Elsa Was Here!!!

Wednesday I had the wonderful pleasure of picking Elsa up at the Denver airport, as she flew in from Knoxville to visit until today. I really appreciated getting to introduce such a good friend to Boulder, and I think Elsa appreciated getting to do whatever she wanted for four days -- she and hubby Tony have two small kids who she adores, but like all other dedicated parents, she can use a break now and then. The difference between single me and married-with-kids her? It was a treat for her to watch movies whenever she wanted and go out shopping without kids in tow, and it was a treat for me to make breakfast for two in the morning! Go figure!

Of course, we hit some of Boulder's great restaurants. Had lunch at the Boulder Dushanbe Tea House one afternoon -- here we are outside waiting to be seated. There's almost always a waiting list.This is some of the detail on the outside of the building.

And inside, Elsa "Vanna'd it up" and displayed her tea (because I made her). There is a whole menu-full to choose from, and it's all delish.
On another day, we took a tour at the Celestial Seasonings plant which is here in Boulder.
While we waited for our tour to start (our ticket? A Tangerine Orange Zinger tea sample packet!), we sampled a variety of teas (there's a pomegranate green tea that was my fave) and looked at a pretty crazy tea pot collection on display.



We weren't allowed to take pics in the plant -- kind of like Willy Wonka's ... secret stuff! -- but got this lovely shot of the two of us in our hair nets after the plant tour was over. Nobody likes what they look like in these, but, hey, better homely than drinking tea with hair in it. At least we don't have beards or mustaches, as the guys who did had to wear face nets, too. Sexy!
And later we drove up Boulder Canyon and looked around a bit. A couple from Georgia took this shot for us -- kinda cool since Elsa's from Atlanta.

On the way back down the canyon, we spotted this guy diggin' for something ...
He took a little break to say "Cheese," and then continued to dig. We watched him at least five minutes, and he never got what he was after, so we headed back down to town.
Friday night, Elsa's last night, we ate at the Boulder Cafe on the Pearl Street Mall. No pics there, but we ate outside and did some wonderful people watching. We had margaritas, crab legs, and two kinds of cheese fondue with apples, bread, potatoes, and sausage for dipping. Yum! Oh, and yah, we hit Ben & Jerry's after ... that goes without saying.
And this morning, we hit the brunch at The Sunflower, an organic restaurant, before I took Elsa back down to Denver to catch her flight out. I've wanted to try this restaurant since I moved here, and this seemed the perfect opportunity. The dark chocolate Mochaccino and whole wheat blueberry granola pancakes were worth the wait! And you couldn't beat the company.