Celebrating our 20th anniversary
Hello good people. My husband and I recently celebrated our 20-year anniversary. Twenty years ago, we went to the movies, ate at Red Lobster, had our first kiss and have been together ever since. I know how lucky I am.
Everything is better when you have your own personal cheerleader, and Jamie is my biggest fan. He is my favorite person on this planet — so it works both ways.
To celebrate our 20th, we took a little vacation to Denver. We didn’t make any plans other than to get there and then figure out what we wanted to do. We stayed at a very cool place called The Eddy Taproom and Hotel. It was adorable. It has been open less than a year so everything felt so new and clean.
The place is so pet friendly that we wished we had taken a few of ours. Everywhere you looked there were dogs — so many well-trained big dogs and not a kid in sight. I loved it.
Goldendoodles are so popular right now. I swear we saw at least 10 a day. It gave me some serious Goldendoodle puppy fever.
Our first evening there we went to Meow Wolf. I don’t even know how to describe it, but it was awesome. It is a museum of immersive weird “art.” It is the strangest, most wonderful bunch of weirdness I have ever witnessed. At times I felt I was on an alien planet — like Pandora from Avatar but with a more mushroomie hallucinogenic feel.
Other times I felt I was in that sketchy, debauched city from Total Recall — the awesome original with Schwarzenegger and that three-tittied chic, not the crappy Colin Ferrell version.
Then, just when you thought you were done, you’d go through another door and find another crazy cool world. I bet you could go there every day for a month and still not see everything.
Apparently they are building a Meow Wolf in Grapevine soon. I hope it is as cool as the one in Denver.
We went to a few of the gay bars in Denver and had a lot of fun at some of them. Mind you, we went on weekdays, so we never experienced any of them at their busiest. But I don’t need a crowd to have fun. We played pool and drank at the Denver Eagle, which is similar to the one we used to have in Dallas but smaller. It was fun. One of the nights we were there, they had a group playing strip poker. Let’s just say, Jamie and I both felt overdressed.
Denver Sweet had a really cool set up. Downstairs were pool tables and darts. Upstairs, on an enclosed patio, they were having a contest that was part trivia and part Wheel of Fortune. The place had a fun, laid back vibe.
We also went to Charlies; I love the Charlie’s in Austin, so I had high hopes. But Charlies in Denver did not make a good impression.
One “cool” thing I noticed at the bars in Denver: They all serve pickle shots. Behind every bar we went to, there would be a fancy container filled with pickles, juice and Vodka. The one at the Denver Eagle was the best. You could tell someone put some love into it. It had pickles, pepperoncinis, black peppercorns and just enough Vodka to make it perfect. I am craving one right now just thinking about it!
The other bars’ versions were good, but I need to try to replicate the Eagle version.
On one of the days, we got up and just drove up into the mountains. The thing about being born and bred in and around Dallas is that all we know is flat. We can see for miles and miles, but there just ain’t a lot to look at. We stopped at a Starbucks that was located inside of a Kroger. We walked out, and I just stood there in the middle of the street like an idiot, just in awe of the beauty right outside of a grocery store.
The city has the most beautiful views I have ever seen — gorgeous mountains on either side of you and a beautiful frozen lake a half mile in front of you. It was amazing, and it made you feel so small. I’m standing there having a real moment of beauty outside a freaking Kroger!
It was like some battery inside me, that I didn’t even know was there, suddenly got a full charge.
One of the days we were there, we rode mountain bikes. They have a bunch of trails around the hotel in Golden, and the hotel has mountain bikes for you to use for free to check out the surrounding trails.
Luckily, these bikes were electric, so we didn’t have to pedal very much. You know my lazy ass loved that.
We joyously biked along a stunning path next to a river. I was feeling like a badass but knowing I looked like Pee -wee Herman — “Paging Mr. Herman … Mr. Pee-wee Herman.”
One of the things I wanted out of this trip was to reconnect with my husband. It is too easy to fall into a routine and let other things get in the way of your private alone time. We have both been guilty of that, so in that sense, the trip was a success.
Twenty freaking years! If I woulda got knocked up on our first date, we would have an adult child! Thank God I had my tubes tied!
Remember to always love more, bitch less and be fabulous! XOXO, Cassie Nova
