Denver and JOSH GROBAN!

Josh Groban has long been one of my favorite performers...and celebrity crushes. I've seen him (now) three times in concert and had the great pleasure of attending Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet on Broadway in 2016 (see highlights here), in which he played Pierre.

When he announced his new tour this year I immediately looked at the list of venues, hoping that one would be close enough for me to attend. The closest location was Denver (oh darn), so when Southwest had a huge sale, we booked tickets around the concert. We were able to use frequent flier miles, which was great...and I think we broke a record on how few we used per person (also great).

Given the tentative nature of our travel plans these days, I didn't buy tickets for Josh's concert until about a month beforehand...and which point I got 3rd row seats! They were amazingly close, so we had a great view of him and his opening act, Elsa...I mean, Idina Menzel. More on both later.

Overall it was a nice, quiet trip. One of my favorite things about going to Denver is it's so low key. We don't plan too much in advance and just do whatever we feel like doing...which wasn't a whole lot this trip.


Sat., October 27th
- We got up at the ungodly hour of 4:15am in order to make a 7am flight out of Omaha.
- Upon landing, we drove straight to The Original House of Pancakes, one of our all-time favorite breakfast places. I got bacon pancakes instead of bacon waffles this trip. They did not disappoint. 😊
- From there we drove up to Evergreen Lake. After a leisurely stroll around the lake, we walked through town and did a little shopping.

Evergreen Lake

- Once we were able to check into the hotel, we freshened up a bit before heading to a friend's 91st birthday dinner. His daughter and her family live here in Lincoln and we've gotten to know the extended family over the years. They kindly invited us to join them for dinner, since they knew we were going to be in town.
- Afterwards we crashed and had a nice quiet evening.



Sun., October 28th
- Since we had no plans before Mass, we spent a nice quiet morning. I've found the older I get, the less I like rushing around from one thing to the next. I appreciate having the ability to take my time and not do things with a sense of urgency...especially those things you don't want to rush, like drinking coffee or putting on eyeliner.
- We attended noon Mass at Holy Ghost Catholic Church. We probably go there for Mass 90% of the time when we're in Denver. It's a beautiful older church downtown, squished next to a large office building. Parking can be tricky, as we found out on Tuesday...but on Sunday, it wasn't too bad. We ended up having to park in a lot...mom said it was the best $4 she'd ever spent, because the homily was so good. 😊
- After Mass we walked down to the 16th Street Mall and shared something at Cheesecake Factory for lunch.
- We went back to the hotel to change and hang out for a while. Again...nice, low key and quiet. Good times.
- When traveling with family, I rarely schedule things separately from everyone else. It makes me feel like a rude traveling companion. But this trip I made plans to meet an old friend for dinner and to hang out that evening.
- We met at Maggiano's in Englewood for dinner (I got the Rigatoni D...so good!) and then drove to 2nd and Charles, a used bookstore in Aurora (he knows me well). I specifically said that I was not allowed to come out with a mountain of books...and I literally walked out with an overflowing armload. It was ridiculous.
- From there we stopped at The Tabletop Tap in Englewood, an arcade and game themed bar. We played a couple games of old school street fighter (if I'm remembering correctly) and Super Smash Brothers while drinking beer that came from taps with pulls made of 3D printed items such as Donkey Kong's barrel, a Dunk Hunter's gun and a TARDIS. We called it a night after watching a couple episodes of The Good Place, an excellent show if you've never seen it.


Mon., October 29th
- We walked around Chessman Park (which apparently used to be Mt. Prospect Cemetery) and got coffee...because coffee. Actually we got the coffee first, because I remember drinking it while we walked. ☕

Chessman Park

- A nice city employee let us park illegally (and guarded the car) so we could make a quick visit to the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception and see the tomb of Julia Greeley, an amazing woman whose cause for canonization was opened in 2016. 
- Since the weather was so nice, we decided to visit the Denver Zoo. I love zoos...getting to see unusual animals in a situation where they (mostly likely) can't eat you. The otters were particularly active, which was fun to watch.
- We had a great dinner at North Italia and went to see Hunter Killer at the Cherry Creek Mall afterwards.




Tues., October 30th 
- UPDATE: After trying unsuccessfully to find a spot outside Holy Ghost, we decided visit Blessed Sacrament Sacred Heart, the oldest parish in Denver and the church Julia Greeley attended while she was alive. It's old but very beautiful. The doors were locked, but that didn't keep mom out. 😊 We popped into the parish office and the kind secretary let us in the back way.
- We had a late lunch and then did a drive-by past the Pepsi Center, where Josh Groban was preforming in a few hours. Thank goodness we did, because we ended up finding a great, free spot when we came back. The only bad part was we had to run about 3-4 blocks in the rain on the way in to the concert...but that beats paying $20 for a spot closer and then being stuck in traffic when it's time to leave!
- Given the chance of snow, I changed my outfit last minute and picked one that allowed me to wear boots (albeit heeled ones). It ended up being a very wise choice because of the rain! My poor feet would have been soaked!
- Idina Menzel opened and sang several songs from Frozen, Wicked (I didn't know she was the original Elphaba) and Rent. I was super jealous of her skirt...it was amazing - metallic, high-low with a train.

- Josh was amazing as always. He sang some songs off his Stages album (including Pure Imagination) and a few from his new cd, Bridges. He and Idina sang a couple duets, including Falling Slowly, which is one of my favorites. I was bummed February Song has been taken off the set list, but I've heard him sing it live twice, so I guess I can forgive him. 😊
- When Josh moved from the main stage to one near the back of the Pepsi Center, they had a slight hydraulics malfunction. Not all the stage was raised up, so he and Idina just chatted and told stories while they waited for it to be fixed.
- I went home very happy. 😍

Wed., October 31st 
- Nothing of great import happened before we packed up and headed to the airport. Google did route us differently than ever before, which actually turned out to be a great, low traffic way from the Cherry Creek area up to the airport...so that was nice.
- We took a non-stop flight back to Omaha and after unloading everything at home, we went to Piezano's for dinner and to say hi to Matt.


While we didn't do some of the things we'd talked about beforehand - driving up to Lake Dillon and Breckenridge or south to Garden of the Gods and Colorado Springs - it was really nice to have a quiet, low key trip. After a kind of crazy, hectic year, it was good to slow things down and have a vacation, instead of taking a trip.

Just the way I like it. 😊



~ Katie Q.