Last Weekend for March 16-18: Pat's 40th Birthday Surprise St Patrick's Day Party Edition
Pat is my little brother in the fraternity, and he recently turned 40. His wife Kim suggested that they spend a long St. Patrick's Day weekend in Denver to celebrate. She neglected to tell him that she was inviting all of his fraternity brothers to surprise him, which is why we all ended up in Denver on Friday. The following represented (in rough order of initiation):
Tony & Sara
Steve
Dolan & Karin
Davey & Noelle
Me
Mike
Neal
Pat & Kim
Eric (of Iceland fame)
John & Danita
Nick
Eugene
Adding in Pat'd brother Dan and his wife Liz gets us to 19. Most of us stayed in one of two houses Kim lined up in the RiNo neighborhood. The larger one was the "party" house and is where I crashed with 8 others. It was decorated with weird Star Wars art (like velvet Star Wars paintings, or those landscapes with Ewoks put into them) and had a modern loft vibe. The smaller one was the "chill" house, which hosted 5 others, with the balance opting for hotels.
Those of us in the Cleveland contingent (John & Danita, Davey & Noelle, me) flew out together on Friday morning. We got there too early to go to the house, so after dropping out bags in Davey & Noelle's hotel room, we headed to a late lunch at a vegan friendly place with a Korean vibe downtown called City O' City. We shared some fantastic seitan wings which were better than all but the very best wings I've had in my life. I personally had kimchi stew that was delicious, and I threw in a mini cherry pie in a jar for dessert. This place was excellent, and I strongly suggest it to anybody who is near downtown Denver.
From there we headed to the party house. Kim had hired a chef (who brought an assistant), a bartender, and a DJ. The house itself had a large open kitchen/dining room/living room plus a huge outdoor area with a gas firepit. We promptly started drinking and eating lots of clever little appetizers. I developed a liking for a cocktail called a Tipperary, and cannot easily count how many I had. Most of us were at the house and a few drinks in when Kim brought Pat over. Instead of "everybody hide and jump out" we did a low key "oh hey Pat, nice to see you" kind of surprise. I'm pleased to report that even though Kim had started putting this together in November, Pat had absolutely no idea he was coming to a big party. I will probably never see such a successful surprise party be pulled off.
Despite the copious alcohol consumption, Saturday morning was surprisingly not too rough for me. We made some cinnamon roles, and then got decked out in our finest St. Patrick's day regalia (I had a green sport coat over a green t-shirt, green top hat, and assorted green beads) and walked to a late breakfast at a no frills diner called The Butcher Block Cafe which apparently is owned by a NSDU fan based on the decorations. I had a hearty breakfast smothered in green chili.
After breakfast we did some pre-partying at the party house while we sat in the sunshine and chatted. Then the party bus arrived and things really took off. Kim had rented a large limo bus to take us around on St. Patrick's Day, with said bus being well stocked with alcohol. Our first stop was a neat place called Avanti. They had the requisite bar and a large outdoor patio with a view of downtown Denver, but more interestingly they had a large number of small restaurants. Imagine if a bunch of food trucks were permanently stationed in one building, or if you had a really good mall food court, and that isn't too far off. I had a delicious arepa and a Guinness.
From there we headed to the Tivoli Brewing Company, which is the oldest brewery in Denver and is located in the midst of a college campus. You'd think that a good brewery on a college campus would be packed on St. Patrick's Day, but the place was nearly empty. We didn't mind. I had a couple of excellent house Hefeweizens and wandered out to play cornhole. Nick & Tony won the the first three games, but then Dolan and I dethroned them and won two more matches to boot (beating Kim & Neal and then E and John) before we headed to the next stop.
The third stop was a much more stereotypical Irish bar called The Irish Rover which was packed with celebrating 20-somethings. We pulled out a spot on the rooftop patio and had a few more beers.
From here, the night started losing some cohesion. By this point, we were looking to get some food and tried a few places before we ended up at a place that was the right combination of "not too busy" and "had food". We ended up splitting over a few places on the same block; Steve and I and some of the others ended up at a Czech bar with heavy appetizers. After this, we mostly ended up back at the party house. Some of us stayed up moderately late (meaning, like 1am because we're old) talking, but it turns out that none of us are particularly young anymore and after a day of drinking we were ready to crash.
The next morning, I and the rest of the Cleveland contingent caught a lift to the airport, missing out a brunch and other minor shenanigans from the rest of the group before they scattered across the country. It was a great weekend. I told Danita and some of the other spouses that now they had a faint idea of what our parties were like in college, except that our conversations are more interesting now and we can afford much better alcohol. I for one would not be said if somebody decided to put together another one in the future. Heck, I may do it myself.
Media Consumed:
1. I read The Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin on my flight to Denver on Friday. This is probably the most famous science fiction novel to come out of China thus far. While the characters are not particularly fleshed out, I did not care but it presents a very interesting and novel first contact scenario while setting up future books. I have already reserved the sequel at the library.
2. Every few years, I read every Stephen King book that has been released since the last time I completed the exercise. I finished this iteration on Sunday when I read Sleeping Beauties, which King cowrote with his son Owen. After finishing the first half on the flight home, I was sufficiently hooked that I stayed up late that night to finish it, even though I didn't get nearly enough sleep this past weekend and was exhausted. I have no regrets. It's rather like Under the Dome in that it takes the residents of a town, does something bizarre to them, and then shows what happens. Unlike Under the Dome, here the bizarre occurrence is world-wide, but the focus is on a town in West Virginia. If you like King, you'll like this one.
Tony & Sara
Steve
Dolan & Karin
Davey & Noelle
Me
Mike
Neal
Pat & Kim
Eric (of Iceland fame)
John & Danita
Nick
Eugene
Adding in Pat'd brother Dan and his wife Liz gets us to 19. Most of us stayed in one of two houses Kim lined up in the RiNo neighborhood. The larger one was the "party" house and is where I crashed with 8 others. It was decorated with weird Star Wars art (like velvet Star Wars paintings, or those landscapes with Ewoks put into them) and had a modern loft vibe. The smaller one was the "chill" house, which hosted 5 others, with the balance opting for hotels.
Those of us in the Cleveland contingent (John & Danita, Davey & Noelle, me) flew out together on Friday morning. We got there too early to go to the house, so after dropping out bags in Davey & Noelle's hotel room, we headed to a late lunch at a vegan friendly place with a Korean vibe downtown called City O' City. We shared some fantastic seitan wings which were better than all but the very best wings I've had in my life. I personally had kimchi stew that was delicious, and I threw in a mini cherry pie in a jar for dessert. This place was excellent, and I strongly suggest it to anybody who is near downtown Denver.
From there we headed to the party house. Kim had hired a chef (who brought an assistant), a bartender, and a DJ. The house itself had a large open kitchen/dining room/living room plus a huge outdoor area with a gas firepit. We promptly started drinking and eating lots of clever little appetizers. I developed a liking for a cocktail called a Tipperary, and cannot easily count how many I had. Most of us were at the house and a few drinks in when Kim brought Pat over. Instead of "everybody hide and jump out" we did a low key "oh hey Pat, nice to see you" kind of surprise. I'm pleased to report that even though Kim had started putting this together in November, Pat had absolutely no idea he was coming to a big party. I will probably never see such a successful surprise party be pulled off.
Despite the copious alcohol consumption, Saturday morning was surprisingly not too rough for me. We made some cinnamon roles, and then got decked out in our finest St. Patrick's day regalia (I had a green sport coat over a green t-shirt, green top hat, and assorted green beads) and walked to a late breakfast at a no frills diner called The Butcher Block Cafe which apparently is owned by a NSDU fan based on the decorations. I had a hearty breakfast smothered in green chili.
After breakfast we did some pre-partying at the party house while we sat in the sunshine and chatted. Then the party bus arrived and things really took off. Kim had rented a large limo bus to take us around on St. Patrick's Day, with said bus being well stocked with alcohol. Our first stop was a neat place called Avanti. They had the requisite bar and a large outdoor patio with a view of downtown Denver, but more interestingly they had a large number of small restaurants. Imagine if a bunch of food trucks were permanently stationed in one building, or if you had a really good mall food court, and that isn't too far off. I had a delicious arepa and a Guinness.
From there we headed to the Tivoli Brewing Company, which is the oldest brewery in Denver and is located in the midst of a college campus. You'd think that a good brewery on a college campus would be packed on St. Patrick's Day, but the place was nearly empty. We didn't mind. I had a couple of excellent house Hefeweizens and wandered out to play cornhole. Nick & Tony won the the first three games, but then Dolan and I dethroned them and won two more matches to boot (beating Kim & Neal and then E and John) before we headed to the next stop.
The third stop was a much more stereotypical Irish bar called The Irish Rover which was packed with celebrating 20-somethings. We pulled out a spot on the rooftop patio and had a few more beers.
From here, the night started losing some cohesion. By this point, we were looking to get some food and tried a few places before we ended up at a place that was the right combination of "not too busy" and "had food". We ended up splitting over a few places on the same block; Steve and I and some of the others ended up at a Czech bar with heavy appetizers. After this, we mostly ended up back at the party house. Some of us stayed up moderately late (meaning, like 1am because we're old) talking, but it turns out that none of us are particularly young anymore and after a day of drinking we were ready to crash.
The next morning, I and the rest of the Cleveland contingent caught a lift to the airport, missing out a brunch and other minor shenanigans from the rest of the group before they scattered across the country. It was a great weekend. I told Danita and some of the other spouses that now they had a faint idea of what our parties were like in college, except that our conversations are more interesting now and we can afford much better alcohol. I for one would not be said if somebody decided to put together another one in the future. Heck, I may do it myself.
Media Consumed:
1. I read The Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin on my flight to Denver on Friday. This is probably the most famous science fiction novel to come out of China thus far. While the characters are not particularly fleshed out, I did not care but it presents a very interesting and novel first contact scenario while setting up future books. I have already reserved the sequel at the library.
2. Every few years, I read every Stephen King book that has been released since the last time I completed the exercise. I finished this iteration on Sunday when I read Sleeping Beauties, which King cowrote with his son Owen. After finishing the first half on the flight home, I was sufficiently hooked that I stayed up late that night to finish it, even though I didn't get nearly enough sleep this past weekend and was exhausted. I have no regrets. It's rather like Under the Dome in that it takes the residents of a town, does something bizarre to them, and then shows what happens. Unlike Under the Dome, here the bizarre occurrence is world-wide, but the focus is on a town in West Virginia. If you like King, you'll like this one.