Our first stop Black Hawk, CO – very small town located in the Arapaho National Forest Mountain Range.  It was a winding beautiful drive through mountains to Black Hawk which sits 8,100+ feet above sea level.  The town was a mining town during the Pikes Peak Gold Rush, with a lot of history posted throughout the town.  It was restored in the early 1990’s to become a gambling town.  There are many hotel casinos as well as tiny casino properties within the city limits.  They also have added a main street with a few shops and restaurant, very cute and quaint town. 

After a two night stay in Black Hawk we headed back east to Denver for 3 nights.  While on our way we made a stop at Red Rocks Amphitheatre.  We had to walk a bit, up and down stairs and ramps to arrive in the middle of the amphitheater.  It was beautiful and what an amazing view!  After arriving in Denver we took a late afternoon walk down our street so Mike could enjoy a few local breweries that were close by.

Our second day we drove to Union Station, it was Saturday so they had a small farmers market outside the station with mainly vegetables and fruits.  We enjoyed a quick lunch there and split a roast pork sandwich with pesto and greens, it was the best thing we’ve eaten so far.  After lunch we walked the town for while just enjoying the town/scenery. 

We drove to a few more breweries after lunch for Mike to enjoy a few more brews!  This day we visited Great Divide Brewery, Blue Moon Brewery, 14er Brewing and Our Mutual Friends Brewing. Colorado itself has over 340 breweries, beer drinkers heaven!

Late afternoon we drove closer to the Coors Field for the game that evening.  We enjoyed a small bite at Dierks Bentley’s Whiskey Row, however there wasn’t any live music that day.  There was a lot of activity around town this evening, a baseball game and also a country concert, George Strait and Chris Stapleton in town. 

The baseball game was vs the Angels with the Angels coming out on top 25-1, we have never seen a game like this.  Got to see Matt and Mike play again for the second time during our trip. We also got a quick chat in with Matt while he was in the bullpen warming up the starting pitcher before the game.  We will see them again one more time in Los Angeles.  The field was really nice, built in 1993.  Not much history around and in the stadium because it is a newer park/team.  Nice to see the mountains to the left side of the stadium and the sunset was beautiful.  Neat fact, the 20^th row of the upper decks are purple seats surrounding the stadium to indicate 1 mile above sea level which was pretty cool.

We didn’t really have a plan for our last full day in Denver so, Lorraine saw that Disney Immersive was in town so we headed there for a morning show.  It was nice, but not as immersive as the Wizard of Oz show Lorraine saw in Florida this past winter. 

After the show we stopped for a quick lunch before driving to Lookout Mountain (7,300+ feet above sea level).  It is on the eastern side of the Rocky Mountain Range and very close to Golden, Colorado.  Lookout Mountain is where Buffalo Bill’s grave and museum are too.  One of pictures shows Coors Brewery from the mountain top, it is huge!  What a gorgeous view of the white-capped mountains.

The following day we started our drive to Fort Collins, CO, but on the way we stopped at a lake in Longmont, CO with beautiful views of the whitecapped mountains.  We enjoyed an early lunch at a small diner before our first brewery stop.  Mike’s favorite beer is from Left Hand Brewery in Longmont so this was our first brewery of the day.  Mike enjoyed a flight of all dark beers, his go to! 

We then drove to Fort Collins for two more brewery stops, Odell Brewing Company and New Belgium Brewing.  New Belgium reminded us of Flying Fish in Delaware and was very large.

Up Next South Dakota!!