Travel Diary: Denver — Modishly Mackenzie

While I may be back home in Michigan, snuggling with my dog, my mind is still on what a fun time I had in Denver! My girlfriends and I made a girls trip to visit our friend for her birthday last weekend. We ate and drank our way through Denver, with a little scenery thrown in there too. This was my first time visiting as an adult (I learned to ski in Steamboat Springs like 15 years ago, TBT lol ⛷), so really it felt all new to me. It was such a quick trip though, so we did not get to cross everything off our list, but below I break down all the restaurants and gorgeous views we saw!

Restaurants:

I’m the biggest foodie, so my friends knew hitting all the hot restaurants was a huge priority to me 😂 For a birthday brunch, we went to Snooze. It was located in Union Station, which is the cutest historic building— they transformed the timeless train station into a spot full of restaurants and shopping. It was decorated to the nines with Christmas spirit, both inside and out!

The two dinner spots we went to were Sushi Den and The Woods. Sushi Den was to die for 🤤 So fresh and fun cocktails. The Woods was located on the top of a hotel, had an amazing view of the Denver skyline and really blew us away with the menu!

Another noteworthy spot to mention is Avanti. We stopped in for drinks and apps while we were waiting for our brunch table to be ready on Sunday. They call it a ‘collective eatery’, so it was full of seven different food trucks, making it one big dining hall! Before leaving for the airport, we brunched at Root Down. This is a trendy spot with lots of vegan options.

Views:

Our one and only hike was Saint Mary’s Glacier. We chose this spot because it was still sooo beautifully scenic, but it was close enough to Denver that we wouldn’t waste too much of our day in the car. It was only about a mile long and brought you to a gorgeous, frozen over lake.

We stopped at Peaks Lounge for a cocktail after our hike. It was located on the 27th floor of the Hyatt Regency and showed a panoramic view of the Rocky Mountains and the heart of downtown.

Things I want to do next time:

Like I said, the trip ended way too soon! Next time I want to explore some hot springs, visit the Red Rocks Amphitheatre, explore a cute ski town in the winter (and actually ski!! Feels so wrong going to Colorado and not skiing) and hike a (small) mountain in the summer.

So that’s it! We stayed with our friend, or else I would’ve loved to recommend a hotel or neighborhood to stay in. Happy travels ✈️