Well it is official!!! I have the best life! Friday the 13th was the beginning of the most fabulous birthday of my life!! Chris mentioned he had a little surprise planned and that I should bring a change of clothes to work because we would be short on time. I figured we were going to a show or had good dinner reservations because those are the sort of things that make me a happy birthday girl. A bit of background here: last week was honestly one of the busiest weeks at work EVER and I'd been just beat from the ten hour shifts. In walks Chris an hour before I'm supposed to be off and says he is there to pick me up!! I was confused... And then my boss walks by and says "yep!! Get goin'!". Can I just say that leaving work early might have truly been the highlight of it all, but just you wait. When I get out to the parking lot I am surprised to see Jason in the car with Rufus: 
(the adorable dachshund pup that is the subject of my next 100 posts at least).
When I got in the car I figured I would get to hear the plan....but no. We drove to Salt Lake I was confused that Rufus was with us... were we headed to a dog show? We stopped in Clearfield and dropped Roofykins off at Chris's aunt Shelly's house to get babysat (we must be going to a show and dinner, me thinks) As we approach Salt Lake City we take a turn westbound! Ah ha! We are headed to Wendover!! Who could be headlining?? Boys II Men? Willy Nilson? What fun we will have on our trashy trip to Wendover!! As I am naming out guess's of possible C-class performers we could be going to I FINALLY realize that we exited from the road to all things trashy like 10 minutes ago and were now sitting in the AIRPORT PARKING LOT!! Hoooooray! I doubt I have ever been so stoked in all of my life!! The idea of an insta-trip thrilled me big time! Chris finally spilled the beans that we were headed for Denver (one of my fav places) and informed me that we had all kinds of fun things planned! Those tricksters!! We were REALLY pressed for time so we busted over to the terminal and flew out asap. The plane was TINY and as I walked on to it and was looking around I said "this is........ Cute" in a somewhat skeptical voice causing a large Santa looking lady to bust out into an uproarious laughter.... She thought I was REAL funny. don't know why I just shared that... I guess no detail is to small. When we arrived in Denver, we went to pick up our rental car and got a free upgrade.... The trip continued on it's perma-high point. We stayed in a really nice HYATT hotel room, can I just say- I was really impressed with their complimentary breakfast.
When I got in the car I figured I would get to hear the plan....but no. We drove to Salt Lake I was confused that Rufus was with us... were we headed to a dog show? We stopped in Clearfield and dropped Roofykins off at Chris's aunt Shelly's house to get babysat (we must be going to a show and dinner, me thinks) As we approach Salt Lake City we take a turn westbound! Ah ha! We are headed to Wendover!! Who could be headlining?? Boys II Men? Willy Nilson? What fun we will have on our trashy trip to Wendover!! As I am naming out guess's of possible C-class performers we could be going to I FINALLY realize that we exited from the road to all things trashy like 10 minutes ago and were now sitting in the AIRPORT PARKING LOT!! Hoooooray! I doubt I have ever been so stoked in all of my life!! The idea of an insta-trip thrilled me big time! Chris finally spilled the beans that we were headed for Denver (one of my fav places) and informed me that we had all kinds of fun things planned! Those tricksters!! We were REALLY pressed for time so we busted over to the terminal and flew out asap. The plane was TINY and as I walked on to it and was looking around I said "this is........ Cute" in a somewhat skeptical voice causing a large Santa looking lady to bust out into an uproarious laughter.... She thought I was REAL funny. don't know why I just shared that... I guess no detail is to small. When we arrived in Denver, we went to pick up our rental car and got a free upgrade.... The trip continued on it's perma-high point. We stayed in a really nice HYATT hotel room, can I just say- I was really impressed with their complimentary breakfast.
The next day we got an early start at all the awesomeness! We headed to the Denver City Botanical Garden's! Chris and Jason have heard me talk of nothing besides the gardens my sisters and I saw in PA and so they decided to treat me to this one! on our way we saw a farmer's market in session and stopped in. I LOVE these markets and was so happy to get to go to this one that totally showed up the one we have here at home. So many yummy foods, this market was no joke! Yumm! So we got a little turned around while looking for the gardens but I didn't mind because it gave us a chance to meander through a really ritzy part of town with tons of gorgeous houses. Denver is so Salt Lake Cityish to me. I'm defiantly a fan.
Anyways, the garden was really a treat! It wasn't quite as exotic as the Pennsylvania garden but that didn't make it any less of a gem. I LOVED it! It had a lot of Indian themed aspects, cacti, zero-scaping-- this garden was very true to it's roots (no pun intended). It was nice to spend some quality time in the outdoor gardens, everything smelled and looked so beautiful.
The fun did not stop!! Next up on the agenda was a tour of Hammond's Candy Factory. They specialize in candy canes and also ribbon candy but do some chocolates as well. I was really excited! A good time was had, but I will say it wasn't exactly the wonderful land of Willy Wonka if ya know what I mean.
Chris pointed out that the company did not follow LEAN principals. Haha. At this point we were ready to get our EAT on! We headed for my restaurant pick Cherry Cricket. Hamburgers.Straight.From.Heaven. is what the joint should have been called. These burgers weren't kidding around. Jason was put off by the pinkness factor, but not me.... I enjoyed the ale cart burger topping menu that included cream cheese, fried egg, peanut butter and every other thing! This place was SO good, no wonder it was ranked number one on Urban Spoon. Eat there.We headed back to the hotel, and later headed out for a lovely walk in the rain to the Denver light rail stop down the street. Quick note: One would think that Chris was the wicked witch of the west with the way he acts about a little rain fall..... He is a bit of a hydrophobic freak, bless his heart. I don't mind a spot of rain.... I find it invigorating. We took the rail to Larame's Square downtown. A super cute nightlife area where we had tickets to a comedy show! surprise after surprise! The comedian we saw was Nick Thune and he was funny! I didn't really know I would care for a comedy show, but I actually really enjoyed it. The lesser known comedians that opened for him were actually funnier. It was really fun, and not something we would normally do. Loved it! It was after 1 am when we got back to our hotel and I was tuckered! The next morning we had a breakfast and then pretty much had to head out. It was such an amazing whirlwind getaway, and I feel so lucky that that was my SECOND trip to Denver with my two best friends in the entire world. Can i just say props to my loving husband who secretly coordinated things at work to make sure I would be able to get away. Jason: wow! you really care about me. Chris: I know we are broker then Jason, so extra thanks to you for spoiling my brains out and reminding me that I am the luckiest girl in the world on a daily basis. I love you guys!!!! PS: I can't wait for you guys to trump this on my next birthday, wink wink!
