Robbie and I have been wanting to get to Denver since we moved away from Minneapolis, mainly because we were now closer to seeing the Brewers play in Denver against the Colorado Rockies. Each year when the baseball schedule was released we hoped to get there, but it never worked out until this year. We saw that the Brewers were in Colorado over a weekend, and the Brewers Triple A team, the Colorado Springs Sky Sox were playing a home series into the very next week as well. Since our Triple A team has so much talent this year, we thought we could catch both teams in action, as Colorado Springs is only about an hour and a half from Denver. We were really excited to go, and soon enough, we had our long weekend planned, but we did SO MUCH more than just take in a few baseball games.
We flew out of San Diego on Friday night. We figured it would be best to get to Denver Friday night instead of having to wake up super early Saturday, drive to the airport, fly to Denver, and then be up late for a game that night. We got to Denver around 9pm on Friday night and stayed at a hotel near the airport. It was about a 2 hour flight, but we arrived early. This trip also marked the first time we flew United Airlines. On our flight, each seat-back had a TV, so that kept us occupied. I started my trip off with a nice drink from a nearby restaurant! Denver was sure to be good to us!
Saturday morning is when we headed to downtown Denver and checked into our hotel. The idea in booking this hotel was to be within walking distance of Coors Field, but little did we know we could see it from our hotel room window, plus an excellent view of part of the skyline.
Below are 2 things that made me realize quickly that I was in Colorado:
Besides the ballgames, we didn't have anything planned as far as things to do/see. I'm glad we didn't either, because Robbie found a really fun activity online for us to do, called Urban Adventure Quest. It's basically The Amazing Race meets a scavenger hunt where you solve clues, complete challenges, see sights, and learn local history, and this Quest is in different city's all across the U.S.! All you need is internet access on your phone, and you're set! You can go at your own pace, and after solving each clue, you get a score, and at the end, they compare how well you did against all other's who have played in the city you're in! There were 2 Urban Adventure Quest challenges in Denver; one in downtown Denver, and one in the LoDo (Lower Downtown) District. On Saturday, we were going to do the downtown Denver Quest, and if we enjoyed it, we would do the LoDo Quest the next day. Each of our Quests had 17 challenges, so basically we had 17 legs of the Quest to figure out.
Since the Brewers/Rockies game wasn't until the evening time, we decided to do the Adventure Quest right away when we arrived in downtown. It was going to be a blast! In order for you to get a feeling of how it works, I took a picture at each clue we had to solve. Above each picture, I have posted a caption of the clue we had to solve at that challenge. Hopefully that makes it understandable for you, the reader. Alright, here we go!
For this Quest, we had a starting point of the Denver Capitol Building. Our clue advised us to look around the west side of the Capitol Building for a statue of a soldier. On each side of the base of the statue were 4 different plaques with names of Generals and the year they died. We were to look for Generals who died between certain years (i.e. 1941-1945) with a certain number of letters in their last name. From this, we solved a word puzzle within the clue that took us to our next challenge.
The word puzzle led us a little further west down the Capitol Mall to the war memorial obelisk. Here we had to locate a paragraph, and again, solve a word puzzle. This time, each line, word, and letter in the paragraph represented a number in the clue, which after you solved it, told you go to to the Big Red Chair.
Due to all the trees, the Big Red Chair was a little hidden, but we eventually found it nearby. Here, we had to identify the animal on top of the chair, and that eventually led us to our next challenge, which was in close proximity, at the Denver Art Museum.
Outside of the museum were a bunch of art displays, and we had to locate the giant Broom and Dustpan display. Here, we had to count all the brown bristles and subtract that number from all the blue bristles on the broom. The sum of that number had to be added to another Cowboy and Indian installation nearby (we had to add the number of arrows pointed at the cowboy), then add that to an adjacent display, adding how many legs of the display were on the ground. That was a tough one, and we missed one of the legs, but after a second try, we got it right.
This total number led us to another nearby display of 10 free-standing fork-like sculptures, all in a circle. This display was called Wheels. This display addressed the history of the Indian people, as described by the artist's perspective. On each sculpture was a word or phrase, and we had to find a few specific phrases on certain sculptures to figure out the rest of our clue. Eventually we did, and we were on to our next challenge.
Our next clue took us a little bit to the north, still in the same area, to an outdoor commons area called Civic Center Park. Here, we had to locate a statue of Christopher Columbus, which was on the northern end of the park. On the base of this statue was an inscription, and we had to decipher lines, words and letters to solve a word puzzle again. We are really good at word puzzles, so we figured it out in no time.
From solving this clue, we were on our way to the 16th Street Mall. The 16th Street Mall was a street filled with shops, dining, and entertainment. We were instructed to take a bus to the 16th Street Mall and get off at a certain intersection.
From here we had to figure out what street game was played on the 16th Street Mall. My guess was Bean Bags, but when we got there, much to Robbie's delight, it was chess! We didn't have to play a game in order to get our next clue, but of course Robbie did, and he slayed his opponent in just 4 minutes!
From here, we were instructed to continue along the 16th Street Mall until we came to a cute courtyard. The building behind us was actually the answer, and the building happened to be the Daniels and Fisher Tower! Cool!
From the Daniels and Fisher Tower, we were instructed to walk a few more blocks to the Kettle Arcade, where it wasn't actually an arcade, but a tiny entrance in the middle of a street just off the 16th Street Mall, which leads to a cute little cafe, and a few shops. Here, we were supposed to find a woman on a horse, and an Indian. We were looking ALL around this area, plaques, inscriptions, ANYTHING, but we could not find it. Finally, I went out to the entrance, looked up, and there it was, a mural on the CEILING! Tricky!
From here, we went around the block to the Denver Performing Arts Center, which is a cool area in itself. First, we had to find a block of letters and figure out a word puzzle. When we got to the block of letters, they were letters, one stacked on top of the other. We were both expecting something on the ground! The word puzzle said "Go To The Theater," which was right across the street.
We then had to locate a hefty Man and Woman statue at the entrance of the Performing Arts Center, meant to be theater-goers. We had to figure out what they were holding in order to get our next clue. Items in these statue's hands included a cane, a purse, and a pair of gloves.
After solving the Man and Woman Statue clue, we were instructed to walk to the end of the Performing Arts outdoor courtyard. This courtyard reminded me of Fremont Street in Vegas in the way that it was covered from the top. Here, we were instructed to step on a variety of sidewalk slabs in different directions. At the end of it, we had to look through a beautiful sculpture, which revealed our next numeric clue, which was the #5.
From the Performing Arts Center, we then walked towards the 16th Street Mall again, and were given the next clue. Near the 16th Street Mall was something similar to the Hollywood Walk of Fame with Stars on the sidewalk, but in this instance, the "stars" were little plaques on the sidewalk with little history tidbits about the city. We had to locate the one that had the name of a famous Denver breakfast food on it, which was the Denver Omelet. I don't have a picture of that, but I thought it was cool that Denver had its own "Walk of Fame."
From the Walk of Fame, our next clue was at the Brown Palace hotel, a beautiful and historic hotel near the 16th Street Mall. We had to make our way inside the beautiful atrium-style lobby, where the center of the hotel is open to the top. Here, we had to look at the balconies of the first 4 floors. Each balcony had intricate designs, but on one section, the design was upside down. We had to locate which floor the design was upside down.
After finding the upside down design, we were then taken back outside and to the corner of the Brown Palace hotel, where our next clue was. On the corner was a statue of a cowboy, and we had to decipher what his belt buckle said. After putting in the answer, we were right! Wahoo!
For the very last clue, we had to look at an adjacent church and figure out from the picture on the clue, what was missing. After finding the tiny difference, we got it correct!
After saving all the points from our entire downtown Denver Quest, out of a total possible of 570 points, we finished with an excellent score of 510! This Quest took us a total of 2 hours and 30 minutes to complete. The Quest is the only thing we did in this span of time, and I think we did a great job for how much of Denver we saw! It was a blast!
After completing the downtown Denver Urban Adventure Quest, we knew we absolutely had to do the LoDo District Quest the next day.
Almost right after finishing our first Quest, it was time to head to Coors Field for the ballgame. Both the Brewers and Rockies are in the Wild Card hunt, so it was bound to be a really exciting series. The Rockies won on Friday night to open the 3-game series, so the Brewers were looking to even the series on Saturday. We found out that it was Nolan Arenado Bobblehead Night, so we wanted to get to the ballpark early enough to get our hands on one. Arenado is the Rockies star 3rd baseman. After the couple of "B-rated" bobbleheads we have gotten in the past, we were excited about this one! We got our Bobble, and we were headed in to watch Batting Practice.
First off, Coors Field is pretty cool! The exterior is all brick and it's very inviting. The inside looks like a typical ballpark, nothing too special, but that's what kind of gives it it's charm. We knew going into this series that balls would be flying in Denver because of the elevation. The higher you are, the thinner the air is, and the farther balls fly. I was hoping for scores in the double digits at least once!
"Take me out to the Ballgame" is inscribed in brick just outside the entrance!
We were able to get down to field level for the Brewers batting practice. There were a bunch of Brewers fans down where we were, and we starting chatting with a dad who had 2 little kids in tow. He was originally from Wisconsin but now lives in the Denver area, and Friday night's game was his kids' first baseball game! Pretty cool. We had a lot to talk about, as he is also a Badger and Packer fan! There wasn't a lot of action down near the field, and any players that were signing autographs were the one's we already had! Haha! We came really close, however, to getting the Brewers newly-acquired bullpen guy, Anthony Swarzak's autograph. Robbie was actually at the game where he made his MLB debut when Swarzak was a Minnesota Twin! Cool!
Our seats were just past the Rockies dugout on the first level, about 14 rows up from the field. They were pretty good seats for only buying them a few hours before gametime! The pitching match-ups were rookie Brandon Woodruff for the Breweres, and Chad Bettis for the Rockies, who was making his 2nd start after coming back from testicular cancer. Oh boy, I'd say advantage Rockies on this one!
The Rockies tied the game with 1 in the 4th and 2 in the 7th. I was excited for Lucroy (former Brewers star catcher who was traded away last year), who had an RBI single. I will always cheer for former Brewers to succeed with their new team! Going into the 9th, Big Man Jesus Aguilar pinch-hit, and it was 'exit baseball' after a full count for a 2-run homerun!! I was ecstatic! We took the lead in the 9th, which has been hard for us to do since the All-Star break. Newly acquired 2nd baseman Neil Walker then tacked on another insurance RBI, scoring Thames. The Rockies couldn't get anything going off our All-Star closer, Corey Knebel, and we won the game 6-3! What a great win, Brewers!
By the time we got back to our hotel room, we were exhausted, but we were pleasantly surprised with the views out of our hotel windows! We both slept really well, and it was back at it in the morning for much of the same!
Sunday morning we found this really great breakfast spot called Syrup close to Coors Field. It was a very popular spot, and everyone seemed to be Brewers and Rockies fans who were eating there before the game. As we were waiting for our table, we ran into a family who were clearly Brewers fans. We struck up a really good conversation to pass by our time, and they were eventually seated right next to us! Syrup was a really great place, and the owner was even from Milwaukee! How serendipitous is that! We both ordered a breakfast entree (I just HAD to order 'The Wisconsin' Eggs Benedict, which was delicious), and another entree to share between the 2 of us! The waitress sold us on their French Toast special they were running that morning, and they did not disappoint!! We were super hungry and we knew we had a big day ahead of us!
After one of the best breakfast's I've ever eaten, it was time to meander over to Coors Field. We knew on Sunday morning we could take our time getting to the stadium because neither team took Batting Practice. Robbie bought some pretty 'suite' tickets that morning in the Suite Level along the 3rd Base side. This ticket selection came mostly out of necessity; the outdoor temps called for lower 90's that day, and this was pretty much the only section that was shaded during the whole game thanks to the upper grandstand overhang! We have sat outside in the sun during other games, and it was miserable. Robbie is great at doing baseball ticket research!
The couple who sat next to us during part of the game, the guy went to St. Cloud State (Robbie's Alma Mater), and the gal grew up in Minnesota as well, and she used to have girls weekend up north and would always eat at a pizza place in Becker (where Robbie grew up) that Robbie knew of right away!! It's really a small world. They ended up being huge balls of drama, and after the 5th inning or so, we never saw them again.
Sunday's match-up was between Chase Anderson for the Brewers, who was making his first start since being on the 60-day Disabled List vs. Kyle Freeland for the Rockies.
The Rockies wasted no time getting on the board, scoring 1 in the 1st. Another former Brewer, Mark Reynolds had an RBI sac fly. The Brewers quickly tied up the game in the top of the 2nd with yet another Jesus Aguilar homerun! He's on a roll! The Brewers added on a couple more in the 5th and 6th, then in the top of the 7th, Aguilar is at it again, hitting ANOTHER homerun, putting up a 2-spot this time! Man, he's so good! Keon Broxton added another run in the 8th off an Eric Sogard RBI. The Rockies got one back after a Reynolds solo homer. Keon Broxton quickly erased that run and added another by scoring Aguilar and Manny Pina, our stellar catcher! This made the score 8-2 going into the bottom 9th. The Rockies made it interesting in the bottom 9th by loading the bases, then scoring 2, which made it a save situation. What was left of the Rockies fan base in the 9th were super loud and cheering their team on. I'm sure the Brewers didn't want to use Knebel again, but the game called for it. After 3 strikes in a row, the game was over. It was kind of annoying for me that the Brewers gave them any hope to begin with, but in the end, we came out the victor, 8-4! Not a bad way to start a west-coast road trip, with San Francisco and L.A. on the docket for the following week and into the weekend!
During the 9th inning, we explored the very top of the stadium. Being Denver is dubbed the Mile High City, their football and baseball stadiums have a row of seats indicating a mile high. Of course we had to go up and sit there! While we were so high, we also got a real good look of downtown and the skyline. Denver is such a beautiful city!
After the game, we set out to complete the LoDo Adventure Quest. It was perfect that we were at Coors Field because it started close to the Field, and Coors Field was actually on the course! Cool!
The starting point of this Quest was at an in/outdoor bar that had murals on the outside of it. The clue had an almost identical mural, but we had to find the differences. The mural on the clue was divided into 9 quadrants, and whatever quadrants had the differences in it spelled out a word that was the answer to our clue. Some of the differences were tough to find, but we eventually figured it out.
Our next clue took us to the front of Coors Field where a statue is located. Much like the other clues, it was a word puzzle where we had to read a specific set of names off a plaque and find the words in a puzzle in our clue, and whatever letters were leftover, that was our next clue.
This took us to another part of Coors Field (the entrance we actually took on Saturday night into the game). This was a part where they had a cool looking stone structure that was sort of like an archway, and it was covered with all sorts of balls (Magic 8 Ball, Wrecking Ball, etc), and it was called the Evolution of the Ball. It was a cool thing to just look at, but it was part of our clue, too. There were 4 sides of this archway with balls on it in 3 separate columns and in 9 rows. Our clue was to locate 4 specific balls based on a special grid the challenge had for us. This was difficult because apparently there was a starting point to the sides where the balls were. We had the correct balls, but they weren't answered in the correct order. Bummer, but after a closer look, there was a method to the madness. That one stumped us the most out of both Quests. Then, just beyond the archway of the Evolution of Balls was a small baseball diamond made up of bricks that have been donated by Rockies fans and families. Here, we had to find 6 specific bricks out of the 100's that were there, and solve a word scramble. That was a fun one!
From Coors Field, we were headed to Denver's Union Station, which was just a couple blocks down the street. Union Station is still in working order today, and it's a hub for several Amtrak trains! Here, we had to decipher a word puzzle near the flagpole which then brought us inside Union Station. It was beautiful in there! The challenge had us count several different items in Union Station, including lamp shades, benches and poles. After adding that number together, we had to match it to a collage of train engine murals on the wall, with each engine having a number on it. This took us a few times to get right, as many of items in Union Station looked alike with just subtle differences. Eventually we got it correct, and we were onto the next clue.
From Union Station, we were on our way to another one of Denver's art museums. Here, we had to locate a giant heart with an arrow piercing through it on a giant pole. At the base of this art display was a plaque stating who donated and when, etc. Given this information on the plaque, we had a true/false questionnaire to answer correctly. It was pretty simple, and we got each one right!
From the Heart and Arrow display, we were led down under an overpass where a mural was painted on the brick wall with several animals. For that, we just had to unscramble 4 of the animal species to get our next clue. Easy!
We walked a little further to our next clue, which was again under an overpass that centered around another another mural, but this one was a little bigger, and the mural was on both sides of the road. The mural was of 12 different faces, and to solve the clue, we had to basically play a big game of Guess Who. Doing process of elimination, we were able to get the clue correct, and we were onto the next!
The next clue took us to the the confluence of Cheery Creek and the Platte River. This area was absolutely stunning, so we actually took some time out of our Adventure Quest to just take it all in! The area that we were in reminded both of us of being in Minneapolis!
Continuing on, the next clue led us through Confluence Park to a marker for Little Raven, an Arapahoe Indian Chief who negotiated peace between several Indian Tribes during the mid-to-late 1800's. We had to locate a specific sentence or phrase on that marker.
Our next clue had us crossing the street to find an art installment of several bunches of what looked like long sticks of licorice from afar. It truly was a deception because once we got right up to it, the predominant color of the installment changed from orange to red. Cool. All we had to do is determine the predominant color. Done.
The next clue took us nearby to a pedestrian bridge called the Denver Millennium Bridge and we had to figure out a 4-word phrase after reading an excerpt off our clue about the train tracks that ran beneath. Yay, we got it right, and it was off to our last clue of the game!
The last clue in the challenge had us going to a map of LoDo. The clue had us figuring our a semi-difficult word problem, which is not my strongest suit, but eventually we figured it out! Our Urban Adventure Quests were over, and we had a great time roaming around and experiencing a new city like never before! Whenever we visit cities in the future, we will definitely keep this in mind, and we HIGHLY recommend it to anyone who is up for the challenge!
No one knows this yet, but Robbie and I are conditioning to apply for the actual Amazing Race on CBS. We want to apply by the end of 2017, and this was a great chance to start small, find out how well we work together in a 'challenge' setting, and how our 2 heads work as one! Turns out, we work GREAT together, which shouldn't come as a shock to anyone who knows us! We have been watching all the past seasons of the Amazing Race on Hulu, and we feel like we would thrive on it! Wish us luck!
After the Adventure Quest, we grabbed a bite to eat, then retreated back to our hotel for the night.
Being on vacation when the work week approaches is always the best feeling in the world, knowing that the majority of America is at work, and we are still having fun! We had a car rental for Monday morning to take us to Colorado Springs for our trip within the trip! Renting our car was no problem, and after a quick drive down I-25, we were there within the hour! The drive there was just beautiful, with rolling hills, lots of greenery, and mountains!
We got to our hotel with a half hour to spare before the big solar eclipse. The greater Denver area was supposed to be at 90% totality, with the 100% totality locations about 4 hours north. Being in Denver actually allowed us to see more of the eclipse than if we were at home in Southern California. Our hotel room had a balcony with a perfect view of the sun, haha. We had not purchased the special eclipse glasses, so we couldn't look directly at the sun, however. But, we did see the sky get a few shades darker, and as the eclipse was happening, the birds around us started freaking out and chirping like crazy. We figured at that point the eclipse was at its peak. It was kind of cool to be part of something so rare. Some of my friends in different parts of the country were able to experience 100% totality, and their pictures looked really amazing, as well as all the footage on the Weather Channel.
Our hotel in Colorado Springs was situated almost on the base of the mountains, and our balcony had a clear view of Pikes Peak, the highest summit of the Southern Front Range of the Rocky Mountains! It was really pretty!
Considering all our activities in Denver, we decided to take it easy on Monday afternoon before we had to leave for the Colorado Springs Sky Sox game that evening.
It was about a half hour drive from our hotel to Security Service Field, home to the Colorado Springs Sky Sox, but it was a pretty drive through the city. We got to the stadium, purchased the cheapest tickets, and we were in! We had about an hour before the game started; we got there early to see Batting Practice and possibly get new autographs to add to our collection. Unfortunately BP was not being held, but we were able to get 1 new autograph, courtesy of former Brewers starting pitcher Junior Guerra! It was exciting seeing him, even though he isn't having the greatest seasons. Then out came Brett Phillips, who recognized us right away. He was signing someone else's ball right next to us and he kept looking at us like "you guys are always at our games!" Haha, yep, we are superfans! Too bad Brent Suter wan't there. He and us are practically on a first-name basis!
One cool aspect about this game was that the Colorado Springs Methodist Church choir sang the National Anthem, and they did a great job! Way to represent! Another fun thing about this game, Robbie has the MiLBTV app where he can watch any minor league baseball game, just like we are able to watch any Major League ballgame here at home. The MiLBTV app was on a 30-second delay, so if we ever wanted to see a certain replay during the game, Robbie could just whip out his phone! It was pretty awesome!
The Sky Sox were playing the Oklahoma City Dodgers Triple A team. Just like Coors Field, the balls are known to fly in Colorado Springs as well, so I was expecting a high scoring game here also. The Sky Sox got out to a quick start, scoring 5 in the bottom of the 1st! We were right on track for that high scoring game! After that, it all kind of fell apart for the Sky Sox. We did end up scoring 4 more runs, but the OKC Dodgers just kept piling it on. They eventually outscored us, with a final of 17-9! The game was high scoring alright, but not in our favor! Yikes! Not a good night for the Sky Sox!
On Tuesday morning we were able to sleep in, and our plan for that morning and afternoon was to go visit the U.S. Air Force Academy. It was a short drive from our hotel to the USAFA, and the closer we got, the more pristine the campus became. One of my high school classmates went to the Air Force Academy, and one of Robbie's current coworkers graduated from there as well. Both individuals said to go visit the chapel on campus, so that was our first stop. After being granted clearance at the gate, we made our way up to campus, which was nestled right in front of the mountains. It was beautiful!
U.S. Air Force Honor Code
After we parked, we made our way to the chapel, which wasn't hard to miss. When looking at the entrance of the chapel, it was the shape of a triangle, but from the side, it was accordion-like. This created the coolest looking chapel ever. From the side appeared several spires pointing skyward. It was really awe-inspiring!
I wasn't prepared for what I saw when we entered the chapel. The interior of the chapel's design was lined with stunning stained glass up each spire! The chapel kind of took on a purple hue, and it was absolutely gorgeous. From the entrance straight ahead was the altar, with the pulpit and a grand piano on the left side. Moving up the aisle, I looked back, and nestled on a loft was the grandest pipe organ I have ever seen. I was left speechless. I am so glad pictures were allowed because I'm sure my explanation isn't doing this chapel justice, but then again, neither do the following pictures. But at least you are able to see for yourself the beauty!
We spent a good 20 minutes in the chapel alone, then headed over to the visitors center where we watched a video, kind of like a year-in-the-life of a student attending the Air Force Academy. This video gave us some insight of the training and discipline of the academy, as well as the path for success that students set forth to achieve. It was an interesting video which made me better understand the 4 years that cadets have to endure.
After our amazing experience at the Air Force Academy, we headed to our next activity, which was mini golf. Robbie found a mini golf course with 4 different themed courses, and we played the one called Around The World. It was a great course where I got 2 hole-in-ones, and I won! That usually never happens! We have a mini golf course near our home in Temecula and each time we go, I always lose, so it was nice to have one in the 'win' column.
Next up on the docket for the day was lunch, and the location was a surprise to me. All Robbie said is that he thinks I might flip out with excitement when we got there. It was a good 20 minute drive to the restaurant from the mini golf course, and eventually we ended up right near the Colorado Springs Airport. Just to the left I saw it, The Airplane Restaurant, with a huge airplane right in front! Yep, Robbie was right, I was flipping out with excitement! When we went in to be seated, it appeared that the whole restaurant was an airplane museum, which was amazing. Then the host asked if we would like to have lunch IN the actual airplane. Ummm...YES!! The entire fuselage was redone to be a restaurant, with booths lining either side. It was a REALLY cool experience to eat in an airplane.
The cockpit was also open to look around in as well. This plane actually flew in the 1940's as a refueling jet and a bomber plane. Towards the back of the fuselage, we could actually see the open compartment on the bottom where the refueling would take place. Really cool!
We spent a few minutes looking around the main restaurant at all the plane memorabilia. There was a huge propeller plane suspended from the ceiling, with several plaques and facts on the walls, ranging from topics of interest like Amelia Earhart and World War aircraft. All around, a VERY awesome experience at the Airplane restaurant.
After lunch, we headed towards the Garden of the Gods. I had gotten a few suggestions to go to the Garden of the Gods before our trip, but I hadn't done much research on it before we left. When we got there, we were pleasantly surprised that it is a park area with beautiful rock formations that you can drive through, so we took the drive around the park. These rock formations were mostly red in color, and the Garden of the Gods reminded me a lot of Red Rock Canyon in Las Vegas. It was a pretty loop of about 7 miles or so. We had the option to get out at different points f the drive, but we decided to stay in the car as we could still get a sense of the Garden.
It was our plan to go to a second Colorado Springs Sky Sox game on this evening, and then make our way to Denver that night, but both of us were really tired and didn't think we could endure another game, plus the 1.5 hour drive to Denver afterwards, so we just decided to head back to Denver after the Garden of the Gods. It was a good decision, as we had a morning flight back to CA the next day, and it was nice to just take it easy at our hotel that evening. We got to our hotel near the Denver airport around 4pm, and we pretty much just lounged around the rest of the night. We did see that the Sky Sox eventually won their game that night (go figure), and we ended up watching the Brewers win that night as well!
The next morning we were off to the airport and our Denver trip was in the books! We did a lot more than anticipated, but it was all well worth it! I really enjoyed our Urban Adventure Quests. It was a really great way to see cool sights in a new city that you normally wouldn't otherwise! The Brewer games were amazing, and I am so glad they were able to pull out 2 solid wins while we were there, and the Colorado Springs portion was just the perfect amount of trip-within-a-trip!
"So much of who we are is where we have been." -William Langewiesche
