I have officially been in Denver, CO for a week!
It was a bit of an emotional rollercoaster to get here, but I am glad that I did.
When I left Shreveport 8 days ago, I was a ball of nerves. I had to leave behind almost all of my toiletries and cleaning supplies in order to accommodate my tall brother, who rode with me from Shreveport to Denver.
I am so, so thankful that he came with me, though. The drive is about 17 hours or so without stopping, but all together, I think we made it in about 18 hours. We drove 9 hours to Wichita, Kansas and stayed in the Hyatt Regency Wichita which was so, so nice. The weather in Wichita was also refreshing and delightful. When we stepped out of the car, we both reinacted that famous Nicolas Cage meme:
When you have been in hot ass Shreveport for the summer and feel a breeze that is even 5 degrees cooler, it feels like life just got good again.
We were both pretty exhausted from traveling, though. I drank only 1/2 of a Cherry Coke the whole day in order to keep my pea-sized bladder in control, so we didn’t have to stop every hour. So, by the time we made it, hauled ourselves and the cat from the garage, we were beat.
Funny story: I booked the hotel without checking to see if they accepted pets first and this did not occur to me until we were almost there. I told my brother this and he went to get a luggage cart to load the cat onto and conceal her. Then, he pushed the luggage cart very quickly past the receptionist’s desk and we were in the clear! I love that he asked no questions; he was just wiling and able to help me in my time of rule breaking, lol. I have the best brother ever.
The hotel had a restaurant inside (thank GOD), so I went down and got food and my brother tried ROOM SERVICE, I think for the first time! I was excited to have a small part in a new experience for him. We both described going to sleep, waking up around 2:00 am, and then going back to sleep.
I especially had to go back to sleep because my car was packed SO TIGHTLY that I couldn’t move the driver’s seat back even an inch so that my brother (who is almost a foot taller than me) could help drive. But we made it though!
We arrived in Denver to a very nice, but very hard to get into AirBnB. After we figured everything out and got sorted, I called my Uncle Kerry and asked him to drive us to dinner. We tried to go into Casa Bonita, but trying to get into that place on a Saturday without a reservation was basically a fool’s errand. I had not heard of it until my brother recalled fond memories of it when he used to visit Denver as a child, and I wanted to let him relive a bit of his childhood, kind of in thanks for him riding with me, with a yodeling cat, from Shreveport to Denver.
Here’s where we had dinner:
This place was fantastic and served much more than just blazing chicken. I was thrilled to have this time together with two of the patriarchs of our family.
Hold on, I need some lotion for my hands. Since I’ve been here, my allergies have actually been worse (hello random runny nose and sneezing!) and my hands have been miserably dry! The weather is also almost as hot, but not quite as humid, as it was in Shreveport, which is honestly a disappointment.
My brother flew back home the next day, after finding our way through a very busy Denver airport. Note to self: do not fly out of DEN on a Sunday morning! I’d purchased him a first class seat, so he had Premiere Access, which I didn’t know. We’d found the regular security line, asked an attendant to make sure we were in the right place, and learned that my brother could leave the 40+ minute line and go to the mercifully short 10+ minute line. He was through security and walking toward the gate in less than 15 minutes. WHOOP!
The next few days kind of flew by. I am still working A LOT right now, so the rest of Sunday was spent getting supplies and getting all of my tech ready for the upcoming workweek.
I quickly learned that Colorado doesn’t do plastic bags. I was at the checkout stand and the cashier asked me if I wanted bags and I was like “Umm, yes please?” He then explained that the stores no longer give out plastic bags, so I quickly grabbed 5 of these reusable bags.
After a week here, I have managed to remember my reusable bags every single time except once. I am pretty proud of that and despite my Texas license plate, I am blending in like a local (yeah, right, lol).
Of course I could not come all the way to Denver and not stop at a Whole Foods! I also had to leave behind ALL of my dry goods and entire tea collection, so I had to buy at least ONE box of tea.
On Tuesday, I found my way to The Cheesecake Factory in Lakewood, Colorado. I’ve learned that as a Houstonian, used to driving for literally 60+ minutes and still being in Houston, that not all places are like that, lol. I think it only took me about 20 minutes to get to The Cheesecake Factory and I was shocked to discover that I was in another city.
Mountains in the distance, outside of The Cheesecake Factory!
Signage near the area where The Cheesecake Factory is located.
I also discovered another small town called Wheat Ridge, CO!
On Wednesday, I ate at this place. It was really tasty and the fries were out of this world. This is the Good Times Burgers & Frozen Custard. I don’t recall which location. Highly recommended.
Those are some of the highlights of the week! Today is Saturday, August 8. I am off to see what trouble I can get into today. I will probably still keep it pretty lowkey. I have found that Denver is lovely and clean but also more congested than I was anticipating. I don’t love big crowds of people or shopping when there’s a ton of people around, so I don’t know how long my nerves will hold up, lol!
xoxo, Nicole
The Path of Nicole 
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