Fun with Friends in Colorado, Part 2

This is my second post about the long weekend I spent in Colorado with my high school friends. I recommend reading the first post before this one. Because I blog about educational travel, I was given media passes and other benefits for some of the locations we visited throughout our trip. Several of the places we went are free to everyone; we paid full price for the rest. Everything that I share here is something I recommend without hesitation.

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Fun with Friends in Colorado

After a great day at Meow Wolf, the five of us headed to our next destination: Meier Craft Skiery. Our sixth, Nancy, met us there. It was wonderful to finally all be together!

You may be wondering what a Craft Skiery is. It is what happens when you add a bar to a ski making factory. The bar itself is made of ski core wood. 

The rest of the space functions as a showroom for Meier skis. 

That's the ceiling. It's really cool. 

If you visit Meier Craft Skiery, you can sit at the bar and watch skis being made through the windows. Or, if you come at Happy Hour, you can take the guided factory tour. Is there any doubt which we did? 

The tour begins with a drink, which you can take with you during the tour. I appreciate that they offer multiple non-alcoholic options. Ted, the owner of Meier Skis, was our tour guide. He took us into the wood shop first... 

... where he explained the process of laminating Colorado aspen, beetle-kill pine, and maple to provide the ideal core for skis and snowboards. 

After curing, the cores are cut to size. 

The next layers are cut...

... along with the stencils for the branding. All the layers are joined...

  

... and it's time to add graphics.  

Most of Meier's graphics allow a portion of the wood to show through. Not only is it beautiful, but it's a sign of quality as any flaws in the wood would be visible. 

Our group of six included a serious skier, a non-skier, and everything in between. We all enjoyed the tour.  Ted was happy to answer all the questions we had. When the tour ended, we returned to the showroom where we received souvenir glasses to take home. 

There was a food truck outside and live music inside, so we ordered food and had dinner there. 

I highly recommend a visit to Meier Craft Skiery!

It had been a long day, particularly for our east coast friends who had gotten up before dawn, flew across the country, experienced Meow Wolf, and then toured a ski factory. So we headed to Boulder, where we would be staying for the next three nights. 

On Saturday, October 17, we headed to the Boulder Farmers Market. I love farmers markets and Boulder's is excellent. 

We each found breakfast from the various bakeries at the market. I can personally recommend Izzio Artisan Bakery. Yum!

We bought vegetables, eggs, cheese, hummus, breads, and other goodies for future meals. 

We also bought the most delicious cocktail (and in my case, mocktail) mixers from Cocktail Caravan. 

We stored all of our goodies, then headed out on the Boulder Urban Adventure Quest. 

The Quest brought us to all sorts of neat locations in downtown Boulder. 

We made a quick stop partway through to get Denver Pops. 

I recommend the Raspberry Lime. 

Back to the Quest!

Of course I drank glacier water. Who wouldn't?! 

  

The Quest introduced us to SMiLE, Boulder's anonymous street artist. Once you know what to look for, you can find SMiLE's artwork all over town.  

  

What I love the most about UAQ is that the questions take me to locations I otherwise wouldn't have noticed. Here we're learning about a miner (he looked like a child - a minor miner?) that I'm sure I would have otherwise walked by with barely a glance.  

Boulder is the 31st city where I've done an UAQ. I'm eager to add even more cities to my count. 

After the Quest, we grabbed a late lunch (tacos for some, smoothies for others)...

... and then watched the CU Buffoons a capella group perform. 

We happened upon World Singing Day... 

... and joined in the fun. 

  

Eventually, we headed back to the house. We prepped all of our farmers market finds and had a wonderful dinner together. 

It was a fantastic evening of good food and good friends. 

I'll be back on Monday to tell you what we did on our second full day in Boulder. 

Fun with Friends in Colorado, Part 1

Thirty-six years after we graduated from Granada High School, five of my closest friends and I met up in Colorado for a girls' weekend. Over those 36 years, we've gotten together in various duos, trios, and quads, but last weekend was the first time that all six of us have been together at the same time since we were teenagers. 

In 2004, five of us were together at my wedding. 

I call them my high school friends, but I've actually known all of them since elementary school or even earlier. We are now all busy moms (16 children amongst us) with careers and many other responsibilities. Two of us still live in California; the others are in Colorado, Virginia, South Carolina, and Florida. The logistics of getting us all together were complicated, but so worth it. We had a wonderful time and are hoping to turn this into an annual event. 

The two of us from California flew into Denver (me from Sacramento, Kathy from San Jose) in the evening of Thursday, October 15. 

Kathy and I spent the night at the Drury Plaza Hotel Denver Central Park. (Did you notice the tree wallpaper? I love it.)

The Drury is conveniently located midway between the Denver airport and downtown, making it an affordable option. I received a media rate for our stay, but even at full price the Drury is a bargain when you factor in the free meals they provide. Some hotels offer a free breakfast, but the Drury is the only hotel I'm aware of that offers a free breakfast and an evening buffet that isn't just pretzels and chips. The 5:30 Kickback is totally free and includes an impressive spread. I opted for a pork slider, salad, and a margarita mocktail, all of which were fantastic. The menu changes daily and always includes a soup, a salad, an entree, hot dogs, nachos, and sides. Popcorn, sodas, and mocktails are unlimited; each adult gets a voucher for three alcoholic drinks. 

After a restful night, Kathy and I awoke on Friday, October 16 to perfect weather in Denver. 

We were headed downtown, but first we enjoyed breakfast at the Drury.  

Our options included made-to-order pancakes, two different egg scrambles, biscuits and gravy, sausage, potatoes, fruit, yogurt, oatmeal, muffins, fruit, cereal, waffles, and more. I had a biscuit, fruit, and a delicious Mediterranean egg scramble.  

We split a waffle. I love the branding - such a fun touch!

Kathy and I checked out of the hotel and headed to Meow Wolf, where we would be spending the next seven hours. I will do my best to explain Meow Wolf to you through words and pictures, but you won't fully understand it without visiting. Meow Wolf is unlike anywhere else you've ever been. 

Meow Wolf is an immersive art experience. 

  

It features interactive elements...  

  

... and is filled with interesting, thought-provoking, and clever works of art. 

  

Some pieces are small, while others are multiple stories tall. 

  

There are Meow Wolf installations in five US cities (Santa Fe, Grapevine, Houston, Las Vegas, and Denver), with one more coming soon (LA). Each is completely different than the others. The Denver location, called Convergence Station, features four distinct worlds, converged into one. 

Over 300 artists worked for four years to build Denver's Convergence Station. It is enormous: four stories and 90,000 square feet. 

There are hidden spaces, secret rooms and passageways, and no maps or clues to direct you. It's all about exploration. 

You'll find lots of fun places for selfies. 

There are many different ways to enjoy Meow Wolf. Some people choose to just walk around and absorb it all. Others allow the sensory experiences to guide them. Others choose to use the QPass, an RFID card that "transforms your visit into an interactive quest." I'll give you one guess as to which group I'm in. 

Obviously, I'm #TeamQuest. Kathy and I booped our QPass at every opportunity, looked at all the smallest details, and memorized names and other clues in hope of solving the mystery. What mystery? Finding the Forgotten Four. 

Kathy and I had been exploring for about 3 hours when Nikki, Betsy, and Colleen arrived from the airport. We did our best to catch them up, but it's hard to quickly summarize three hours' worth of information. 

We took about an hour to just explore... 

  

... and be inspired. The art at Meow Wolf is amazing. 

Some of it is definitely weird. 

Sometimes you ask yourself, "What am I even looking at? And why?"

What is even going on here?

Hi Nikki!

Kathy and I jumped back into the mystery once the others got an overview. 

What is a clue? And what is just art? 

  

What does it all mean?!

  

Meow Wolf offers multiple options for food and drinks, but Kathy and I were too focused to stop. The rest of the group had wisely eaten lunch before joining us. 

  

You may have noticed that, other than my friends, there aren't any people in my photos. That's not because the place was empty - far from it. I do my best to avoid posting pictures of other people if at all possible. Especially children. 

  

Which brings me to something else I want to mention: Meow Wolf is a GREAT place to bring kids. We saw lots of families there, some just exploring and others using a QPass to gather clues. There were a few times that kids, presumably regulars, explained to us how something worked. 

Two very young kids playing - just doing what kids do - were instrumental to us solving this puzzle. 

Meow Wolf is an excellent place for field trips as well. The Denver location offers lesson plans in three subject areas (Computer Science, Life Science, and Environmental Science) for three different age groups (Grades 3-5, Grades 6-8, and Grades 9-12). I looked through all of the lesson places for fifth grade and was impressed. The lessons are well-written, full of engaging activities for kids to do before, during, and after the field trip. 

After 7 hours, we made good progress but ultimately did not solve the mystery. We did not see every space or discover every interactive element. But boy, did we have fun!

We would have loved to have kept going, but we had another place we had to be. So we said a reluctant goodbye to Meow Wolf and headed to our next destination. I'll tell you all about it tomorrow.