Summer Daze

Hop on a road bike. Cast for giant trout. Hike a new trail. Catch a baseball game. Relax on a sunny patio. Colorado calls to us in the summer and draws us outside to play in its spectacular landscape. Here, we present nine itineraries that promise to get you outdoors—and loving every minute of the hot days of June, July, and August.

I Love You, Man

Get the boys outside for a full line-up of Denver bro-mance.
By Patrick Doyle

Come Prepared You’ll need a pitching wedge, putter, appetite—and a 12-pack of frosty canned beer (we recommend New Belgium Brewing’s newly canned Sunshine Wheat). Locked and loaded, pick up your buddies and head over to Old South Pearl Street. Your destination? The Duffeyroll Cafe, a laid-back spot for coffee and sugary cinnamon rolls. Order a mixed dozen of the bite-size treats (the toffee and pecanilla glazes are the best).

Tee Time Head a few blocks south to the Harvard Gulch Golf Course, an unassuming nine-hole par-3 covered in Bent grass, surrounded by park space, and made for slow play (read: beginners). Stuff a beer or two into your pockets for later, and pay your grounds fee, a downright cheap $8. Canned beer is allowed on the course, so don’t be afraid to crack a cold one on the first tee and shout “Noonan!” during your buddy’s backswing. Harvard Gulch is no St. Andrews—the longest hole is less than 150 yards, and nine holes will only take about an hour—but you’re here to hack away and have fun, not to improve your handicap.

The 10th Hole Uptown’s Vine Street Pub, a less-hippy version of its sister taverns in Boulder, is a wallet-friendly joint with two roomy patios. After 4 p.m., order the grilled cheese with bacon and a pint of the house-made suds for a late lunch. Vine Street brews a number of fine libations, like the Colorado Kind Ale, in addition to offering a number of “guest beers” on tap (if Oskar Blues’ Old Chub is on the nitrogen tap, order it—trust us). You could stick here all night, lolling on the patio, but the first pitch at the evening Rockies game flies around 7 p.m.

Batter Up Coors Field may not be the oldest or most legendary ballpark, but there’s nothing like bats cracking while the sun sets over the mountains. Ask for seats in right field so you can catch both the action and the evening sky, but once the sun falls behind the hills hunker down at the Blue Moon Brewing Company at the Sandlot, the test brewery for MillerCoors (located just behind the first-base foul pole). The pub’s bartenders dole out the standard Silver Bullet and Banquet Beer, as well as experimental craft beers (we tried an “interesting” peanut-flavored beer last summer).

Last Call Grab a nightcap and a half-dozen oysters on the half shell at Jax Fish House. LoDo is filled with bars, but that’s where all the pretty people (OK, women) hang out afterward. Strike up a conversation or simply enjoy the view.

If You Go
The Duffeyroll Cafe: 1290 S. Pearl St., 303-753-9177; Harvard Gulch Golf Course: 660 E. Iliff Ave.; 303-698-4078; Vine Street Pub: 1700 Vine St., 303-388-2337; Coors Field: 2001 Blake St., 303-292-0200; Jax Fish House: 1539 17th St., 303-292-5767.