For the love of Jimmy

It’s our anniversary!  12 years since we first said I do.

We decided to celebrate this milestone, with a road trip through Colorado.  I am a strong believer of nurturing your relationship.  Marriage is work, relationships are work, by work, I mean they demand time, space and effort to grow.   This vacation came right on time.

We have been dating for 17 years now and we have gone through several relationship phases, and our marriage is currently in the cooperation stage (most days).  Being a psychology major, I like to read relationship articles.

According to The 7 stages of marriage posted by readers digest http://www.readersdigest.ca/health/relationships/7-stages-marriage/4/

all marriages flow through a series of bench marks as love matures, the cooperation stage is a period when your marriage takes on a business like personality.

Our typical days are filled with caring for our daughters, maintaining our house, fulfilling our careers and often our conversations are centered on those tasks.  Our weekends are filled with playdates, kid’s sporting events and gatherings with our family and friends.  If we don’t make a pointed effort, it would be easy to see our marriage fall to the bottom of the list.

I cherish our getaways; I plan them thoroughly.  I prioritize settings that will invoke relaxation, dining that will enrich our experience and tantalize our taste buds.  Especially exploration, there is nothing more exciting than having a new experience with the person you love.

We reconnect, venture out on our time, we do an activity we have never done before and our marriage benefits from that bond.

We flew out early Thursday morning July 27, 2017 and had a direct flight to Denver.  I jumped the gun and paid $424 for our tickets, the price alerts let me know I should have held out.   They eventually went as low as $230.  I was a little antsy and wanted to lock James in when he said yes to the trip, before he changed his mind.

Denver

Denver has so much to offer and this was not our first trip to the city.  We have friends that went to school in Boulder, shout out to the Thonis’.  That was 9 years ago, it was a great introduction to the city over a long weekend.

This time we wanted to go beyond the city limits and see what else CO had to offer.   We picked up a rental car, stopped for some chocolates and candies, (when in Rome do as the Roman’s do) and we were off with a lunch recommendation.

If you don’t want to drive the city it is very accessible and you can even get a shuttle to some of the most popular cities outside of Denver.  This link shows you how to vacation without a vehicle.  https://www.denver.org/about-denver/transportation/get-around-without-a-car/

Sassafras

What a scrumptious stop.  This cozy Southern Cuisine restaurant was hip.  It had outdoor seating with tree stomps, the establishment was in the middle of a residential area near the Sports Authority Broncos stadium and appeared to be built in a restored home.  I’m a sucker for unique touches like the linen napkins made in a variety of scrap cloths and the waitress t-shirts with snappy sayings “that’s my jam” or “kiss my grits”.

Service was excellent the food was even better.  I would give this one a five-star rating.

I ordered a flight of mimosas which all had cool names, for lunch I opted for the Catfish Po Boy and upgraded to the Mac and Cheese, I was so satisfied.

James ordered a cocktail called Sazerac with Whiskey which he said was strong but good.  He ordered the BBQ Po Boy with the deviled egg salad.  Whenever we order similar menu items I get a feeling we are in sync.  He loved his entire meal as did I.

Yum!  On to the first stop, Breckenridge read more travel tips about this cute ski town.