Sunday! Another full day in Denver, yay!

I knew I should get at least 6 hours of sleep, but I was up around 6:00 and got up at 6:20. I just get too excited to spend time with my friends.

Val and I did a walk/run, then had breakfast (bagels and fruit) and painted with Carrie. Val braided both my and Carrie’s hair, then we went outside to go to the farmers market and Carrie had the brilliant idea to take the top off the Jeep. Fun!

We stopped to check out a cool sculpture at Val’s library,

then we went to the Arvada Farmers Market. I typically only go to the tiny farmers market in Guttenberg, Iowa, and it was fun to go to a larger one. We saw pottery, soaps, jams, all sorts of baked goods, produce, flowers, chocolate, etc. We all bought some delicious dark chocolate from Bimbada. Then we stopped in Outside the Box Gifts and I got some postcards and small gifts.

I should mention the weather. It’s been really hot while we’ve been here – in the high 90s each day. It actually doesn’t feel horrible because the dew point is so low (which is bizarre to me), but we’ve also been trying to spend as much time in the shade as possible.

Another note – I’ve felt light-headed and buzzed a few times (without drinking) – probably from the altitude? It’s made for some giggly moments. Okay, back to the recap –

We got lunch at the Mighty Colorado Burger, which as inside of an airstream, inside of Denver Beer Co. The burger and fries were delish – the fries were the perfect amount of crispy!

After lunch we stopped to get sweat treats from Rheinlander Bakery. I was so excited to go to this bakery in person and check out all the vegan offerings. Val sends me pics sometimes when she is there and I always wish I could transport myself there to join her (or at least transport some of the vegan goodies to me! She actually did mail me some once!). I got a peanut butter ball thing, a brownie, and a strawberry cupcake.

We went to Hunter Bay Coffee Roasters, and I got a chai (it was so so). We all sat down and chatted a bit, and I tried the goodies from the bakery and really liked the cupcake. The texture and flavors were just perfect.

It was about mid afternoon when we left the Arvada area and we wanted to check out this cool new sculpture in the Aurora Highlands so we drove to where the maps said the Aurora Highlands were and we were no where near it. We pulled over and tried to figure out where to go and we had bad cell service and couldn’t research or get maps to load well, so we decided to just go back to the house then figured out it was on the way back and we could stop and see it after all. Ha.

The sculpture was stunning and totally worth seeing! It seems like it’s the first installation in a neighborhood and park that is being developed.

We drove back to the house and it was HOT and sweat was dripping down my legs from having the top down. Worth it!

We cooled down and hung out at the house (I did laundry and wrote postcards), then we went to Mad Greens in Louisville for dinner (I had a salad with kale, spinach, tofu, a soy sauce, edamame – all things loaded with Vitamin K – and it was delish) and went to Sweet Cow after for shakes and ice cream!

It was dark when we got back but I’d been wanting to try their e-bikes out so I did and WHOA those are fun! It made me want one. The boost you get is insane! Especially in turbo mode.

We hung out for a bit and Val and Steve and I booked our October Maine trip (!!!!!) then we started painting at 10:00 and painted until almost midnight. What a fun day!