A Week in Denver, Colorado with Family

I'm finally catching up on posts from our multi-week trip back home to the United States for my friend N's wedding and to spend time with family. We spent a week in Colorado staying with my sister C and her husband A, and we had a blast. Colorado is such a beautiful state, and I love getting to know it better through my family visits since my sister and mom moved there.

Coincidentally, the first full day we had in Colorado happened to be the same day my friend Rachel Rueckert was doing a book event in Denver for her debut novel, If the Tide Turns! We went with C and A to an awesome local bookshop called Tattered Cover for the event, where we learned all sorts of pirate facts and got fun swag.

I highly recommend If the Tide Turns to anyone who enjoys historical fiction. It is well researched and beautifully written - I couldn't put it down! (I also recommend the vegan sushi restaurant a short walk from the Tattered Cover: Wellness Sushi! As a non-vegan sushi lover, I was skeptical but all of us loved it.)

S spent a lot of quality time with grandma, too, including a day we spent at the Denver Botanic Gardens with the whole family and my friend from college K who lives near my sister. My favorite part was the bonsai garden, with a range of bonsai trees that taught me that the art of bonsai is much more localized than I thought.

There were many bonsai using plants native to Colorado at different stages in their cultivation. All of them were beautiful in their own way. For the Nintendo gamers out there: doesn't the one in the photo above look just like it might be hiding a Korok?

We also encountered a few of these walls filled with twigs, fuzz, fur, and other things that local birds can come and take to use to build up their nests. It's such a cool concept and the first time I've seen anything like it.

The other stop that was an absolute hit was the Denver Zoo. S was in a state of pure delight for the many hours we were there and probably could've kept going if I wasn't so exhausted from so much walking. The zoo also included some aquarium exhibits, which were nice to enjoy without paying separately for an aquarium admission.

I can't believe how I got no pictures of any of the food we ate, but C and A are excellent hosts and wonderful cooks so we ate extremely well the whole time we were there. It was such a healing trip in so many ways, from the special family time to the refreshing and cool Colorado air (which also gives me the best hair and skin of my life while I'm there). It was hard to say goodbye at the end of our weeklong trip, but we're looking forward to the next time we can go back!