denverfest: day 3
the last day of vacation in denver (for this trip) was actually spent for the most part out of denver. after enjoying a bit of a sleep-in, we journeyed to boulder to hang out for the day. we started by taking in pearl street in all its glory: it was another beautiful day and the hippies, petitioners, and street performers were all out in force. i had not been there in perhaps 6 years, and even now it still seems like the kind of place i could see myself living, but i think all the hippies/yuppies would drive me crazy. that, and in order to fit in, i’d apparently have to slather the prius i’m destined to own with all kinds of tree-hugging bumper stickers in addition to the self-gratifying better-mpg-than-you types i see on many mpls-based ones. but i hear the soccer fields are really nice…
after locating some coffee, we picked a cafe more or less at random and met an old friend of mine there for lunch, which was fun (and the food was not too shabby either.) we then headed off to the avery brewery for a tour and beer sampling. i’ve had the chance to sample a few of their beers on tap in mpls and have been impressed, but i still wasn’t expecting much. turns out they have quite the operation going in spite of its small size, and seem to have a lot of passion for it, which is good. we sampled everything they had, including a very limited release of a 2-year-old bourbon-barrel-aged version of their quadrupel, which was probably one of the most flavorful beers i’ve ever had. i don’t know how often they do that, but the beer was literally offered during a 20-minute window shortly after the tour was done. was quite the treat for us beer snobs-in-training =)
steve then took us on the scenic route back to denver through the boulder canyon, which was well worth the extra travel time. back in denver, we found a place nearby to grab some bison-based sustenance, then kicked back a bit at steve’s place before calling it a night. tomorrow is breakfast then heading back to mpls. after the weekend’s fun, i can’t say i’m really looking forward to heading back.
