Denver

What did we do in Denver? We visited factories.

1. Celestial Seasonings Factory (AMAZEBALLS) which included a tour of the actual factory floor, where we got to smell all the tea, especially the mint room, and then we sat around and sampled different flavors of tea for an hour. I'm not exaggerating when I say we sampled tea for SIXTY MINUTES. There were no limits on flavors. And I had Kambucha! Love!!! (Yes, it tastes like apple cider vinegar and that's why I like it.) Of course, then we shuffled over to the gift shop and bought boxes and boxes of discount tea. Recommended for every single person who finds themselves in the Colorado area.
2. Some winery which offered a self-guided tour of their wine process and barrels, etc. Very informative. No free samples.
3. US Mint. This is where they mint regular coins for the American populace. I was super excited about this but they didn't show us enough factory -- you could barely see the shiny copper bullions shooting into machines and coming out pennies. The tour guide was enthusiastic, though, and I learned that Utah's state quarter has the golden spike on it, because that is where they connected the transcontinental railroad way back when. No free samples, but free tour. Make reservations ahead of time. I imagine that the Federal Reserved Engraving center in Washington DC is more interesting.
4. Coors Brewery. This tour was a bust. The only thing I learned was that this brewery is the largest in the world. We did not see any factory machines pouring beer into bottles. Their free samples reinforced the fact that I do not like beer. We had to stand in line outside in the sun for half an hour and my shoulders got burnt to a crisp. There were many small children on this tour, which was both annoying and confounding. There were also a lot of beer guts present. Only recommended for college kids who can't go buy their own alcohol and need to rely on free samples to party.

Other than visiting factories, we hiked at Red Rocks (loooooooooooooooove big rocks), did some internet recon on a camp guy we all had a crush on in Mador, brought mac 'n' cheese to Harry Potter, watched The Town for the second time (love), and got pestered by Hugo the dog. He would not stop licking my feet. Oh, and I slept in the walk-in slanted closet of the guest room just like Harry Potter himself. Successful trip!

Denver is great!
Karen and Tyler are even better!