Summer Vacation 2013- Part 2

As were were planning our camping trip in the mountains Mike suggested we add a few days at the end of our trip and explore Denver, CO. Neither of us had been and we both liked the idea of staying in a hotel at the end of our trip just in case we were itching for modern amenities.

When you camp in the mountains you automatically adjust to the mountain time schedule. Meaning you wake up and crash with the sun. Not kidding. I'm a total night owl and love sleeping in but each day we camped I was out of the tent by 6:15am at the latest and Mike would want me to add that I was in bed between 9-9:30 each night. I couldn't help myself between waking early, our strenuous hikes (they really were strenuous, I'm not making that part up), and the fact that it was pitch black I crashed and I'm not ashamed of it :).

Given our early rise each morning we were packed and ready to go on our last day with too much time to spare before checking in to our hotel in Denver so we decided to explore Fort Collins. Specifically we decided to explore Fort Collins breweries. And we were not disappointed.

Our first stop was O'Dell Brewery (actually our first stop was Colorado State University because the brewery didn't open until 11 but we made it to the parking lot at 10:58 so we were sure not to miss a moment).

The best part of O'Dell was everything. Seriously, this place is amazing. It made us want to move to Fort Collins right then and there.

If I had to choose one thing though it would be their label artwork.  Pretty huh? We also went to New Belgium Brewery but I didn't get any pictures there. We actually met a couple doing the same thing we were at O'Dell and ended up chatting the afternoon away with them. Good time and great beer.

Once we made it to Denver we hit up the Clyfford Still Museum to soak up a little culture. Clyfford Still was one of the first Abstract Impressionists and this museum is devoted entirely to him and his lifetime of work. It was pretty neat actually because we were able to see his work evolve from start to finish. It helped make abstract expressionism and bit more literal which is hard to do.

Afterwards we headed to Wynkoop Brewery for some more beer and some lunch. In Denver this would definitely be our favorite. I even tried beer made with bull testicles. No joke.

It wasn't half bad! We finished our tour at Great Divide Brewing Company before heading back towards our hotel for dinner. The next day we headed home. It's about a 10 hour drive from Des Moines to Denver and it really is an easy drive. We had a great time and absolutely love Colorado. I can't tell you how many times each of us said we never wanted to come home during our trip. Maybe someday... until then, I'm sure we'll be back again and soon hopefully.