So four days in and I think I’ve already eaten half my body weight…

Tip – Denver, Colorado is over 5000 feet above sea level so altitude is a real problem here. I got altitude headaches. The climate is also incredibly dry, by day three my lips were starting to dry out. Luckily drinking lots and lots of water combats both of these. Every bar and restaurant will bring you large glasses of iced water automatically and it’s recommended that you get through a couple of litres a day.

Day 3
Breakfast – pretty normal, just cereal and juice (I’m not yet brave enough to try something wacky)

Lunch – we went to sports bar Prickly Pete’s for lunch. A real, all American sports bar. The atmosphere was really cool, very relaxed, a little on the cheesy side but hey! We are in the states after all!

The menu ranged from sandwiches to burgers to chimichangas and grills. Plus all the appetisers. We decided to order a round of margaritas ( I know… At LUNCH) which were not only huge but really good, tangy with a real kick and plenty of salt. We also went for deep fried stuffed jalopenos as an appetiser whilst we mulled over our menu choices.

The jalopenos were great. Stuffed with cream cheese, nice and crispy and not too hot. Meanwhile we made our menu choices, I decided to go for the burger with a side of coleslaw.

The burger when it came was by my standards, pretty big, although by American standards a fairly average size I think. I had it cooked rare and boy was it juicy. I also opted for cheese and onion rings. Okay, okay, it was a greasy, and overall filthy lunch, washed down with at least two margaritas, but it was great.

Dinner – After a pretty boozey lunch we decided to keep it casual and go to a bar for dinner. R-Bar was small but very cute and cozy. We played on the jukebox which was brilliant fun – my hosts couldn’t believe I’d never used one before! Food was a combination of pasta and salads. We ordered an appetiser of calamari to pick at which was greasy but fine. For mains I went for a chicken salad with cherries and walnuts. This was huge, too big. The chicken and dressing was good but if I’m honest it was a bit too much spinach so I left a lot of it.

Tip – it’s commonplace to tip 20% of the bill. You also need to tip cab drivers, house keeping, reception, valet car parking attendants and bar tenders.

After dinner – we went on to what they call a ‘dive bar’ which kinda does what it says on the tin, it’s dark and gritty but loads of character. Here we had pineapple upside down cake shooters – you couldn’t taste the booze at all – just like an amazing pineapple juice drink… Dangerous, dark and stormy cocktails. I’m not sure what the spirit was in these but they had lots of ginger beer in there and were really good, needless to say I probably drank too much…

Day 4
Breakfast – we went to one of our hosts for breakfast where we had donuts, pastries and muffins. This was utter filth but with my hangover they sorted me out.

Lunch – lunch we went to a bar called The Elm. Food here was greasy but good and tasty. I was recommended chicken tenders which really were tender and juicy, and fries (believe it or not my first portion of fries since arriving). Truth be told we were off to a nice restaurant that evening so were saving ourselves.

Dinner – for dinner we went to Elways, a restaurant owned by a former quarterback player. This was super trendy, sophisticated and upmarket. There was a live band playing jazz in the corner and whist the place was packed it was a lovely atmosphere.

I was told that Elways was primarily a steak house, and also that Colorado was known for great steak. With this in mind, it seemed ludicrous to go for anything other than the fillet. And boy, am I glad that I did. No exaggeration, I think this was one of the best steaks I’d ever tasted. Cooked rare, it tasted divine and was just so juicy.

We had a number of sides on the table, fried brussel sprouts, risotto, friend rice, cauliflower cheese (a bit burnt) and my favourite, spaghetti squash. I hadn’t heard of this before but essentially it’s a vegetable, a type of squash. The filling or flesh of the squash is in strands like spaghetti though. Ours was slightly overcooked, I’m told al dente would have been better but nonetheless it tasted great.

Next dessert, which we decided to share. We ordered something else I hadn’t had before, s’mores.

S’mores are essentially a DIY dessert. First you toast a marshmallow, you the dip this I melted chocolate before sandwiching between two digestive biscuits. Messy? Yes. Heavenly? Absolutely!