Last month I spent about six days in Denver, Colorado and had an absolute blast. My uncle lives here and it is always a treat to see him, plus over the years I’ve gotten to know his circle of friends who are all just terrific. And two of my good friends moved here from LA last summer. Denver is calling, and I am eager to answer!

Today I’ll recap all the people I got to spend time with. Bonus: most of those catch-ups involved good food or coffee.

Hi Denver!

A major highlight of this trip is seeing Molly! We worked together at Young & Restless for a long time and used to run marathons together almost 10 years ago. She is the best and it makes me so happy to see her.

That night my uncle and I meet up with VJ and Petie for dinner at Sushi Den. The food is stellar and the company even better! I’ve heard about VJ’s family for years and it is so nice to meet him and his fiancé.

The next day I walk around the RiNo (River North) area of Denver.

I check out The Source (a bustling food and artisan market in an old warehouse) and order a delicious lunch at Acorn — crispy fried pickles as an app and salmon over sugar snap peas, kale, tomato, and bacon.

That night we meet up for happy hour-turned-dinner with my uncle’s neighbors Laurie and Noel. We go to Dos Santos and their margaritas and tacos are outrageously good. But just like the previous night, the company is even better.

The next morning Molly and her husband Joe come over and we all go to brunch at Sugarhill in the RiNo neighborhood.

The rosemary chicken salad:

We walk around RiNo after brunch and pose in front of various graffiti artwork — I’ll share those photos and more from this neighborhood in a future post.

Later that afternoon we check out Molly & Joe’s new house! So neat to see it near completion, but pre-move in. Next time I visit we’ll taken “after” photo to go with this “before” one:

That night we make dinner at my uncle’s place — grilled steaks, avocado salad, and sweet potato fries (that I only slightly burn… whoops).

After dinner we watch The Big Short. Such a good movie — my second time watching it. It covers some dense economic concepts in creative ways that I was happy to hear them explained a second time.

The next day we go hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park, about two hours outside of Denver. I’ll share more on that soon.

At night, we meet Jayne for dinner at Hillstone. I order the fish special — I think it’s red snapper in a lemon butter cream sauce with spinach and mashed potatoes. Perfect. Also, their Prisoner wine is crazy good.

The next day I meet up with Anne, who I haven’t seen in years — it is so nice to catch up and talk theater. Anne teaches theater at Denver University and is an actress and director. We met at Thump Coffee; I give it a solid A.

After coffee, we walk to nearby Cheeseman Park where Anne’s daughter has fun on the slide and swings. Great day to be outside! I’m so glad my Denver visit coincides with a warm spell.

Shortly afterwards I meet up with Molly one last time near her office downtown. So glad we got to catch up a few times during this brief trip.

From there I hop on a bus to visit David who owns More Flowers — his shop is just fantastic. So is he, and I loved getting to catch up briefly.

From there I Uber to Cherry Creek to meet my uncle and Heather. I’ve known Heather via email and Facebook for years but this was our first time meeting in person! She’s fabulous and it is so nice to chat over oysters and wine at Blue Island Oyster Bar.

And with that, my jam-packed time in Denver has nearby come to a close. I pack my suitcase at my uncle’s place and we head out for one last dinner before going to the airport.

We go to Linger. This place features a menu of street food from various countries around the world. Doesn’t that sound right up my alley? It’s an old mortuary that used to be called O’Linger; there’s still a big sign on the roof but they just don’t light up the “O”.

The place is packed when we arrive but empties out as the night goes on (I snap the above photo right before we leave).

I have to share a little about our meals — we start with wine (sangria for me) and complimentary popcorn; tonight’s flavor is pickles. I’m all in.

We order four dishes to share — a faro salad with vegetables, lemongrass pork potstickers, falafel lettuce wraps, and chicken b’stilla (that last one warrants a description: flaky pastry holding shreds of tender chicken blended with almonds, apricots and raisins and spiked with cinnamon).

Next door, there’s a crazy popular spot called Little Man Ice Cream that operates out of that giant milk jug. And you can see the sign I was talking about earlier — “O’Linger” on the roof.

So I have more to share from Denver, but this post contains my favorite photos of the trip because of the people in them. It was such a treat to catch up with everyone!