Day In The Parks: Katie + Denver = Unforgettable

My best friend from college Katie, is a total saint and has come to visit me every year since we graduated. I, on the other hand, am terrible and had not been out to see her in Denver in 5 years! So I took the long Veteran's Day weekend and spent 3 wonderful days with my bestie.
We spent Thursday night catching up and since Katie had to work a half day on Friday, I got to sleep in until.... wait for it.... 12:30pm! It was glorious! I have not slept in that late since Eva was born, and I probably won't again for another few years, but it was so nice to re-charge my battery. Sleeping in led to skipping breakfast and heading straight for happy hour with some of Katie's friends. Plenty o' beer was had by all- see photos below!

Thursday I woke up at 6:40am and could not, for the life of me, get back to sleep. Probably my body getting back at me for sleeping so long the day before... so we grabbed some breakfast, gossiped and talked about life, took a nap, got a couples massage and then began the college years traditional of pre-drinking before actually going out. This saves on your bar tab when you're in college, when you're an adult all it does is get you smashed by 8:oopm but hey, what are vacations for!? We had dinner at a great Mexican place and I got to meet Katie's elusive boyfriend; elusive because he's like Jason in that he hates crowds, people, loud noises, social settings... just about anything where he has to talk to new people ;-)

After dinner we went to the two most opposite bars in existence. One was a super posh steakhouse and martini bar with dim lighting, a server who was wearing a bow-tie and drinks that cost as much as a whole bottle of booze at the store. After that we headed to a total hole in the wall karaoke bar. When we walked in the front door we took the number of white people in the entire establishment from 0 to 5. It was easily the greatest bar I've been to in ages- dancing, karaoke, all types of music and cheap drinks. We closed the place down and finally made it back home around 3:00am.

And then I was up at 6:40am the next morning! Must have been some cruel joke my body was playing on me but I was not laughing. After bugging Katie to wake up and entertain me we made our way to Lucille's for a Creole brunch and then stopped and saw the Red Rocks Amphitheater before heading to the airport. The weekend was over all too quickly and I miss Katie already. I am so grateful to have such amazing friends. I love you Katie!

View of the mountains from Katie's balcony

Please note the snow next to the bright green grass.
Only in Denver can it snow so bad they have to have a snow day and close schools and a few days later it's all melted and it's 60 degrees outside!