We Eat A Lot of Ice Cream-Colorado Edition

There were a lot of ice cream places to choose from in Colorado and not a lot of time. I wish we could have tried them all, but we did manage to fit in three in four days, so a worthy attempt.

Em's Ice Cream

Em's Ice Cream is a small batch, organic, ice cream cart. They have one regular location and a few on the move carts in the Denver area. We found a cart at the Red Rocks Amphitheater where they were dishing up scoops during the Steely Dan concert. 

I got a scoop of Coffee, and Shannon got a scoop of the Burnt Brown Sugar.

I tend to be partial to ice cream with a beach view, but I have to admit that this ice cream view was pretty spectacular. 

Em's ice cream was amazingly smooth and creamy. Both flavors were vibrant. It was my #1 as far as ice cream taste goes. It was also Shannon's #1, but also a tie with a flavor from another ice cream place...more on that later. 

Glacier Homemade Ice Cream and Gelato

Glacier is located in Boulder, Colorado. 

I chose to go here based on a recommendation from the travel podcast and fellow ice cream enthusiast, Extra Pack of Peanuts. 

They had a TON of flavors. They just went on, and on, and on, and many of them sounded so yummy. 

Making final decisions took quite some time. I ended up going with the Jamaican Coconut and the Funky Donkey, because, peanut butter. Shannon got the Key Lime Pie and Cinnamon. 

The ice cream at Glacier was also very creamy. It was my second favorite and Shannon's third. 

Little Man Ice Cream

We both agree that Little Man Ice Cream in Denver is the coolest ice cream place we've been to thus far. 

It's a popular place, so you have to be willing to wait in line. It's worth the wait. 

Even though there was a mass of fellow ice cream eaters, there was plenty of seating. 

It's not just a place to grab a scoop. It's a place to enjoy. You can relax, hang out, and have a long chat with friends. 

There was a slide for the kids,

and live music. 

Oh, and of course, there's ice cream. 

They had really fun flavors. I got the Honey Almond and the Fluffernutter. 

Shannon got the Creme Frache and the Strawberry Peppercorn Balsamic. 

He still talks about the Strawberry Peppercorn Balsamic. It was fantastic. 

My ice cream was good, but it ended up being the 3rd on my list. I think that this is probably because after trying the Strawberry Peppercorn Balsamic, I had flavor envy. My flavors just didn't pop as much. 

I fell in love with this ice cream place. If you go to Denver, I highly recommend visiting Little Man Ice Cream. 

It may be a bit unfair to rank this time around because all of the ice cream was very good. Well done Colorado, you've got a great ice cream scene going on. 

Denver Botanic Gardens

We love visiting gardens, so the Denver Botanic Gardens was a must-do during our Colorado trip. 

I'm going to let the pictures do most of the talking for this post. 

Going in early June guaranteed colorful flower viewing.

  

There were sculptures to gaze at. 

We stumbled upon some wildlife.

The Children's Garden is on top of the parking garage, across the street from the larger garden. We jaunted over for a quick look. 

Back at the larger garden, at the cafe, we discovered that certain drinks were refillable. We thought that this was quite generous of the gardens. I don't think we would see that anywhere at home. 

Most of the day was spent wandering relaxing paths. 

Speaking of relaxing, the best part about Denver Botanic Gardens is its manageable size. It's not small, but it is also not massive and endless. We were able to see everything  in one day, and we didn't feel rushed. There was plenty of time to sit on benches, admire the scenery, and watch the world go by, slowly. 

Denver-Biscuits and Books

We knew we needed to pack ourselves full of energy for our active day ahead, so we stopped to grab some breakfast at The Denver Biscuit Company. 

The Denver Biscuit Company is hip, but not in a pretentious way. More in a, wow, I am so in love this place, way. 

It's the cool spot that beckons you to call your friends and ask them to meet you for breakfast/brunch. 

I greatly appreciated the self-serve coffee area. You grab a mug.

Fill it up. Put in your fixins', and head back to your table. 

You can head on over and fill up your mug as much as you want. No waiting for a busy server to come over for a refill. It was a damn fine cup of coffee. I wish more restaurants would adopt a self-serve coffee station. 

We agonized over the menu. There were so many tempting choices.

I tackled my choice with the effort that many devote to large life choices, like choosing a college, or a house. I first narrowed things down to a sandwich. I spent time breaking down the individual elements of each sandwich, then ranked said ingredients from the one I wanted to most stuff in my face, to the least. Sausage Gravy was number one on the list. The housemade pickles ranked second. In the end, I chose The Franklin, and ordered a side of housemade pickles. 

Shannon also ordered The Franklin, which included buttermilk fried chicken, bacon, and cheese, smothered in sausage gravy, sandwiched inside of a biscuit. I know, it's not a health food. It's like food sky diving, don't think, just go for it. 

After our sandwiches arrived, we sort of just basked in their enormity for a minute.

At this point, I could spout off a bunch of eating descriptions, but I'm not sure they would do The Franklin justice. Trust me it was amazing. 

We weren't having an eating contest, but if we were, Shannon was the winner. 

I did not fare as well, but I did find enough belly space to eat every last bite of the perfectly spiced, perfectly fried, buttermilk chicken (I know that's bacon left on my plate, I'm really sorry, I promise I tried my best).

After getting properly caffeinated, and filling up on the ultimate comfort food, we stopped by Denver’s famous Tattered Cover Bookstore.

The inside of the bookstore was inspiring. It was a sea of dark wood shelves and books. 

There were places here and there where you could cozy up with a good read if you so desired. 

The windows were absolutely gorgeous. Interesting lights dangled from the ceiling, and the staircases were beautifully constructed.

And if I didn’t already love the store enough, I became convinced that it had been designed just for me. When I entered the lower level, I found that the Young Adult and Travel sections were right next to each other. 

Speaking of the travel section, it was super exciting to find a book written by one of the members of the South Jersey Writers’ Group , Peter N. Milligan, on Tatter Cover’s shelves. 

Spoiler alert, this book will make my favorite reads of 2016 list. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Even if you have no inclinations to run with the bulls, if you like travel, or food, you will like Bulls Before Breakfast.  

I felt like I couldn’t leave the store without getting something, but I certainly didn’t need another book to read, so since my little cat notebook that I’ve carried around to record my meals and other travel details is almost full, I got a new notebook.

I could have spent hours in The Tattered Cover Bookstore, but alas, we had more things in Denver to see.