The Cheeky Monk and The Irish Snug

Winter                                                          Waxing Moon of the Cold Month

And so it is.  The cold month I mean.  -7 last night here in Denver.  Not Minnesota cold, but still, it counts.  The snow though has mostly disappeared from the city streets and will be all gone by the weekend when highs in the 40’s hit the high plateau.

Kate and I went to the REI flagship store yesterday, a large brick building that used to be a tramway (don’t know what that is) now stuffed with ice axes, mountaineer boots and more fleece than you shake a sheep at.  It has a very Colorado feel with many young, hyper fit folks looking for the right gear for climbing a 14’er and then skiing back down.

Denver has a young persons feel with many interesting bars like the Cheeky Monk and the Irish Snug.  Gastro pubs.  Kate and I stopped for lunch at the Cheeky Monk, a woody homage to some form of Belgian culture with Belgian waffles on offer as a dessert item.  Kate had a beer sampler that included Stone’s Lucky Bastard and Avey’s Czar.  Potent stuff.  More so than Kate anticipated.

We’ve both eaten a bit too much fried and fatty with corresponding complaints from our digestive systems.  You’d think at our age…

In spite of its proximity to the mountains, the Rockies loom on the western horizon, Denver is a flat city, very Midwestern in that way.

Since this is the time period of the Great Western Stock Show the restaurants have many cowboy hats, cowboy boots and the occasional sequined Rodeo Queen.  It all gives Denver that Western feel that it sometimes lacks in the summer.

OK.  Off to the Denver Mint.