Boulder, CO - Summer 2022
Home to the University of Colorado, we visited Boulder a few times as it is very close to Lafayette. It’s a great little college town that feels like the nice midwestern college towns where the community is intertwined with the university and the town itself is far enough away from a major metropolitan area to have its own identity.
The Pearl Street strip is the main downtown commercial area where the bars and restaurants are concentrated. There is a “no dog” ordinance (Boooo!) posted for certain parts of that mall which from what I saw seemed like more of a suggestion than a law but maybe I was just hitting it on a low enforcement day.
The name Boulder probably conjures up visions of mountain bikes, wealth, and outdoorsy youth. That is pretty much what you get here. I think every pricey outdoor gear merchant has set up shop on Pearl Street.
Flatirons
The highlight of the Boulder area is the Flatirons. These rock formations on the outskirts of town provide a stunning backdrop and have great hiking trails interspersed in the park.
It was quite hot when we visited so we kept the hikes short for the sake of the dog, but there are paths that take you to the top of the Flatirons.
At the base entrance is a Chautauqua Park which has facilities, bathrooms, a restaurant as well as cabins that people can rent.
I find it interesting how the animals change as you cross the country. Instead of crows, they have magpies here which are much prettier with the white and blue markings.
We didn’t hit many bars in Boulder but here are a few places that we ate.
Pasta Jays
This popular spot has everything you want from an Italian restaurant. Good food with large portions. The star of the restaurant is their red sauce which they also sell separately in to-go jars. Order lots of bread so you can sop up the sauce remains at the bottom of your dish. Some eggplant parm and ravioli are pictured here.
Foolish Craig’s
This place is only open for breakfast and lunch but the do have beer and a full bar if you are in the mood to get your day drinking on. The food was actually very good here and they have some outside seating which probably expanded during COVID as it extends out to the street area now.
Rincon Argentino
The empanadas are the attraction here but I’m a big fan of choripan sandwiches which are basically just sausage sandwiches usually with chimichurri sauce.
They also have outside seating so we were able to take the dog here and have lunch after our hike at the Flatirons.
Laughing Goat Coffee
Excellent coffee centrally located on the Pearl Street strip. We came here twice. Once was before the kids came back to campus and it was a very chill atmosphere to casually enjoy an espresso. The second time was after school started and the place was packed with no seating. It might as well been the school library.