale 81 in cherry which was different for us. Don’t forget to look up at the clock tower right here too! That was neat to see. We didn’t do the tour of it but I bet it would be so cool! 

We headed back to Centennial around 4 and the traffic had picked up by then but still wasn’t too bad. We stayed at a Hampton Inn which was pretty nice. After resting for a bit we headed to grab a smoothie at Smoothie King. They have a lot of good options and it seemed pretty healthy! There is a shopping center and mall called the Park Meadows shopping center near the smoothie place. We walked around there and then called it a night!  

On day two Greg had to work so we picked up a Dutch Bros Horchata and Tai Chi mixed shake thing for him and his trainer. I headed out a little while later back to downtown Denver. I stopped at the Capitol Building for the iconic picture with the step that said one mile above sea level. Honestly, it wasn't too extravagant, but I'm glad I went and saw it. It was very quiet while I was there. It was on street parking for a dollar an hour, I only used ten minutes of it.  Very easy to navigate.  

Union Station was next on my trip and wow that was a neat experience. If you come from a certain way the gps has you turn left and it is right there when you do so it took me by surprise which made it even cooler. I couldn’t find a parking spot so that one I put on my come back later list. I headed to Denver Central Market which was one of my favorites!  

Denver Central Market had easy on street parking for free. There are sketchy parts in this neighborhood but I felt safe and fine near the actual market so just be cautious. Inside the market there are super fancy and beautiful restaurants, bakeries and parlors. I was going to have a 10:30 ice cream breakfast from High Point Creamery but they weren't open yet.  So, I bought two $3.00 pieces of chocolate from Temper. You guys, it is the smallest piece of chocolate ever but it gave us a good laugh and it really was a yummy piece of candy.  

I didn’t realize that Central Market is on the same street as the Rino district where all of the art pieces on the building are! Luckily, I was looking around enough to realize where I was! I explored a few of the streets there at least the ones I wasn’t alone on and felt comfortable going down. I think I would have felt fine if my husband was with me but being alone makes it feel a little unsafe. But I was fine and really enjoyed the art work.  

I decided to try Union Station one more time before heading out of the city and I found a parking spot! I walked through the station and wow it was beautiful. Very fancy and so fun to experience. I was only there for about fifteen minutes and headed out. All of these stops were very quick but I’m sure you could find things to keep you busy for longer but I had already eaten breakfast at the hotel so no food for me and I was alone so it did go quick.  

Back to Centennial I went! I grabbed French fries and a shake from Good Times which was a cute walk-up window fast food place with burgers, fries and milkshakes. Those fries were the best seasoned fries I have ever had! I hung out at the hotel for a few hours waiting for Greg to get off.  

Yay time to pick up the hubby from work. We use to have Fazoli's by our childhood homes that now have closed or for Greg doesn’t live near anymore so we had to hit Fazoli's here. It brought back all the memories and tastes that I remember and it was so fun!  

We then headed to Castle Rock Colorado to go to the outlet stores there and then we did the mini-incline. We looked it up and the real-life Mantua Incline is over 2,000 steps where this one is only 200. But man was it a get your heart pumping activity. This was my favorite thing we did so far! You get to the top where there is a beautiful peaceful view and you just feel so accomplished. Now let me tell you while we were there, there were a few people that went up it a few times for their exercise and wow once was good enough for us! Another trip to the smoothie King and then back to the hotel for us!  

Day three in Colorado was a little more relaxed. We started off at Shipley’s Donut and Kolaches shop. My husband grew up going here so he was so excited they had one. It was my first time and oh man I am going to be dreaming about these things forever! The donuts are so good. I got two to try and I should have gotten a whole box to myself but we shared them at work for Greg. We also each got a kolache. It is a breaded sausage and it was surprising really good. Greg loves them and we have looked for them in Utah but they are not the same as these ones.  

Greg has had another full work day so I just relaxed for a few hours in the hotel and then ventured out for a little bit. I went to the LDS Denver Temple which was small but beautiful. The flowers they have here are crazy. They are bright and in full bloom and look so pretty. After the temple I went to Panera! I know it's probably just a big normal chain food for you but for Utah we don’t have one. I first had Panera in Minnesota on my mission so I was so excited to go here. I got the exact same order as I would back then, A BBQ chicken salad and an orange scone. So good! 

Greg got picked up from work and we drove past the Broncos practice facility. It was so big and was just neat to see. We headed to the Park Meadows mall. It was quite big and had a lot fun stores. We tried the Berry Blendz in the food court which was pretty good. They had an Amazon store! I had never seen one before so that was fun. We found a retro store with lots of old-style clothes, a legging store and just the usual department stores.  

For dinner we ate at Hacienda Colorado which was a Mexican sit-down restaurant. It wasn’t our favorite meal. We sat outside which had flies and the food just didn’t compare to the first night's Mexican restaurant we went to. After dinner we drove back to the Park Meadows mall to go to the Ice Cream Factory for an ice cream cone.  

Day four we stopped by Shipley’s again for another Kolache and donut. Oh man that stuff is so good. Greg went to work for a few hours before we headed out back to Utah this afternoon. I just hung out at the hotel and packed up and then picked up Greg.  

Our last stop before heading to the airport was Gque BBQ and The Ice Cream Factory again! When we went and got ice cream the night before, we smelled the BBQ that is connected to the ice cream parlor.  It smelled so good.  we ended up going back for our last meal in Colorado. It was not our favorite BBQ place that we have tried, which was a bummer. The ice cream made up for it though!

We ended up getting to the Denver airport about three hours early but we were glad because it did take quite a while to get through security and it gave us time to get snacks! We got Jamba Juice and some Wetzel pretzels. We made it back to Utah safe and sound. This was such a good relaxing trip for me not sure about for Greg since he worked but it was super fun! 

What did we miss on this trip that we can try next time?