Week 18: Saying Goodbye to Colorado with a Bang

1nonblonde
Nov 24, 2025
4 min read

October 2025: Hello friends, family, fellow wanderers - it’s your resident life-chaser signing off from our final week in Colorado at Loveland RV Resort, destination: the great unknown … but first, a massive wrap-up of our week (and frankly our Phase 2 event for the Great American Beer Festival!)

Dawn Patrol & The GABF Kickoff

We were up at zero dark thirty when our besties, Alex & Bruce, swooped in to pick us up and haul us into downtown Denver for our Phase 2 judging-assist check-in at 6:30 a.m. This is the seriously brain-dead-early-morning-but-so worth it part.

Darren went full BOH (Back of House) mode again, I was wielding spreadsheets and databases on the Results Team, and Bruce & Alex were Table Captaining. The carnival of beer was underway.

Just like Phase 1, we worked hard and played harder. We pounded the ballroom floor of the nearby Hyatt Regency Hotel, surrounded by hundreds of brewers, judges, and sock-competition-savvy folks - and the vibe? Electric. Hectic. Costumes. Crazy Socks.

We were working again with so many of our beer buddies - Alex, Bruce, Kathy, Shawn, and countless more. The judging world is wild behind the scenes, and we’re just grateful to be in the mix.

Dinner + Old Faves at Henry’s Tavern

After the long day on the floor - think “let’s slump into a booth and decompress” - we headed to Henry’s Tavern in the 16th Street Mall area.

This is our same go-to spot every year: beer list for days (they focus on local craft brews and rotating specials) and pub-food comfort. We were joined by Alex’s brother Sam (the referral-gatekeeper who initially got us all access into the behind-the-scenes world of the Brewers Association). I still don’t exactly know how Sam “got in,” but lucky for us, he did!

We toasted to another year, slurped and cheered and plotted the next day’s floor takeover.

Festival Days & Shenanigans

We hit all three days of the festival: tasted dozens (hundreds? we lost count) of amazing beers. Highlights of the festival vibe:

Each festival session started with a Celtic bagpipe band - yes, bagpipes at the beer fest. Instant goose-bumps.
Costumed groups of friends and strangers parading through the aisles (and yes, we joined in by cheering).
A killer brass band livening up the day - Badda Boom Brass Band, to be exact! This Denver-based party crew has been tearing it up since 2015, blending New Orleans street-music soul with hip-hop, funk, and world-music energy. Their high-energy, second-line–style performances, complete with a rapping frontman and crowd participation, turned the fest into a parade of pure joy.
A silent disco (yes, I said silent disco at a beer fest) in the beer-hall setting - headphones, lights? You bet.
Ran into so many of our ‘beer fam’ friends, hugging, laughing, clinking glasses, trading stories.

This year, we also had enough festival tickets to share the fun, which made the whole thing even more special. Darren’s nephew Chris, his wife Sara, and Sara’s sister Jen joined us for beer-sipping, people-watching, and general festival chaos.

Darren also shared a pair of tickets with his UPS friend Shawn and his wife, Nikki. They had a blast — or at least we think they did, because we were drinking way too much to remember to get photos with them. Oops.

Back at the hotel each evening, we unpacked tasting notes, cheered our teams, and plotted sandwich stops.

The Sandwich Revelation: Ike’s Love & Sandwiches

Between judging shifts, we discovered our new favorite sandwich spot: Ike’s Love & Sandwiches. Holy frejole's, folks - over 800 sandwich combinations, vegetarian, vegan, Halal options, Dutch-crunch bread (yes, I am now a bread snob) - all highly recommended for first timers: “The Damon Bruce,” “Matt Cain,” “Menage a Trois.” We indulged and declared it a must-return when we’re back in Denver someday.

Brown Palace Elegance… & Street Art Shenanigans

After refueling on sandwiches, we wandered into the Brown Palace Hotel with our besties - for Darren and me, it was our first time inside. Cue the fancy-hotel aura, ornate architecture, glowing stained glass, and a general feeling that we maybe should’ve worn nicer shoes.

And then, Colorado kept us humble. We stepped outside… and BAM. Denver street art is everywhere.

We spent a chunk of the afternoon wandering alleys and blocks around downtown, admiring bright murals, geometric patterns, surreal portraits, giant animals, and a few pieces that probably symbolized something profound - but we decided they were simply commenting on our sandwich obsession.

It was the perfect combo: indoor elegance → outdoor technicolor vibes.

Pirate Shop Stop + Farewell to Besties

On our way out of Denver (en route back to Loveland RV Resort), we made a fun detour: the grand-opening of a pirate specialty shop - The Map’s Edge. Costumes encouraged and adventure vibes abound. We left the convention-center attire behind, donned our imaginary pirate hats, browsed treasure maps and fun merch, and laughed all the way back to the RV.

Then came the bittersweet part: saying goodbye to our besties, as we were prepping for our early Monday morning departure. Hugs, cheers, promises to meet again (February in Florida!). We waved them off while we headed back to our camper for our next adventure.

And… Back to Loveland, then RE-turn to Denver for Garbage

We returned to our home base at Loveland RV Resort, unpacked all our gear, swapped vintage beer socks for vintage concert tees, and immediately headed back to Denver for our 7th Garbage concert - yes, 7th time! This was their first headlining tour in about 10 years, and it was absolutely spectacular. Loud, proud, nostalgic, rocking as only Shirley and the gang can do it. The perfect way to cap off our Colorado stay.

Thanks for riding along with us on this chapter. The wheels keep turning, the 78° mindset keeps guiding, and the beer (and sandwiches) keep inspiring. Colorado, you were good to us - now onwards to Florida (hello beaches!)