END OF DENVER: PEAK'S LOUNGE

this weekend we got to check something i've had on my denver to-do list for a long time: peak's lounge.

the bar is ranked as one of the best places to see the sun set in the city. here's the view when we first arrived, around 4 p.m.

pear martini, a house specialty, for moi and a dark beer, per usual, for b.

pretty sky, just 30 minutes later.

this good-looking man. dressed up in christmas presents from his momma.

dessert splurge. a lemon meringue, a guinness with caramel and a maple with chocolate-covered bacon. 

goodnight beautiful city.

BUSY SUNDAY.

sunday we decided to get up and go! after our morning walk, we grabbed a groupon now deal. it was for a little coffee shop in my dream neighborhood, congress park. very similar to my nashville love, sylvan park. under the umbrella cafe had great reviews, so we were excited to try it out.

90+ degrees. weather be damned, he was having coffee.

giant breakfast burrito. b gave it two thumbs up. as you can see, the silverware were making their way in, barely waiting for me to snap a shot!

the mexican. green chiles, turkey and pepper jack. delish.

next door is the daily scoop. we saw the owner giving out dog treats and being generally really friendly, so we poked our heads in. i have never had frozen custard before and i am a hardscoop ice cream supporter all the way, but this was amazing. we got snickers on top and it was perfection.

next stop: the denver art museum for the yves saint laurent retrospective! i've been wanting to go since we moved. it's extra special that denver is the only place in the u.s. where the exhibit will be shown.

no pictures allowed inside. woh, woh. my favorites included video of women marching in france and referencing wearing pants. can you imagine wearing pants being controversial?! we got to see amazing outfits and listen to saint laurent speak on his designs. my favorite quote was, "the most beautiful clothes that can dress a woman are the arms of the man she loves. but for those who haven't had the fortune of finding this happiness, i am there." isn't that romantic?

on the love theme, he sent out valentine's day cards every year. the art museum is selling postcard versions of them and i just had to have some.

a surprising hit: the madeleine albright exhibit. actually, it was an exhibit of her brooches! in her role as secretary of state she chose what pin she wore every day based on her meeting or her mood. she wore some in foreign countries, had one made out of pieces of the berlin wall and was given a pin by a young man whose mother had died in hurricane katrina. she has a truly amazing story. i want to read more about her. i'll add it to the summer to-do list!

oh, you know, just some cows. more of denver's public art on our way out.

fancy wasn't my name, but this dinner was.

for my birthday, we went out to the fanciest, most well-reviewed restaurant in denver: the palace arms.

it's located inside the brown palace hotel, downtown.

right inside the lobby. we could hear the pianist playing all the way in the dining room.

photo thanks to one of our four waiters.

i just realized we didn't take any food photos. hmm. most memorable courses included: the amuse bouche of foie gras, which i was not about to try. i encouraged baker to eat it, though, which resulted in tears, the most sour/smush face he has ever made and choking down a whole glass of water. i'm laughing just remembering it. at least he can say he had foie gras, though - he's fancy now! another favorite was one of their well-known tricks: making salad table side. we got to watch another of our waiters make caesar dressing and mix up all the ingredients. very cool. 

birthday dessert special! with a candle. very cute. ALSO: free dessert plate included a MACAROON. #fancy. which, i had put on my before-26 goal list and totally forgot about. luckily, palace arms helped me get it in just under the wire.

to prove their fanciness, a private well. my coworker filled me in on this little secret. the hotel has been around so long that it has it's own well, pulling water from the local mountain springs. since it was warm out that night, the fountain water was warm. straight from the mountains.

it was delicious!

and very fancy.

getting artsy.

this weekend we went downtown to check out the ysl exhibit at the denver art museum. the museum is right beyond these red pillars. unfortunately, the exhibit sold out for the first time that day. but, we were downtown anyway, so i finally got to take photos of some of the crazy installation art that i've driven by.

doesn't this make you think of beauty and the beast when all the furniture comes alive and helps out? {my swiffer could hop up and mop these floors anytime it likes.}

the public library is right on the other side of this building.

mini-mountains. 

horse on a chair. 

in the very center of downtown.all the occupy denver residents watched us walk around and take these photos.

there we are!

it was another great weekend, capped off a costco run, getting my birthday gift all set up and sleeping approximately 20 hours on sunday. and that is my kind of weekend.