48 hours in Denver

Last week, we took a quick trip to Denver to catch the Portland Thorns playing the Denver Summit at their second new stadium of the year (in May I visited their first stadium). We caught up with old friends, dined well, checked out Meow Wolf Denver, and caught the game before flying home.

I googled "hip neighborhood in Denver hotels" and was directed to the RiNo (River North) area of town and it certainly looked like a cool arts district that had priced out all the artists that likely made it a cool hip neighborhood, but a quick googling revealed the history of the neighborhood is actually much darker. RiNo was known as the Harlem of the West, with jazz clubs, studios, and a large population of black artists but they were pushed out 30-40 years ago so that it could be what it was today, which is a cool looking but mostly soulless place with few places to eat or explore.

Later, we had an awesome lunch at Stuben's, they really nail comfort food well. We also had a great dinner at Teocalli Cocina in Lafayette one night.

Since the weather is basically broken nationwide, the entire time we were in Denver, it was in the 90-95ºF range during the day with hot nights. We spent the bulk of one afternoon inside the Meow Wolf Denver experience to escape the sweltering.

I've never been to a Meow Wolf thing before but I've read lots about them and know loads of friends that enjoy them. I went in cold, and it was a feast for the senses, but I was looking for more of a story or game aspect to make the whole experience more cohesive. We installed apps, had a RFID card we checked into stations with, explored all the different rooms and saw on our phones that we got to every single section they wanted us to, but in the end, it was still just kind of ok.

I thought it would have more escape-room aspects, but instead it was an indoor amusement park with tons of spaces to explore and you could tell the "plot" of this location was four alien races coming together in one place but there were no mysteries to be solved or any sort of backstory to slowly uncover.

After we left and talked about it with friends, everyone agreed it would probably be the coolest place on earth to spend time while super high, but with us being completely sober, it was just ok. It does have an incredible level of design, especially when you consider it was all inside what was likely an old office building.

But I just wish there was more to discover and unravel in my visit there, instead of just bright lights and colorful things to look at.

Before dinner one night with friends, they asked "hey do you want to try renting a paddle boat on our local pond?" and I said half-jokingly "oh, like those ones we pedal inside a giant duck?" and they said "Yes, actually. Exactly."

So we did that.

The Denver Summit game last Saturday was brutally hot, completely devoid of shade, and their concession stands started to run out of bottled water for sale. They did have great food and it was a bummer to see the Thorns lose.

After spending all day sweating buckets in 95ºF heat, we had a 7pm flight home, and not much to do before the flight, so we went to the airport and checked into the Capital One lounge, which features showers, endless food and drink, and comfy places to hang out. I took my first ever shower inside an airport and it was life-changing. We were feeling awful and slightly heat stroked out from spending the day outside and it was GLORIOUS to jump in a private room with a toilet and shower, wash off all the layers of sunblock, put on fresh clothes, and hang out inside a quiet airport lounge while we rehydrated and ate loads of appetizing food.

I still contend that every executive lounge in US Airports should actually be what airport terminals are like: quiet, relaxing, and enjoyable. I hate that calm areas with comfy couches and no TVs screaming Fox News and CNN is only a thing for well-off people ready to spend upwards of $100 at an airport.

Flying home around sunset, we got a great view of Mt. Hood on the approach back into Portland.