Day 22: Blackhawk, CO to Denver, CO

With the unexpected win at Video Poker we decided to splurge for one last day in Colorado before we start making our way back east. 

We booked a room at the pet-friendly Hyatt hotel in Denver, Colorado, so after packing up camp we made our way to Colorado's State Capitol to start re-joining civilization! 

Colorado as a whole is very dog friendly. Bringfido.com lists 77 restaurants in the city that allow dogs. We opted for the Denver Beer Company. I'm glad we did! They have a nice patio, tasty brews, dog treats, and a food truck. Today's food truck was called "Amazeballs"--and their meatball certainly was amazing. 

After an hour or so on the patio it was time to check in at the hotel, so we walked back to our parking spot (with a minor pit-stop when Kevin got Scout's stuffed duck and four subsequent sticks stuck in a tree on an unfortunate toss before knocking it loose from the branches) and checked in at our hotel a little after 3 pm. 

After cranking up the air conditioning, taking nice hot showers, watching a bit of TV for the first time in 3 weeks, using a hair dryer for the first time in 3 weeks, and sprawling out on a giant king sized bed as opposed to the double bed in the Scamp, we decided to leave the hotel and actually go out and explore the city for a bit. We put the dogs in the Scamp and set out for Cherry Creek North--sort of like Columbus's Short North area--and decided to find a spot for dinner. We decided to go where there was a crowd...and are we glad we did. We chose a restaurant called "Machete" that serves Mexican food and specializes in tacos that you order a la carte. We each ordered three tacos, and I accidentally ordered a lobster taco with a squid ink tortilla shell instead of a shrimp taco, but am I glad I did. Kevin and I wish we each just ordered that taco! It was delicious. (The veggie taco with a purple Hibiscus tortilla was pretty amazing too...)

Will full stomachs, we headed back to the hotel where we thought we would enjoy the best night of sleep of the trip, but unfortunately Scout's stomach did not agree with that idea so Kevin had to take him outside four times during the night. Oh...and let's not forget that Kevin smashed into the light on his side of the bed after returning from a trip outside. He hit the lamp with his face, shattered the lightbulb, and destroyed the lampshade in one fell swoop. Notice how in the picture below one of the lamps is missing...  So we got to spend some time cleaning up tiny shards of glass from the bed and floor at 4 am. You'd think a night in a hotel would have meant more rest than a night in a Scamp. You'd be wrong. 

It was nice having breakfast included at the hotel--not having to worry about making food, washing dishes, etc. this morning was a nice perk! After one more hot shower, we checkout out of our indulgent hotel and reluctantly started our drive east. As I type this, the majestic mountains and rolling hills have already faded to flat fields as far as the eye can see. 

Next stop--somewhere in Nebraska.