Thank you DDF for all the help for planning this trip!
I first want to while I am writing this TR for everyone to enjoy these trips are more of personal experience for me and the pictures here are from that personal perspective as opposed to trying to capture the scenery or anything else.
Another disclaimer is that is that we try to spend the least money possible while having a good time and of course trying to get a good idea of the area. I guess it helps that one of the things we like is nature since the cost to National Parks are minimal We also did a lot of driving like putting almost a 1000 miles on the car for the time we were in Denver.
Denver Trip Report:
Trip was from a Sunday afternoon – Wednesday Afternoon. Pesach Time (from a year or two ago).
Southwest Flight from East Coast
(We came with someone else who stayed at):
La Quinta – Denver Tech Center - $90 a night – good price, lower class than Hilton Double Tree but rooms clean and big, had a couch. Free breakfast. Not as classy but we would have been ok with staying there, just we had points they did not.
We stayed at:
Hilton Double Tree Denver Tech Center 40,000 Points – Standard Awards Room – 3 Star.
Near the Southwest Side of Town - 7 Min drive from Aish Denver.
3 Star; nice big lobby and nice clean newish rooms, good location, but felt like was right in the middle between a lower class and higher class so worst of both worlds. But, hey I still got a nice hotel big room for free! For example, had a free breakfast but it was in the non-kosher restaurant. Rooms were nice but no amenities besides for the regular stuff. They also were unable to upgrade us to a bigger room because we were staying for three nights. They did agree to put our meats in the freezer! Small indoor pool in a very public area.
Car – Advantage Car Rental Car- New Ford Fusion Hybrid - $23 for 3 days, with a coupon from a website In general I find the closer the to rental date the cheaper the price is.
long wait, could not find my reservation at first, tried to rip me off by telling me I need more than a more powerful car to drive into mountains but once I did get the car it was a rock solid car that with no issues and I got a good deal.
Aish- Nice New building in a nice new part of town; Kiruv community.
Edos- more central part of town closer to shuls but no view of the mountains.
West Side- much older but main yeshiva community is there.
Day 1 North: First Stop- Walmart, highway from airport, on the way to the Jewish Community (need those Powerade’s – was not interested in taking the slightest risk at altitude sickness) and basic supplies (besides for Kosher Meat and Deli’s which we brought with us bought all the food we needed there ).
Took care of some business in the Jewish Community.
Supper by West Side Jewish Community Park near Sloan’s Lake- more diverse with different kinds of people.
Day 2 North (of Denver):Celestial Seasonings Factory Tour and Tea Tasting Boulder, CO Free- Interestingly enough, there were no signs to it until you get to last turn right before the parking lot. Fun thing to do. Not that interesting but it is a fun chilled type of activity.
Tour- Able to see sorting room (don’t know exactly what that is. They were cleaning it when went).
Big Supply of Spices and Herbs from all over the world. Peppermint room where they keep the all Peppermint. Big strong smell. Sinus Cleaner. My eyes are tearing up just thinking about it.
Packaging.
After/ Before Tea Tasting with all kinds hot and cold tea. (as been mentioned before here) all the tea’s are kosher so no problems tasting whatever tea you want.
Interesting photo ops with the Celestial Seasonings Teddy Beer and some other cute setup they have there.
Next Stop:Rocky Mountain National Park & Estes ParkWe headed to Trail Ridge Rd but it closed at some point due to the snow on the road. I think it was around 10,000 feet that it was closed at.
Sprague Lake- Spots for Bbq which used, partially covered in snow. Partially frozen lake with snow around it made a for nice walk also a place to pictures with gorgeous backgrounds.
Headed back to Denver – drive around downtown and quick look at Coors Field.
EDOS for Mincha/Marriv.
Southwest or Westside is the way to go! Since Eastside is only place with no view of the mountains and if no view of mountains what Denver is.
Day 2 South( of Denver):
Pikes Peak - Was not sure if full mountain would be open due to snow but kept on checking the hotline (719-385-7325) to see if mountain would open up and it finally did! Elevation of Colorado Springs around 7,000 feet, Elevation on top of Pikes Peak is > 14000 feet. Drive up Pikes Peak is a ˝ hour with a 25- 30 degree temperature drop and a 7,000 foot elevation climb. Outdoor Temperature went from 65, 60 degrees to a 30. Br…..!
Nice store on top- cool view from top.
Totally worth the drive!
Next Stop:
Garden of Gods – Nice combination since Pikes Peak cost money Garden of Gods is free and Garden of the Gods is in the backdrop of Pikes Peak.
Nice through points where when you stand behind it, Pikes Peak is in the background. Perfect spot for pictures. Nice easy to walk paths and other stone formations! Option of horseback riding (which we did not do).
Also- there is an information center about the park + (on other side of the park) there is also a one of those stores where you find all kind of cool outdoor stuff.
Day 3: Denver, Snow Storm and head home!Just an example of Denver weather. Tuesday weather was in low 70’s. Wednesday Morning- when I went out my car in the morning it was sleeting and 40 with a blizzard Warning!
We wanted one last thing to do before our flight.
United States Mint- Denver - (coin Tour) Free Tour Near the Courthouse and famous steps that say “One Mile above Sea Level” – perfect nice small trip. Tour was around an hour. History of US coins and explains basics of coin making and then you see the factory floor where they produce real money and you also get to see a nice chunk of gold. Probably would be boring for kids though.
Then we headed to the Airport where tons of flights were cancelled and ours was the last flight out for the next 24 hours. Curbside check-in! Offered to bump us, but no thank you!
UA Lounge in Denver – Big, some kosher food. We had an Israeli there finding out if things were kosher and then he was all proud to report back to us. Some of the chips were indeed kosher! Otherwise not too much else but better then spending time in the airport terminal.
One thing to note:Beer Factories are not open on Tuesday and Wednesday and they say Budweiser Plant in Fort Collins better then Coors factory.
Happy to provide exact address for any shuls or places I visited.
Glad to answer any questions anyone may have.
