Colorado Trip Part 2: Boulder

Day 3 (Monday, 9/5): Boulder.  We had breakfast at our B&B in Denver, and then drove the short distance to Boulder! When we arrived in Boulder we drove to the trailhead for a moderately strenuous hike, which ended up being REALLY hard (for me) thanks to the elevation! That elevation makes catching your breath quite difficult. The views were amazing though, so that kinda made it worth it!  After that hike we went to get settled into our studio apartment we were renting through Airbnb. The studio apartment was AWESOME, and in such a great location! It was only a few blocks away from Pearl Street, which is the fun street in Boulder!  So after we got all settled and relaxed for a few, we walked over to Pearl Street and found a great place for lunch. It was a brewpub right in town, and they had some covered outdoor seating so we could watch the people on Pearl Street! We spent the rest of the day exploring Pearl Street and Boulder. We had a pretty relaxing evening at the studio because we were so tired from our day! It was such a blast though. 

This was where we hiked! 

Here's the view of the city of Boulder from our hike! 

Day 4 (Tuesday, 9/6): Boulder. We woke up at a pretty decent time, and walked over to Pearl Street for breakfast. There was a great diner called the Snooze A.M. Eatery, and they had amazing coffee and breakfast food! After breakfast we walked to the Boulder Dashanbe Tea House downtown, because the owner of the Airbnb studio we were staying at said that the tea house was a MUST see in Boulder. And, it was actually really cool. They had a million varieties of teas, and the people that work there can help you pick out a good tea based on what you like. It was a BEAUTIFUL building, and it was such a relaxing place. 

The inside of the Tea House! I took this picture while we were sitting at our table. 

The exterior of the Tea House, including the beautiful garden area. 

After we finished our tea, we walked back to our car at the studio, and then we drove over to Celestial Seasonings! I was so excited to check out the Celestial Seasonings Factory, and I've gotta say it was even cooler than I was expecting. They have a tasting area where you can taste any of their teas (and as many as you'd like), and then you can take a tour of their factory! They don't let you take pictures on their tour, which is a huge bummer because we had to wear hair nets and McGee also had to wear a beard net (so he looked sooooooo cool... haha. He was happy I wasn't allowed to take pictures). I absolutely loved this place though, and I am now an even BIGGER fan of Celestial Seasonings teas!! They're amazing. They also had a great gift shop where I HAD to buy a t-shirt and some tea.

Celestial Seasonings!  Amazing and wonderful.

After we finished at Celestial Seasonings, we drove just down the street to Avery Brewing!  Now, I've gotta be honest... We ended up not loving this one. The tour was really fun and the brewery seemed great, but we just didn't really enjoy most of their beers! Shocked???  I know!!  We were shocked too. We had lunch in their restaurant and the food was AWESOME (McGee had jambalaya which he loooooved and I had a BLT with avocado which was soooo good with homemade bread and amazingly thick bacon and PERFECT tomatoes and avocado), but we each ordered 4 tasting-sized beers (and we ordered very different beers... because McGee likes hoppy beers and I do not), and one of mine was the most disgusting beer I have ever tasted in my entire life. I'm not exaggerating. I didn't want it to go to waste though, so I drank the other 3 (they were ok... not great, but not bad), and then I chugged the disgusting one once I was a little buzzed. Good strategy, right?  The disgusting one had rhubarb and mint in it...WHY did I think this sounded interesting and decide to order it??  I have no idea. I was dumb. I was feeling adventurous. And dumb. It was so gross. 

That third one that looks kinda pink is the disgusting one... 

It was still really fun though even though we didn't love their beers. After Avery Brewing, we drove to a Target to get some supplies because the next morning we would be heading to Rocky Mountain National Park!!!  BY FAR the best part of the trip, and we loved it.  But, that is for another post that I will hopefully get to do tomorrow (was that a nice teaser for my next post??  I tried!). We had a pretty chill last evening in Boulder, because we wanted to get a nice early start the next morning for Rocky Mountain National Park!