Denver, Colorado + Spearfish, South Dakota
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Alison is obsessed with Fear Factor, and all of the astonishing challenges, like these insanely claustrophobic challenges, and the challenges that are sure to keep you up at night. Yikes! How is she staying calm let alone going to bed after watching those? And how are her eyes even handling all of the early aughts television faux pas?! Lulu is quite conversely obsessed with hot tea. All day every day.
Alison is wishing for brand new windows in her house. She has the old crank style windows, and they don’t all close. So with summer and Florida being in full swing, It is like a sauna in her house and money is going down the drain (or out the window). Lulu is wishing for an overhaul of her athletic wear wardrobe. When she left NYC to quarantining in Florida at her parents’, she was thinking she’d be gone for maybe a few weeks. And now it’s summer. In Florida. She needs lighter, breezier, house-to-walking the neighborhood looks.
Floor-to-ceiling windows and Colorado-style decor are just two of the selling points of the Deluxe Suite Alison booked at the Gaylord Rockies Resort. The Suite has a living room, a dining area, a king-size bed, a sofa bed, and a soaker tub. Spacious relaxation for up to four, which Alison is going to need after her packed day in the Mile High City. Located in Aurora, Colorado, it is just 30-40 minutes from downtown Denver. If you've never been to a Gaylord Resort, it's like Disneyland on steroids in a hotel. With eight different dining and drinking options, indoor and outdoor pools, a lazy river, a spa, tennis courts, biking/jogging trails, mini-golf, and a legit fitness center, you wouldn't actually ever have to leave the complex. Especially since her suite was $1700 for two nights.
If you’re looking for a more central location to stay in, our producer Ash is a frequent Denver visitor, and is a huge fan of The Crawford Hotel at Union Station, due to its close proximity to trains, food, coffee, beverages, shops and all of the greatness of downtown Denver, and The Rambler, home to her favorite bar ever, Death & Co. Anyways…there is so much to do in this incredible city, so Alison is going to start out on her Colorado adventure.
Alison heads to Bacon Social House for their family-style brunch which serves four. She is going to town on all things bacon. Chicken and waffles, caon hash, breakfast sandwiches, southern comfort fried chicken sandwiches, biscuits and gravy, and a miner’s stack. There’s a lot of eggs in those dishes, a lot of bacon as you would expect, plus lots of delicious fixin’s.
With all of those carbs in her system, she takes the bacon goggles off and puts the beer goggles on. Alison should have no trouble imbibing aplenty on the Downtown Brewery Trail Walk she read about on Conde Nast Traveler’s website. A completely self-guided brewery crawl is embarked upon thanks to this unbelievable extensive, organized and flat out fantastic interactive beer map put out by the city.
Alison takes our favorite black car service, Blacklane out to Keystone Resort for two hours of snow tubing awesomeness! She could have used the Epic Pass she bought when in Crested Butte, Colorado to stay a bit longer and go skiing at no additional charge! Instead she heads to one of the most acclaimed restaurants in the country, and it is right at this ski resort! So Alison decides to try the Ski Tip Lodge for lunch. They are actually only open for dinner, oops! But check out this example of their weekly-rotating four course prix fixe menu! The scallops in particular sound scrumptious! For only $80 for a four course meal, this is a steal!
Woodhouse Day Spa turned a beautiful 3 story, 10 bedroom home has been converted into the perfect place for your spa experience. Decorated to make you feel right at home, Alison definitely will thanks to their complimentary mimosas or glasses of wine. She is going for the works with the “Woodhouse Experience”. You start your day with a tub soak to loosen your muscles, followed by a four handed massage. Next is a Minkyti facial, a spa lunch, and ends with a hand ritual and a seaweed pedicure. Alison thought this experience costs $590, but the 5 hours and 15 minutes actually comes to $670.
A Dom Pérignon Afternoon Tea is next up, and you know how we love an afternoon tea. Served daily from 12-4pm while accompanied by the sounds of a harp, this tea at The Brown Palace Hotel and Spa consists of the go-to’s of scones with Devonshire cream, preserves, finger sandwiches, an exquisite selection of classic tea pastries and finished with a Brown Palace truffle. For four people with tip this resplendent tea service comes to $450.
Alison found this dinner recommendation via 303 magazine, whose article even tells you what to order, along with corresponding prices. Mizuna is a seasonally-changing, French-inspired dining experience that did not disappoint. The seared foie gras, lobster mac & cheese, Skuna Bay salmon, and brioche pain perdu were jsut enough to take her beyond satiated to actually full. Well, not to full to go for their original “Jimmie Roosevelt” cocktail made with champagne, cognac, green chartreuse, sugar cube and Angostura bitters.
She’s only spent about $5000 at this point , so she flies Lulu out to join her for the as of right now still on Harry Styles concert at The Pepsi Center on August 15, 2020. They get Ultimate Floor VIP Package tickets, at two grand EACH. Worth it.
First things first, for her day of adventure Lulu is going to need a full size pickup from Black Hills Car Rental. She heads to this “Charming” one bedroom Airbnb located in downtown Spearfish, which has a population fo approximately 10,000 people. Within walking distance of her stay is a coffee shop and a wine bar, so that’s a bonus! First stop is Blackbird Espresso for an oat milk latte, then on to Stage Stop Cafe at Cheyenne Crossing She gets Sourdough pancakes w/ bacon, and wojapi - a hot fry bread with warm berry sauce.
Apparently Kevin Costner owns a lot of Deadwood, South Dakota. After his film Dances with Wolves was filmed there, it seems like he bought up the town. Several businesses anyways. Lulu is going to take in some of his Deadwood holdings. It is just a 20 minute drive from Spearfish, so Lulu is taking the Deadwood Originals Tour and visiting Tatanka Story of the Bison, so esentially a double dose of Old West history. The latter has a larger than life bronze sculpture featuring 14 bison pursued by 3 Native American riders. Also at this location is a gift shop, snack bar, and a whole array of Dances with Wolves movie costumes. For an educational bent you can take in a Lakota Interpretive presentation.
Lulu’s first outdoor instinct to do on this 10K day was to ski, but instead decides the Total Archery challenge sounds exciting! A three day event in Terry Peak Ski area, she’s going to live out Hunger Games fantasies with her purchase of the Carbon Rx-4 Alpha compound bow from Hoyt Archery. However, after realizing the targets looked like animals, and she wasn’t really feeling that, she decides to nix this from her day, and treat herself to something more her speed after dinner instead.
Dinner is at Steerfish Steak and Smoke, which is very on brand with it’s menu selections divided into categories like “Green er’ Pastures”, “Cowboy Cuts”, and “Let er Buck Burgers”. Lulu lands on the Chicken Fried Steak and a Campfire S’mores Sundae. Now she hasn’t spent but a few hundred dollars at this point, so she decides instead of going skiing in South Dakota, she is buying the Super Alpine Racer Arcade, for a mere $9499. She loads it up into her pickup truck and takes it back to her Airbnb, so she can get a little outdoor nature life in.
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