Denver!

Denver was such a great trip.

It began a little sad, because the babies left us the night before we left, since we had a morning flight. But we got to the airport early, caught our "shuttle" to the airport (Libby would have been so happy to ride on the shuttle with us), wound our way through security and took off into the wild blue yonder.

We arrived... and then there was another shuttle to our car. Since they didn't have the car we reserved, we got a (MUCH) larger one for the same price: a Nissan Armada. Go big or go home.

CAR PIC

Our first stop was some FOOD! Michael had planned a visit to the Denver Biscuit Co. in "hipster land."

Oh but it was delicious. I enjoyed the Cordon Bleu biscuit, while Michael had The Dahlia. They were both delicious, and while his was covered in maple syrup, mine was dripping in honey butter. I think I'm still dreaming of my biscuit and I can almost still taste the best Bloody Mary I ever had: The Atomic Bloody.

The Atomic Bloody

Our biscuits!

After snapping a photo of one of many outlets for your cannabis needs (we personally had none), we headed to the number one rated Denver attraction according to Trip Advisor: the Denver Botanical Garden.

It really was beautiful and the day was perfect. Every day there was sunny and gorgeous. A bit warmer than the norm for the end of September. In fact, it was a warmer there than it was at home, but at home it was quite rainy over the weekend.

I loved the crevice gardens!

The tea house, was unfortunately closed.

The special exhibit was horses - scattered throughout the garden, and all made of wood. They really were beautiful.

I also enjoyed the fine hedgerow garden!

We both love our garden visits!

And we liked this particular sculpture in the water a lot, too.

How about these cool pond lilies?!

AND I got to play with my camera ton, too. Loved getting some floral beauties. Look for the tiny surprises on many of them!

We checked in at our beautiful B&B, the Castle Marne, in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. It was built by the same architect and with many similarities to the nearby Molly Brown House. That one is currently undergoing some renovations though, so we didn't make it by on this trip.

Our room was not huge, nor did it (or any of the rooms) have a TV, but it was nice to get away from it a bit anyway. It did have the fancy claw foot tub, and a hot tub on the balcony. Breakfast each morning was lovely and we met folks from around the country - and from Germany. Only two of the guests we spoke to were in town for the Great American Beer Festival. We tried to get tickets for it, but they sold hour within the first hour. I think it worked out better this way anyway.

Our first night, we ate a delicious first dinner at the Avenue Grill. Plus, we were there in time for cocktail hour!

It was a great first day of our vacation. With the time difference, we were pretty worn out, too.