The dogs’ dad spent the week working in Denver so took Friday off and joined him.

Stayed at the Kimpton Born, in the LoDo area, beside Union station.

View from the hotel room was the train station.

The room was beautiful.

There was a dining area and living room.

The day we checked out, the hotel personnel said there would be a VIP staying in the same room after us – all they could say was ‘band member’.  Wish we could have found out which band…

There was a closet area and a wall of cubbies; want these at home.

Denver has a lot to do and there’s never enough time.  This time we went to the zoo and saw penguins,

Hornbills,

And other animals.

There were peacocks all over the place.

Because of the heat a lot of animals were inside, out of view.

Went to Dinosaur Ridge for some hiking.

We arrived around 9am and it was so hot.  It was a dry heat but ended up getting way too much sun.  Next time, need to get out by 7:30.

Could see Red Rocks Amphitheater from the trail.

After hiking went to Bandimere Speedway and watched some time trials and eliminations for a couple of car classes.  The vintage cars were cute.

Did a lot of walking on 16th street and the downtown area.

The riverfront area was pretty.

The third largest REI is in this area.

The building was formerly used to generate electricity for the Denver Tramway Co. and they retained a lot of the original architecture.

We also went to the Museum of Contemporary Art.

Which was featuring Cleon Peterson.

His piece, The Marcher, looks kinda like Gru from Despicable Me?

This piece was called Trump.  Pretty self-explanatory.

At night walked around the river and the back side of Elitch Gardens, an amusement park.

Did some light painting (which the dogs’ dad loves – he needs more people to do this with)

I wouldn’t tell him but can understand the appeal.  Some of the shots turned out quite pretty.

The food was great.

Rolled ice cream from Ice Cream Nation

Mushroom and Pork buns and

Lobster ramen from Corner Ramen.

Crab cake salad,

Salmon avocado toast,

And oysters from Stoic and Genuine.

The pail of salt on the table was too cute.  (And a lil too hipster)

Did some shopping as well.

Bought some tea at the House of Commons.

The dogs’ dad picked up some milk oolong and Chai Yerba Mate.

Also stopped by Republic of Paws for souvenirs for the dogs.

Note:  No puppy is in Simply Puppy.  They both look slightly concerned about this.

Picked up a few other things:

Colorado cap,

Cotton candy and truffles from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Co.

A little heartbroken only the grape cotton candy made it through security at the airport.  For some reason the green apple flavor got lost while dealing with TSA.  Denver, unlike others, makes you show all of your food to the security agent.  Had to open the takeout boxes and show the contents to the agent.  Later found out it was most likely due to people trying to bring cannibis food products on the plane.

This sign is so true (in Denver).  Zo and Co aren’t really feeling it.

The flight back was uneventful – the moon reflecting on the wing was pretty.

 

(Note some of these photos were taken by the dogs’dad)