Yay! Denver! (Or Maybe Not)

We got into Denver in time for dinner, and upon a suggestion from a local friend, we went to a cute little place called Roots Down. I discovered the unlikely perfect summer drink: the Beet Down, which is gin, lemon juice, Aperol, ginger liqueur, and beets. So refreshing!

Our waiter told us about a record/media store called Twist and Shout. It was kind of like our Newbury Comics, but it had a really great bookstore next door called Tattered Cover.  I love bookstores that have old furniture hanging around the store:

The next day we went to Boulder, which was the cutest little town. We were there on Sunday, so there was a flea market. These lawn decorations were for sale:

And there were little tents that sold jewelry, home decor, and clothes. It was a fun place to wander around, because the shops were fun to peek in as well.

One store had Hitchcock's dream: Cane Cola cold in six packs, including their PB&J flavor. Gross!

The real reason we were wandering around is to kill time until our reservation at Snooze, the best pancake place in all of history. Holy moly, this place is so good, we went twice during our time in Denver (maybe three times if we can't get the car going soon, more on that later). We shared a blueberry Danish pancake, and the next day I inhaled a pineapple upside down pancake. 

A silks group was set up outside the theater, offering free swings...

As a side note, we couldn't be happier with Airbnb right now. Airbnb is a website that allows homeowners to rent either their entire home or just a room. It's way cheaper than a hotel. Back in Boston, we had only rented entire apartments. However, our honeymoon budget is pretty slim, so we started looking into rooms. At our stop in Denver, we had the entire main floor to ourselves, which included the dining room and kitchen. Our host was really nice, and actually ended up saving our asses during the Suburu Trouble later on. Also she had little Alf figures hiding all over the house:

What we thought was our last day in Denver, we went to another Snooze location and had pancakes, again. we wandered around the downtown area while we got our oil changed. We came across Wax Trax, an old record store. Places like this make my husband very happy:

Later in the day we went to a Rockies game. Neither of us had been to a game in years, and now I'm pretty much an expert beginner at understanding baseball. The lady sitting next to me was laughing while I asked Hitchcock basic/dumb questions about the rules of baseball. It's pretty hard not to have a good time when you're two beers in by the first pitch, and you have a hot dog. Even if the sun is setting in your face for five innings.

Oh yeah, that's a sunburn on my sad, sweaty neck all right! 

The next morning, we got our things around and were out the door by 9am. We got a quick breakfast outside of Denver, were generally in good spirits, and then...

Right before we got to Wyoming....our engine started making a clicking sound, and revving up for no reason. We pulled over and the engine shut off.  We just got the oil changed the day before, and the mechanic (who was really nice and has a great reputation) said our car was in great shape! What happened?!

Thinking it was problem from the shop, we had it towed (THANK YOU MOMMA HITCHCOCK FOR BUYING US AAA) back to Denver:

(I took this shot from inside the tow truck, maybe while tearing up a bit.)

And now...here it is. The mechanic can't tell what the problem is, and isn't going to charge is for anything until he knows. Our Airbnb host gave us her own bed and let us stay for an extra night, even though she already had new guests coming in. Seriously, she went to go stay with a friend. The nicest gal ever.

The mechanic should know if the problem is fixable or not by the end of today. We're going to dealerships in the meantime to price a new car. Buying a car in the middle of our honeymoon road trip was not in the plan!!! 

Spirits are kind of low right now, and we're anxious to get back on the road. Denver was nice when we wanted to be here, but now we're really done. And! We missed our own pit stop party in Salt Lake City, boo hoo!

Hopefully the next post is about either our successful car repair or the purchase of a new car. Or we build a hot air balloon or something. Le Barf.