Onboard our flight, I attempt to send Richard the photos he backed up to my laptop over airplane Wifi.
The Wifi was paid access only, however, and having deep trust issues about plane Wifi, we decide to abandon the plan.
The flight to Colorado from Vegas is less than two hours. I passed the time watching a couple of bits from speedruns from AGDQ 2013.
Flying sure is a more efficient means of transport than greyhound bus.
We disembark at the airport, and head to baggage claim.
Denver airport seems a little confusingly laid out to us; there’s a lot of verticality, and we’ll have to navigate it again when we depart to St. Louis.
After claiming our bags, and enduring the world’s slowest ATM, we head out into an overcast afternoon, and queue for a bus.
After about 20 minutes, we realise we’re in the wrong place. We head back through the airport, towards another platform.
We get on the right bus, and ride in to the city proper.
Lugging our suitcases through downtown Denver, we transfer to a bus to take us closer to our hotel.
We hop on board a far busier local bus route, and try to be as unimposing as six people accompanied by checked luggage can be.
Confused and tired, we accidentally missed our stop. Tensions began to run a little high. We continue on foot in mid afternoon towards our hotel, arriving early evening.
There was an issue with our booking, luckily however, they we were able to get two rooms next door to each other and combine them into one.
We regrouped at the hotel.
Ramada by Wyndham Denver
- 1 Aug
- Check in
- 4 Aug
- Check out
After a quick breather, we decided to venture out in search of food.
Sliceworks
- $$
- Price
- Pizza
- Restaurant
We stumbled across Sliceworks Pizzeria nearby
We order a vegetarian, and a cheeseburger pizza, and wait for them to be cooked upstairs. We return to the hotel with the piping hot pizza, both are fantastic, and disappear very quickly among the very hungry group.
All of us were tired, and not really feeling a night out. We grabbed drinks from a nearby liquor store, and opted for a quiet night in. It was a mellow night, much needed after the stress of the day.
Many drinks and real talks later, we headed to bed.
We awoke the next morning to find ourselves confronted from the aftermath of the previous night.
Feeling refreshed, we decided to explore Denver.
The city had a chill, relaxed vibe about it. It was especially nice after the hustle and bustle of Las Vegas.
We found a modern Mexican joint for lunch.
Tamayo
- $$
- Price
- Mexican
- Restaurant
After lunch, we continued exploring.
We stumbled across the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, where Butcher made a friend in Truffles the bear.
We found the Colorado convention center, replete with a stylised carving of a bear peering in to the center.
Once the photo-ops were exhausted, we continued on, until we reached a free shuttle, to take us back up.
The weather turned grey and overcast.
We came across a rather nice bookstore.
Tattered Cover
- $$
- Price
- Book
- Store
The interior was large and cozy, making you want to lounge out with a book and read, especially on a cloudy afternoon as was the case that day.
I picked up a copy of The Cuckoo’s Calling.
After a good look around, we made our way back to the hotel.
Later that evening, we set off in search of food.
We settled on a nearby Wendy’s, wanting to give a ‘Murrican fast food franchise a try.
After a rather ordinary burger (Richard’s Pretzle bun burger looked pretty legit, though), we headed back to the hotel, picking up some drinks and snacks along the way.
The following day was overcast and rainy.
We decided to spend the day taking it easy. Besides, we had chores to do.
We took it in turns to use the coin-operated laundry. Between laundry sessions, I started reading through The Cuckoo’s Calling.
That afternoon, we headed out.
We found an Irish pub for an early afternoon lunch.
The Irish Snug
- $$
- Price
- Irish Pub
- and restaurant
After a pleasant, boozy lunch, we returned back to our hotel and continued our laundry chores.
That evening, we set off again in search of dinner.
It was rather rainy, so we tried to find a place in haste. On the way, we passed a rather humourously decorated, bright green weed dispensary.
We ended up at another pub for dinner.
Streets of London Pub
- $$
- Price
- Bar
- and restaurant
Our rainy night at the Streets of London pub was rather memorable.
There was a local artist performing. He spotted our table and overheard our accents, and he ascertained we were from Australia.
We spent a great night, with some good quality bants, and sang along to Waltzing Matilda
The following day, we gave the hotel buffet breakfast a try for brunch.
It wasn’t quite Vegas buffet quality, but it was pretty decent. I had some waffles and scrambled eggs.
We set off and explored the local area, ahead of our flight scheduled for St Louis that evening.
We stopped by a local electronics store, where I picked up a Logitech MX Anywhere mouse.
After which, we headed back to the hotel.
Later that afternoon, we grabbed our luggage and headed for the airport.
We checked our luggage, and found dinner at the airport food court. I opted for Panda Express.
As we passed through security checkpoints, guards politely asked us where we were headed. When we mentioned St Louis, they sort of looked at us and did a double-take. Puzzled, we continued through to our gate.
But there was no time for that! Before we knew it, we were boarding our flight bound for St Louis.
Flight 282
- DEN
- 7:15pm
- STL
- 10:12pm