Our single hike of the trip took place Monday morning. Of course it was preceded by a coffee stop for you-know-who. The little town of Morrison had just the spot. Morrison Joe's was a small downtown cafe, and it had a steady stream of customers even late in the morning. I also needed new camera batteries, and there was a variety store that supplied my needs. Morrison is deep in the foothills, yet only ten minutes drive from our hotel.
Our trail head was only five minutes from Morrison, back towards Denver. Green Mtn. was just high enough for a couple of flatlanders who weren't in hiking condition at the moment. Our hike began at 6,000' from the Rooney Parking Lot, on the mountain's west side. We improvised a loop that took us to the bare summit, just over 800' higher. Even though it was a Monday, the mountain was crawling with mountain bikers, and a few other hikers. Since the main mountains were still too wet, this mountain was taking up a lot of slack.
Telephoto shot of downtown Denver from atop Green Mtn. The view is east towards the plains.
Looking west from the summit of Green Mtn. Snow-packed summits can be seen further out.
I made the cover (again) of Real Men Magazine! View is north this time.
There are a large number of connecting trails. We improvised a 4-mile loop. Here is our descent through the valley of crickets!
It was a beautiful day for hiking! We took our time and enjoyed the views in all directions from the summit, including a nearby state park where we had hiked in the autumn of 2007. Afterwards, it was time to eat. Deb had researched the veg restaurants and the cafes. The brewpubs were my line. We headed to Watercourse, in a lovely, quiet residential area. Deb had an incredible order of miso-glazed tofu on a salad, while I enjoyed a very filling grilled tofu sandwich.
After lunch it was finally time for....coffee. In Albuquerque last month we had spent a few hours at the Southwest Coffee and Chocolate Fest. A roaster from Denver had been there with samples, and Deb had loved their coffee. She meant to go back and buy some beans, but forgot by the time we had finished sampling at the many exhibits. So we now headed to their home base. Corvus Coffee was bustling with customers, and the coffee roaster was going great guns. In addition to some fantastic pour-overs, Deb bought one of their ultra cool tee-shirts, and some coffee beans.
When the roasted coffee beans come out of the roaster, they are very hot. They need to be cooled quickly, to stop them from developing further. This part of the process sees the beans rotated and stirred, while a giant fan blows cool air on them from beneath. We sat at a high counter drinking our Corvus coffee as we watched the action.
Now it was time for the first craft beer of the day! I would only visit two places today, but they were both outstanding! First up was Hogshead Brewing Co. Their specialty is British-style ales, from the cask. Yup. Another cask ale place, American style. Would I be disappointed like I was with Pints Pub? Nope. This place hit the jackpot! There was only one problem, and it is the reason I did not rate it at the highest level (like Lost Highway). They did not serve anything less than 10 oz. Now I don't know about you, but 20 oz of craft beer goes a long way with me. In most places they served 3-5 oz small pours, but not here. So I got to try only two of their excellent cask ales. They had seven. Denver Pride, a takeoff on Fullers' London Pride, was so delicious that it immediately took away my bad mood from the long, traffic-filled, construction mess of a drive to get here, and then finding out they did not do small pours. I mean this ale was d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s!! I followed it up with Downtown Julie Brown, aged in oak barrels. Another score!!
The legendary 7 hand pulls of Hogshead Brewery, Denver. I got to try two of them.
The older gent tending bar was a great guy. He had no idea that there were cask ale fests in the US, and that Detroit had one of the best (I'll be there this Sat., May 14th). He told us (Deb) a way to drive back to our hotel that avoided the busy freeways. He also said it went past a suburban rail station with good parking, and that from there it was easy to zip right downtown.
We followed his instructions, and were soon parked inside a garage adjacent to a light rail station. Because we had local license plates, our parking was free for 24 hours!! Return fare to downtown was only $5.20 each. We bought our tickets from a machine and went upstairs to wait for a train. It was turning cloudy and cool, and I had left my jacket in the car. Noting the scheduled arrival time of our train, I went back down to the car for my jacket. I got back with five minutes to spare, with Deb awaiting my return.
The station was sprawled across a busy 6-lane surface street, and our view was south. Just before I got back, everyone on the platform had just seen a male pedestrian get hit by a car. He went flying, and was laying on the road, not moving. Deb had seen him bounce off the hood of the car onto the ground. People were noticeably shaken, including Deb. I started timing the event. The first police car, in very heavy traffic, was on scene in two minutes. He was joined about two minutes later by four more patrol cars. The engine and EMS arrived at the five minute mark, just as our train arrived. I snapped a photo as we pulled away.
Now here is the weird thing. The person most certainly died, from the description of the hit and the speed of the car. However, we could find nothing about it. I researched and found every pedestrian struck in Denver since January, fatal and otherwise, but there is still nothing on this one. Very weird.
The man lying on the sidewalk is assisting the struck pedestrian, who cannot be seen in this photo. I took the photo from our train as it pulled out of the station.
Downtown Denver, approaching on the W Line.
The restored and bustling Union Station, downtown Denver.
Wynkoop Brewpub, downtown Denver since 1988.
The ride to the heart of downtown took about 20 minutes, and was smooth and comfortable. The last stop is about two short blocks to Union Station. It can be reached via underground walkway if the weather is bad, but we strolled along at street level, entering the station to find it bustling and filled with shops, restaurants, and a fantastic bar with plenty of crafty taps. We spent several minutes exploring the station and enjoying the urban vibe. All of the local trains stop here, including the one from the airport. It is still the Amtrak stop, too, with one eastbound and one westbound train daily. This train, the California Zephyr, leaves from Chicago and goes to San Francisco. Westbound, it leaves Denver at 8 am, traveling through the Rockies during daylight hours. Someday soon I hope you are reading the blog of our latest Amtrak adventure.
We had a sit down coffee at Pigtrain Coffee before wandering off into the downtown core. After five minutes of that, I wanted to find a decent bar. The one in Union Station kept calling to me. However, Deb located a brewpub 173 yards away using the phone data! We were soon ensconced in the large but very cozy Wynkoop Brewpub. It is Denver's oldest microbrewery.
I enjoyed four 4 oz samples of some incredibly delicious beer! First up was Forethought Saison, a sour. This one was a sipper, but quite fantastic. I rated it **1/2 out of 3. Next, I moved on to another big hit, called Rye-teo Old Chap. It had spent 4 weeks in rye whisky barrels that, according to our helpful and attentive waitress, had been dripping with whiskey when the beer went in. This rated ***, and is one of the finest beers on this planet and several others. I ended up ordering a 2nd sample of it. Here is the description from the brewery:
Our imperial rye stout was made with 3 kinds of rye and then for good
measure we aged it for four months Laws Whiskey House Secale rye whiskey
barrels. The dry spiciness of the rye is balanced by rich dark malt
notes and vanilla from the barrels. All of the rye makes for a dark
deceptively boozy treat. ABV 8.5% Starting Gravity 21 Special Ingredients: Laws Secale Rye whiskey barrels
Later on, back at our station. They wouldn't let me drive the train.
We finished up the day at Whole Foods again, then stopped off at Caution Brewery, close to our hotel. I was going to really finish my day with another nice glass of their cask ale. It was closed Mondays. Drat. Thus ended an otherwise mighty fine day in Denver.
Tuesday: Boulder, CO; Departure for Home
Boulder, a mid-sized university city, was only about a twenty-five minute drive from our hotel. We checked out of the BW, which had provided us with amazing breakfasts each morning. We will likely stay here again, especially knowing now where the local train station is. We left Denver mid-morning, arriving in Boulder just in time for elevenses. We went to Trident Cafe and Bookstore, where Deb had a perfect espresso (I am told). I ordered green tea. The tea did absolutely nothing to my pot of hot water! No colour, no taste. Ha ha. Good thing I wasn't in Boulder for tea.
Downtown is very cool, with plenty of (full) cafes, shops, restaurants, bars and brew pubs. It was a miserable day, though. Our weather luck had run out. It was cold, breezy, and drizzly. I got settled at the bar at West Flanders Brewing Co., while Deb went off to explore a massive kitchen shop nearby. She was searching for some coffee brewing merchandise.
Despite being assured by the person behind the bar that the small pours were 4 oz, along came my 4 choices for today, 7 oz each. Instead of 16 oz I now had 28 oz! That may have been a good thing if the beer had been top notch. But of my four samples, only one was really good. More below.
Trident Cafe and Bookstore, Boulder, CO.
Pearl St. pedestrian mall, Boulder.
West Flanders Brewing Co., Boulder.
Firstly, the beer was served at an absolutely criminally cold temperature. How a pub that specializes in a European beer can do this is totally insane. I literally left the beer sitting for 25 minutes before my second taste. Deb came back after half an hour and I had barely started to drink. She happily wandered off again, having found exactly what she was looking for. She went to check a few used book stores for some books I was seeking.
Secondly, this is possibly the least-friendly pub I have ever been to. Everyone seemed in a grumbly mood. No one asked how the beer was; no one came back to ask if I wanted anything else; I was left totally alone at the bar. Sheesh. There were about four other customers in the place altogether. The help liked to stand around in groups and chat together. Anyway, here is what I sampled:
Trippel Lutz: Still way too cold even after 30 minutes of sitting. **
Angry Monk (Belgian Abbey style. * 1/2 Pretty bad.
Wee Hefty (Scottish Ale). ** Pleasant, but nothing that really grabbed me.
Daisy Cutler (Dark Belgian Strong). **1/2. Though drank last, it was still much too cold! It was pretty tasty.
Thus ended my beer exploration of Boulder. I had wanted to visit Avery Brewery, but I was done after 28 oz. Lunch came next. Nearby was Leaf Vegetarian. The place had decent food, but was very pretentious. There was no craft beer, just wine. Good grief. Don't want any of those low-brow beer drinkers in here, I guess. Our waitress was an ice maiden, never cracking a smile the entire hour. What's up with Boulder? Deb had "crab cakes" with soup. I just had the soup, being rather full at the moment.
Afterwards, we tried walking around downtown some more, but it was just too cold and windy. We tried a few cafes, but there were no tables (Tuesday, 2 pm?). We did finally get settled into Laughing Goat Cafe (at least somebody laughs in Boulder), at the only available table. It is a pretty cool place, with excellent pour over coffee. They served Kaladi coffee, and Deb had another good espresso.
Though it was early, we decided to head to the airport, which has a number of good craft beer bars and cafes. We would miss the worst of the rush hour traffic, too. Denver freeways remind me of Toronto--don't use them unless you want to move really, really slowly.
The airport is on the northeast side of town, literally out on the Great Plains. We would have got there way too early, so we continued driving east for a while, out onto the plains. We ended up in a little town called Bennett before turning around and going to the airport a back way. I now know a sneaky, fast, uncrowded way to get to the airport. We made it right to the rental car place driving only two-lane blacktop!
We always seem to be pre-approved by TSA these days, and we get our own special, uncrowded security lane. We don't have to take off our shoes or take computers or liquids out of our backpacks. We traveled just with our carry-on luggage this trip. Security took about 90 seconds. You should have seen the faces of the people in the regular line.
Downtown Boulder, showing how close the mountains are.
Once inside the main terminal building, it was time to find the perfect pub. Denver has three terminals, connected by underground rail. Ours was the furthest, Terminal C. We thought we would try there first. We walked the length and breadth of the medium-sized terminal and found Roots Underground. Though busy, we snagged a two-person table at the large window, overlooking the runways. They had oodles of craft beer. They had Avery's Reverend Belgian Quad, so in a way I got to try an Avery beer. Guess what? It was served at an almost freezing temperature. It sat in front of me for a very long time. It turned out to be a ** beer, certainly not a memorable quad. Denver, like most places, serves their beer way too cold. Might as well drink Coors for all the flavour you get at really low temps.
I ordered the in-house veg burger, which was good but way too filling! I was still burping when we landed in Detroit, four hours later! Deb enjoyed her Faro Salad, too.
The flight home was weird. It was too bumpy to get any service, so the flight attendants just sat in their seats all the way back to Detroit. We had to take a northern route, due to the turbulence. I managed some great naked eye astronomy from the darkened cabin, facing north. We landed on time, snagged a ride to our car right away, and were soon on our way to a 24 hr. Meijers store for beer. It was 1 am. Down to the bridge for gin and gasoline, then home just after 2 am. It was a perfect trip, but it was over. Wah!
I ordered the in-house veg burger, which was good but way too filling! I was still burping when we landed in Detroit, four hours later! Deb enjoyed her Faro Salad, too.
The flight home was weird. It was too bumpy to get any service, so the flight attendants just sat in their seats all the way back to Detroit. We had to take a northern route, due to the turbulence. I managed some great naked eye astronomy from the darkened cabin, facing north. We landed on time, snagged a ride to our car right away, and were soon on our way to a 24 hr. Meijers store for beer. It was 1 am. Down to the bridge for gin and gasoline, then home just after 2 am. It was a perfect trip, but it was over. Wah!
Bonus Photo (scroll across it)
I put this one full size, which won't be any help if you try to look at it on a phone. As a photographer who enjoys looking at photos, I refuse to get rid of my full-size laptop or desktop computer. Anyway, this is a gallery window from Vail. Can you find me and Deb?
Till next time, this is Mapman Mike signing off.
