So the original plan was to spend the week of Thanksgiving in San Antonio, Texas. My wife had a conference scheduled for the weekend and we were going to turn the rest of the week into a nice little vacation. As a bonus, I have a friend who lives in San Antonio and some family I haven’t seen in quite a while in the general area. Well, as usual, life has a way of throwing wrenches into plans. The conference was moved to virtual as a result of the Covid surge in Texas, and even though we are fully vaccinated, we are having second thoughts of traveling to Texas right now. Then we found out my friend was actually going to be away in New Mexico that week, so we decided to scrap the San Antonio plan and look for an alternative trip for that week.
Which brings us to the dilemma of Seattle vs Denver, as we still want to get away for that week and try and find some adventure. We talked about options and came up with a few, but narrowed it down to either Seattle or Denver, although a return trip to Zion in Utah came in a close third. The travel costs are virtually identical so that’s not a factor, but somehow we need to decide between the two.
The case for Seattle.
- Never been there, but have always wanted to explore the Pacific Northwest (I have been to Vancouver many times when living in Canada, but never to Seattle)
- Plenty of great things to do – Museum of Pop Culture, great parks, walkable neighborhoods, Chinatown, etc.
- Plenty of great places to eat – can’t beat the availability of fresh seafood, great sushi, Pike’s Market, etc.
- Availability of great hiking – just need to make a scenic drive out of the city
- Right on the water – hard to beat waking up to a view of water
- The weather – might be a negative for some, but since we have been dealing with massive heat and humidity for over a month, it sounds pretty good to me right now
- Potential Tie Breaker – the Seattle Kraken’s inaugural season in the NHL, playing both the Capitals and the Hurricanes when we would be in town
The case for Denver
- Have been there once before, and we had a great time
- Loved walking through the city, and there are still quite a few neighborhoods for us to explore
- Plenty of great places to eat – Highland Tavern, Dae Gee, Earl’s, etc…
- A great zoo and aquarium
- Availability of great hiking – just need to make a scenic drive out of the city
- Chance to see the Colorado Avalanche of the Denver Nuggets, or both
- Might be a little chillier than we would prefer, but still seems pretty good while in this heat wave
- Easy city to get around
It’s going to be a tough choice, as both cities have a lot of what we love to do. It may come down to the Kraken tiebreaker, but I don’t think there is really a wrong choice to make. I will let you know what we decide and share some of the planning as we move forward.
The Free Range Viking
The Free Range Viking 