Last night out… It was rainy early on as we headed to dinner, and just plain wet when we were done. Note to all: New cowboy boots are slippery onwet stone block (and 16th street is ALL paving blocks!)

Tons of photos after the jump.

It was only fitting since I’ve already covered LODO, it was more important to meet some of the people that work and party here.

TONS – I mean LOTS of nightlife photos after the break.

First off, meet Danielle. She likes mining.

And when not mining, is a stunning woman. (OK, she’s still sexy when mining.)

She invited Zoo to mine.

And it was like a magical elixir:
 

So he started other prospecting:

Which was taken so favorably that he was rewarded with some dances on the bar:

Meet Beth – her husband works here (he’s on the left, and a damn cool guy). It took about two hours, but the gal with the best hair in Denver, a self-proclaimed pacifist, finally let one loose on him.

And it wasn’t the last.

During a smoke break, we met two incredibly intelligent and sexy women:

And Zoo just doesn’t know when to accept only a kiss…

Again demonstrated here:

All in all, this bar is downright fun.

Just watch out when they bring you the check…

The Blake Street Vault is one of those places that just got it right.  The owners, who have owned 14 bars previously, overlooked no details in putting this place together.   After finishing dinner across the street, we spotted the beautiful lighting and just walked into what was to become a fantastic evening.

More pictures and commentary after the break …

These are the owners, Carol and Jim.  Wonderful people with a great story and a great bar.

After a few massive chalice-sized beers, Carol invited us to taste whiskey.  The owners went down to the Jack Daniel’s Distillery and selected a barrel of “Single Barrel”, a super-fine whiskey, individually crafted, signed, which produces 240 bottles, which are labeled with the owner’s name and bar.  Carol allowed us to taste the Single Barrel along side the standard #7 and Gentleman Jack.  I think it speaks to our palattes that Spammer and myself both preferred the standard #7 … but it was a great experience. Carol gave us the whole history of the Single Barrel and even more.  We love people who are enthusiastic about their trade.

This is a shot of the bar from above.  It’s only been open for 5 weeks, so there was still room to move.  Expect that to change.

We did miss a clear picture of the custom-installed and absoutely gorgeous tin ceiling.    You can just make it out above, but it’s one of the many touches that the Blake Street Vault employs to make it one of the most beautiful bars that I’ve seen.

We didn’t get to taste the food, but if the passion and attention to detail that we saw in other aspects of this place are put into dining as well, I have a feeling we will be eating a lot of meals here in the future.

Although our waitress was a not, the meal was gorgeous and awesome.  We recommend the quesadilla, fajitas, enchiladas and especially the green chili.

Our new favorite beer: 90 Shilling (and some Blue Moon in the Broncos glass):

More photos and grab-ass after the break.

Brandi shows us her Thursday tattoo. Apparently, it’s an obscure band from New Jersey. I believe Zoo is pointing to where the wedding ring goes…

Danielle didn’t know what was coming…

but certainly knew how to handle it. She’s 21 – we checked – so it’s legal for her to hit Zoo.

Zoo said he liked it and wanted one more…

Anyhoo, this is a fantastic billiards bar. Come play when you are here, but avoid table 16, it has a massive westward drift.

After having morning coffee and blog time, I made my way over to The Wrangler. I was itchin’ for some cowboy boots. Having never owner a pair, or even gonne into a western wear store, I was floored. Lookit all them boots!

More pics and stories after the break:
I found just the right pair and a super-friendly Cheyenne-ite (whose sister live 7 miles from me in New York), rang me up and gave me some greta advice on driving to Denver.

See, it’s Saturday and by Wyoming standards, there are lots of Saturday road-ragers on the highway, so she gave me a tip. We took a lesser-known highway.

It was like deja-vu. 65 mph, slow down to 50, then to 45, then 35, then a small town less than a mile long with a railroad and grain towers on the left, some seedy bar ond general store on the right, done and repeat.

There was this interesting creature, though. Methinks it’s Zoo’s id.

Today was a very short drive (by our standards), only 2 1/2 hours. So, we’rte back in Colorado and Denver again. Wow… Now to tear up this town for 2 or so days before flying to our homes. I’m certain we’ll make some more indelible marks on this city, and perhaps visit Croc’s again…

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Thanks for following along so far!  I hope it’s been entertaining — or at least slightly amusing — and we’ll have some more for you shortly! It’s not over yet — now we get to celebrate in Denver.  We’ll be looking up old friends, hopefully making some new ones.

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This morning I was mildly shocked to see the shower has two heads. Symbolism? Or was Speed Racer being the in flight movie and then me getting pulled over 1 block shy of the hotel? ( no ticket )?

Morning wakeup is to Beck’s “Modern Guilt” looking forward to seeing him and MGMT in October.

Or even better yet, “why are you taking pictures?”

I am a photographer.

Puzzled states, sudden disinterest, LOL. One nice guy actually struck up a conversation and informed me that Denver is where all the single people want to be. Swell! I fit right in :)

Anyhoo, don’t want to splurge for hotel Internet, so I will post night shots from the Nikon soon.

– SpamZalot

EDIT: After a dinner discussion tonight, Zoo reminded me that my life was in no danger whatsoever that evening. I now concur, and agree I was too drunk to remember clearly. Consider it revisionist history.

We hit Breckenridge for a day of skiing:

I am smiling here, but this was on the tail end of my flu. Combine that with smoking and an altitude of 10,000 feet. Eesh. Every 1/3 of a run I’d lean on my poles and wheeze and hack up phlegm. But it was soooo worth it. I skied the Rockies for the first time, although I can barely remember it. The village reminded me of growing up in the Adirondacks – it was very much reminiscent of Lake Placid, only very yuppiized. Although that’s what I hear happened to Lake Placid, too.

So, Zoo began schooling me on pool at Tarantula’s (see center of this photo). Lots of tables, sometimes lots of cute gals, though I wasn’t in any condition to appreciate that :(

Denver is a great-looking city. I mean, ain’t it grand to have the Rockies as your neighbor?

And we had our first encounter with Croc’s. Ummmmmm, yeah. We made friends with one of the watresses and had a blast drinking with her and the other wait staff the following evening.

And after that, a jealous male friend form the wait staff almost killed hisself tearing through red lights in a drunken state because someone decided that sticking a tongue out at at him was good behavior. Score one for sobriety. Dork should have listened to us and not driven. We checked the next day and he ended up OK.

Ah, Denver. A great cooldown after 1,862 miles driven and 32 Starbucks visited