Hiking the Royal Arch in Boulder, CO

After eating a big lunch at Snarf's, it was time to head to the hills and start a hike. Even from a distance, the Flatirons were breath-taking.

It being Boulder, the park was swarmed with hikers but luckily, there are plenty of hiking trails to choose from:

Ben took us up a trail that he knew well, promising great views from the top. Needless to say, this was the easiest part of the trail, and we were soon huffing and puffing heading toward that Flatiron you can see in the center of the picture:

We didn't go far and already the views were spectacular - you could see most of the Colorado campus below:

At the official start of the Royal Arch trail, there was a bear warning posted - luckily, no bears were spotted along the trail, probably because our heavy, wearied breathing scared them away.

Ben seemed barely (bearly, haha) winded, and he kindly made excuses for the rest of us (I'm not going to lie, I was the worst out of the group), telling us that it was the high altitude that was causing us to tire so easily. I took advantage of many a "photo break" to take a picture and catch my breath.

Most of our hike was rocky, steep and heading up, but there were points where we had to go down on the trail, which aggravated me since I knew we'd have to make up that ground later in the trail:

Yup, here's us hiking up again - did I mention how steep it was? Although agile and fit natives, and ashamedly, a group of Colorado freshman, kept passing us on the trail:

Finally, the summit! You can see where the trail gets its name:

The views, as promised, were stunning:

Resting underneath the arch, we were all charmed by a little visitor, some sort of mountain chipmunk (I am notoriously OBSESSED with chipmunks):

One of the aforementioned freshman was kind enough to take a sweaty picture of us:

I call this the roommate picture - I love that Ben and Amy are both laughing and showing the same expression:

We also spotted this little cutie, who had hitched a ride on his owner's neck the whole way up:

With one last admiring look at the layers of rock and the view, it was time to head down:

Andrew wrangled the camera from me at one point and took this picture. If Amy appears to be walking gingerly, it's because she wrenched one of her ankles (weakened by old soccer injuries) so we were careful to take our time going down:

Again, the view of the Colorado campus at the foot of the Flatirons made the hike worthwile from top to bottom:

Just another one of those sweeping views of mountains in Boulder that seemed unreal - I doubt even people living here fail to appreciate this on a daily basis:

As we were leaving the park, we caught sight of a wedding party taking pictures with the Flatirons as a backdrop, which must have made for some amazing photos:

Walking back to the side street where we had parked, Andrew and I caught sight of this front yard and fell in love (the lion heads are a little much but we loved the potted plants) - call it our dream house in Boulder.

If you've never been to Boulder, definitely mark it as a place you must visit at least once in your lifetime.

Boulder Favorite: Snarf's

Other than the beautiful scenery around us, I knew we weren't in Massachusetts anymore when I kept seeing medical marijuana places like this pop up all over the place:

The most cleverly named one was appropriately called "The Baked Shop" and it took a double-take for me to realize it wasn't a bakery - alas, no picture for it either.

As Ben had gone to University of Colorado - Boulder, he knew the best local sandwich place to take us - Snarf's!

People say that Boulder is a granola-crunchy type of place, and they are certainly right. I felt like Snarf's was a microcosm of Boulder itself - filled with young people in casual clothes, lots of bright colors and things like...

...fun signs with a cute way to say thank you...

...Neighborhood dog water, enough said...

and brightly colored mosaic tables in different designs! This is the one we snagged outdoors:

We feasted on big sandwiches on toasted baguettes, accompanied by Boulder potato chips in fun flavors like malt vinegar & sea salt (you could definitely taste the difference from the salt & vinegar chips that are available on the East Coast).  I went with the Italian sandwich, which contained salami, pepperoni, capicola, mortadella, and provolone - yum!  Also, did I mention that the plastic soda cups and the Boulder potato chip bag were both made out of compostable materials?

The four of us enjoyed the beautiful weather, chowed down on the hearty sandwiches and prepped ourselves for the next stop of the day - hiking the Flatirons!

Driving To Boulder: Flatirons

It was another bright and clear day when we hit the road for Boulder. Due north of Denver, it felt like a quick 30 minutes before we saw these beauties (the Flatirons) peering over the rise at us:

There was a convenient little look-out area where you could pull over and gawk to your heart's content - so we did:

What's that lurking in the distance? The city of Boulder, waiting to be explored:

Coming from the Northeast where we're kinda crammed in together (at least in Boston), it was just amazing to me have all this open land between the sprawl of Denver and Boulder:

Andrew and I are dressed to go hiking in the great outdoors:

And one last photo to commemorate our trip before hitting the road:

Dinner at Domo in Denver

Ben had been talking up the restaurant he wanted to take us to dinner and I admit I was a little skeptical - Denver and Japanese food didn't seem to be a likely pairing. And then we arrived and I saw this:

And fell in love with this charming restaurant - it's a little Japanese oasis found on the outskirts of Denver. And the interior was just as cool as the exterior, delivering on the perfect atmosphere to deliver "country style" Japanese food .  As you can tell from everyone's faces, we were all excited for the meal ahead (and for those of you who guessed that I forced everyone to pose for pictures all weekend, you are also right!)

With a 7 pm dinner reservation, I was surprised how empty the restaurant was. Not that I was complaining, it gave us plenty of time to soak in the atmosphere while we waiting for Miley and her boyfriend Curt to join us :

Once they arrived, we placed for our order for drinks - Andrew ordered his standard tall Sapporo but was pleasantly surprised by the metal tankard that accompanied it.  It kept the beer nice and cold although we felt like we were dining in medieval times!

Ben, Amy and I opted for a sake drink special that resembled a mojito and I loved it - I found it delicious and refreshing:

The best part about eating at Domo is that every meal is accompanied by seven free side dishes that are mean to be shared family style across the table. Considering that these were generously proportioned dishes, it was like getting seven appetizers for free and they were all yummy. It was a good mix between all veggie dishes, such as bamboo shoots, pickled radish and broccoli as well as proteins like a beef-stew mixture:

For my entree, I opted for comfort food - a Yamakake noodle bowl, featuring pork, grated Japanese yam and udon noodles. To tell you the truth, I didn't notice the yam at all and I found the pork to be kind of bland but I happily slurped up the noodles and broth. It was just tough to beat the amazing side dishes that were served before our entrees came out.

Domo also features an extensive outdoor patio (we opted to eat indoors because it was a little chilly), garden and a museum on the premises, so we decided to stroll around after our meal:

Did I mention that Domo also has a large Aikido studio?

The museum section was crammed full of collectibles such as vintage sake cups, clothing and cooking utensils. It was a lot to take in all at once:

This room could've been taken straight out of a samurai castle/museum I toured in Hiroshima:

As I was walking out the door, I noticed this display - mind you, it was in the restaurant section of Domo, not the museum half. It's supposedly two million year old salt from Mongolia and I believe the little vial on the right offered restaurant patrons the chance to taste it - I didn't try it and I'm torn now whether 1) that was the wise decision or 2) I missed out on an incredible experience...so for those of you who do end up going, try it and let me know! :)

After Domo, we headed to another section of Denver to enjoy a night of karaoke (Curt was brave enough to belt out a song for the crowd) and bar hopping.  Then it was straight to bed, since we needed to get up at a decent time on Sunday morning to head to Boulder!

Checking Out Cherry Creek, Denver

When Ben picked us up, he drove us to one of Denver's most charming neighborhoods, Cherry Creek, to meet up with another former Bostonian - Kat, and to enjoy brunch at a magical place called Syrup:



Bear with me, because I know the exterior is nondescript and doesn't reveal the wondrous food that serve inside - things like warm beignets that you can dip into syrup:

Not just any syrup - with our meal, we had a flight of syrups (why hasn't anyone in Boston thought of this) that included flavors like blackberry, maple-vanilla complete with vanilla bean flecks, strawberry, buttermilk and agave honey.  We all had a kick (as you can see in the picture above) pouring a little of each on our plates and trying each one. Surprisingly, my favorite was the agave:

Having satisfied my sweet tooth with the syrup sampling, I opted for a savory, glorious Cherry Creeker Eggs Benedict served on a croissant with mounds of  slow-roasted, tender corned beef hash like I've never tasted. It ranks as the best Eggs Benedict I've ever had.

Cherry Creek is filled with a mixture of fun and upscale retailers, ranging from places like Penzey's Spices (I made a pit stop and stocked up), West Elm and for those who are young at heart, The Wizard's Chest!

The first floor is filled with games and puzzles but the second floor is all costumes and props! Ben and Kat graciously modeled the latest in head gear:

Amy and Andrew were drawn to the classic Jaws look:

Actually, that picture has a bit of foreshadowing because what did we do next? Wander around Cherry Creek Mall to kill time before we watched "Shark Night 3D" in the movie theatre.  Needless to say, it was not my first choice to spend our first day in Denver watching a bad, bad movie.  However, it was the type of movie that Amy and Ben would watched as roommates for the three (?) years that they lived together so it seemed fitting in a way.

Afterwards, we headed for the hills - in this case, the outskirts of Denver to Ben's house so we could feed his rescue pit bull, Mandy (only the sweetest thing ever), enjoy a beer and enjoy the view.  This isn't the view from his backyard but it shows how close Denver's downtown area:

As dinner time rolled around, we wondered if anything could top brunch from earlier in the day...this was before we arrived at Domo...