Washington Park- Denver

Saturday in Denver started with morning snowfall! Very exciting for two Floridians exploring Colorado. Naturally the first thing I wanted after waking up was a hot cup of coffee. I think the most important part about traveling is avoiding chain coffee places/restaurants. A quick search will bring you to a cozy local coffee shop. My choice for Saturday morning was the Purple Door Coffee. They employ previously homeless/troubled teens that are trying to get their lives back on track. This was a win-win for me, I was able to get a delicious latte and contribute to a great organization. I made my latte vegan by replacing regular milk with soy milk (They also have almond milk available)

Latte with Soy Milk

After grabbing coffee we headed over to Voodoo Donuts which has been featured on Diners Drive-ins and Dives. This is a 24 hour donut shop that sells vegan donuts and regular donuts in endless different flavors. Below are my two vegan donut choices; one is vanilla icing with oreos and the other is a cinnamon sugar flavor. They were deliciously sweet :)

Voodoo Donuts

I wanted to see a few city parks so we went to Washington Park (or "Wash Park" as the locals call it) for a morning walk. The park was pretty barren except for a lot of birds and some crazy locals running around the park in shorts and a t-shirt in SEVEN degree weather... I imagine this park in the summer/early fall is absolutely beautiful. I enjoyed the snow covered grounds but it was incredibly cold so we did not last long. 

Washington Park

Washington Park

After walking around outside it was time to warm up so we headed to The Denver Tea Room and Coffee Saloon for some hot tea. We cozied up next to a window drinking rooibos tea and enjoying watching the snow fall. Its always nice to have a relaxing moment during a busy vacation.

After having tea we met up with a friend at Snooze which is a very popular breakfast spot, I was able to select three different sides (vegan chorizo, vegan sausage, and hash browns) for a vegan brunch. The food was flavorful but vegan options were definitely limited as with most breakfast restaurants.

Next we spent a few hours walking around the mall at Cherry Creek Shopping District. Then headed back to our Airbnb to relax for a bit. We found a place for dinner called Hops & Pie which specializes in pizza and beer. We put our names on the list as soon as we got there but the wait for a table was around 2 hours. If you plan to eat here I suggest snagging a few seats at the bar and just ordering food from there. We had the vegan mac & cheese and it was incredibly savory, creamy, and toasty because of the bread crumbs on top. It was amazing paired with the Denver pale ale I was drinking. The only complaint I have about this restaurant is that their options of dark beer are VERY limited, but this should be assumed with the name HOPS and pie. They like hops! We spent a few hours socializing and drinking beer, then headed home to get some rest before Sunday.

More later on Denver :)
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!