Trip 5: Day 35 (Denver)

The weather today brought out the city. Everyone wanted to be on the patio. The light was low thanks to high clouds, and the temperature was just perfect. I spent the afternoon biking through the city.
I can only classify my start this morning as "sluggish." I ate the free breakfast downstairs, served by a stoned waiter, in the midst of one of the first times I can recall having a "pot hangover." A pot hangover is not nearly as bad as an alcohol hangover; you're just kind of tired and slow to respond. You're basically still a little stoned. And it causes some issues. I didn't end up leaving the hotel until after 2pm today, just because I felt so uninspired.
But it's one of those things where, I didn't feel like exercising, but I'm so glad that I did. Close to 18 miles on the bike: down to East Colfax, then off to Parker Road near Mississippi for a brewery, then to another brewery closer to my hotel, on 38th Avenue.
I know I said I wasn't going to drink but, thinking about it today, I realized that it's my duty to do so. It's my duty to get out and explore these new breweries and sample what they're offering. Part of my trip is beer-oriented, and has been since the onset, so cutting that out now would be silly. However, I don't need to get drunk, and that's what I tried to avoid tonight. Five tasters at the first brewery, Copper Kettle, then three at the next, Station 26. And none of it made me regret deciding to limit my drinking: the beer wasn't that great.
Station 26 featured a "Derby Day" barleywine with spearmint, in honor of the mint julep. However, this tasted like a "menthol barleywine" more than anything, and was about as tasty as that sounds. The black IPA was disappointing, but their main IPA was just bad. Copper Kettle was not a lot better, though the styles were more interesting. They had a wine barrel-aged grand cru. I liked the grand cru at Thunderhead in Kearney, Nebraska better, ironically. This one had very little character. They had an imperial red that came in at 9%, and tasted like it with the amount of sugar they had. But, on the plus side, both places were really friendly. It's making me appreciate being here more, because all of the four establishments I stopped at today (lunch, dinner and two breweries) had really friendly staff. That's just how Denver is though, in my experience.
And you may think: that's a lot of beer. But, fuck you, I burned over 1000 calories on my bike ride, so I'm going to enjoy the beer.

That's all I have to offer: a boring description of the bike ride and a couple of pictures. I'm likely staying in the rest of the night with the intent of getting up early in order to bike Downtown tomorrow to catch the bus to Boulder.
I should offer two interesting things about this hotel, the Doubletree Stapleton South: the breakfast buffet this morning featured apple blintzes; and they offered to put my bike in a closet so that I didn't have to leave it outside.

The Elm, where I ate lunch, on East Colfax (former US 40)

A repurposed Stapleton International Airport building