A couple of weekends ago, Aubrey and I took a super quick trip to Denver! His brother and family live out there, and the two of us hadn’t had the opportunity to visit together yet. We knew it was going to have to be a fast trip, and it wasn’t going to be all for fun. While mixing both business and pleasure, we were able to make the most out of our 48 hours in the Mile High City. Read along to see what I would recommend from this quick weekend trip!
Flight Times
First and foremost, this is how you make the most of your time on these quick turn type of trips. If you work full time and need to take paid time off into consideration, this is even more important! I have a weird working schedule in retail sales, where Saturday is a normal work day. I was able to rearrange my schedule perfectly to not have to take any time off, and still have the whole weekend for the trip! December is a super hectic month for Aubrey at work too, so being able to work the majority of Friday was important to us both.
We took an afternoon flight direct to Denver, and were there by dinner time! That allowed us to get a fun meal in and extra time with family before going to bed on Friday. Coming back, we scheduled an evening flight that put us walking through the door at home at 9 pm. That essentially gave us a full day in Denver that we got to spend exploring and getting in those last few moments of family time.
If you’re not lucky enough to be able to get a direct flight, make sure when you’re looking to book you check those layovers! A 9 am flight might get you there the same time as a 3 pm flight, but with a lot of wasted time in between.
Food
With the Family
We were a little all over the place with food this trip. We knew we would have a couple of meals with a bigger family group, and a couple of meals solo. For dinner after landing on Friday, we went super casual and ate at a newer Mexican restaurant close to the house. It was easy, quick, and we all love Mexican food! For breakfast the next day, we went to a restaurant called The Egg & U. Aubrey and his brother had been there before, but I never had. It is your typical breakfast/brunch place, but dang it was good! We also had kids with our group, and both the adult and kid menus had plenty of options.
When we got back together with family on Sunday, we had time to do a later lunch before heading to the airport. The group decided on a burger place, which sounded great to me! We went to Bad Daddy’s Burger Bar and all ended up with something different. Again, they had a great adult and kids menu. We all built our own burgers and really enjoyed the variety of how you could order here!
Just the Two of Us
Later Saturday afternoon, Aubrey and I broke off on our own. He was super thoughtful and booked us an awesome hotel downtown to stay the night and explore! We started the evening with drinks across the street at a rooftop bar, which was perfect since the SEC Championship game was on. The bar/restaurant was called Los Chingones and their drink menu consisted of almost 100% tequila drinks. Lucky for us, they also had Aubrey’s favorite, Sailor Jerry, so we were both happy!
Once it hit halftime, we popped over next door to Billy’s Gourmet Hot Dogs to have a snack before getting ready for dinner. I think I’ve said before that we are both huge hot dog fans, so we had to try this place! We got a corndog and a Kobe beef dog to share. I would say this place is great for a mid-day snack or a late night after drinking stop before heading home!
For dinner on Saturday, we went to a really nice restaurant downtown called Ocean Prime. They had a great steak and seafood menu, along with amazing drinks and sides. We made reservations through OpenTable to sit outside, but they ended up being able to accommodate us inside which was great! I think Aubrey would agree our favorite thing from dinner was the smoked gouda tater tots. If you ever get the chance to go, make sure you order those!
For our last meal alone, we had breakfast Sunday morning at Denver Biscuit Company. I have been here before on a girls trip to Denver last year, and we loved it! It was especially great for the two of us after having plenty of fun out trying new bars the night before. We had two enormous biscuits and some loaded up waffle fries before heading back to the hotel for a mid-morning nap.
Hotel
On my last girls trip to Denver, we stayed in an Air B&B what was super close to the Bronco’s stadium. This time, I thought we planned to stay at a family member’s house the entire trip. But, Aubrey surprised me by booking an amazing hotel downtown in the Art District for us to stay at on Saturday night!
The hotel is called The Rambler, and I highly recommend it! He booked a beautiful corner room where we were surrounded by windows and able to really take in downtown. The bar and restaurant in the hotel is called Death & Co, and is highly recommended anywhere you look! We had drinks there before and after dinner on Saturday night, and really enjoyed the bartender suggestions.
If you have the opportunity to spend a couple of nights in downtown Denver, you will love this hotel and the area it is in!
Final Thoughts
Call it a whirlwind weekend, but we had a blast with the time we had in Denver! We are very lucky to have a reason to visit often, and I look forward to our next trip! I hope to have more of these quick trip posts to share soon 🙂
Thanks for reading! Please leave comments on where you would like to see us do another quick weekend trip next!