Weekend Getaway: Boulder, Colorado
I came for the weekend to Boulder, Colorado for the BolderBOULDER 10K race. This is the largest 10K race in the country and has more than 50,000 people run/walk the race. With nearly $200,000 in prize money, elite athletes from across the world come into town for this race.
I stayed at the Millennial Harvest Hotel in downtown Boulder. The hotel is walking distance to the Pearl Street Mall and other shopping/restaurant/bar areas. It’s also located right by the Boulder River that runs through the town and there is a beautiful running trail that goes along the river. (The river is so close, you can actually touch the water!)
Since my cousin, Mindy, lives in Aurora, I invited her to spend a couple of days before the race with me. When we arrived in town, we went over to the Pearl Street Mall. This is an outdoor mall with funky, hip shops and restaurants. It’s closed to traffic so you can easily stroll anywhere along the path and enjoy the experience car free.
We also visited the Celestial Seasoning Tea Tour. It’s about 15 – 20 minutes on the outskirts of Boulder. The tour is free and the guides provide you with a bag of tea, along with a tasting area so that you can try out various different types of tea. I tried a lavender tea and I thought it would be horrible, but it was actually pretty good. I ended up buying a box after the tour!
The tour was interesting. It takes about an hour and the guides take you throughout the factory. You see where they get the tea, sift through it, taste it and then package it. At the end of the tour, we got dumped into the company store where I bought a dozen boxes of various teas…
We ended up going back to Pearl Street Mall after that and went to the BolderBOULDER expo.
The thing about Boulder, is there is no lack of things to do, especially if you love the outdoors. There’s plenty of biking, hiking and running trails. They also have a couple of big Y’s where you can swim and soak in a hot tub. And, there’s plenty of shopping! I found unique and unusual stores there that I couldn’t even find in New York City!
In terms of restaurants, I don’t think we went to a bad one! The one that I thought was worth the mention was — Oak, which is an American Restaurant – It was absolutely fresh and delicious. I had grilled chicken with quinoa on a bed of lettuce. Mindy had meatballs. Everything was sensational.
All of the better restaurants seem to be on Pearl Street. But, we tried several in other locations because the parking was rough.
Boulder, Colorado is a great place to visit (and to live). Many people from Denver and the surrounding areas knows all about it, but for us New Yorker’s, it’s definitely worth a visit and my recommendation!
P.S. Don’t tell the locals I sent you! 🙂
