Boulder - Thanksgiving Eve

I have an extra-long layover in Denver this week - 3 nights instead of 1, because we’re not operating our Denver - London flight for a couple of days over the Thanksgiving holiday. So I decided make use of the extra time and go to Boulder today as I’ve not been for years. It’s an hour from Denver on the bus, so there’s not really time to go on a normal layover.

Boulder got even more snow that Denver did and it was very slow walking around town. My first stop was to a breakfast place called Lucille’s (top left picture and the one below - look at those icicles!!). Stella’s serves mostly southern food so I enjoyed plenty of grits and creole flavours with my eggs and of course ordered a small portion of beignets to have with my coffee. Being the day before Thanksgiving the place was packed as it’s one of the most popular places for breakfast in town - it’s been serving breakfast for over almost 40 years.

After that I just wandered around, finding some interesting buildings and looking in a few boutiques and shops. Pearl street is an outdoor pedestrianised shopping street that stretches for a few blocks through town. The top middle picture is the Boulder Theater just off of Pearl street - an historic theater that opened in 1906 as an Opera House and was later expanded and refashioned in the Art Deco style.

The middle picture and the one to the right is the Boulder County Courthouse, built in the 1930s, also in the Art Deco style. It no longer serves as a courthouse but it does house the county government offices. Having seen it in the daylight I was delighted to see it so beautifully lit up with the holiday lights. In fact, I was glad I stayed until it got dark as I enjoyed the sunset over the mountains and all the Christmas lights along the mall. The snow was a bit difficult to navigate but it didn’t deter me - nor lots of others - the stores were quite busy and sales had already started. I’m not a big shopper but I did enjoy browsing and buying a couple of gifts and even a couple of things for me!