A daughter graduating from high school and family in from out of town called for something special to celebrate, and the certainly qualifies.
First, I wanted my sister, who has two young sons and works a stressful job partly from home, to feel pampered somewhere fun. Second, I wanted to take some of my favorite female relatives out and about with both of my daughters for a festive get-together one afternoon.
Done and done at the Brown.
We started the day without my daughters at the new r, which . We were impressed with everything about the place, but several exhibits really stuck out, starting with the time machines close to the entrance.
The machines can be rolled around a giant room so that you can pick a variety of Colorado regions and years, then watch well-edited videos from those areas and periods, on subjects such as the Leadville ice palace or the Colorado-Texas Tomato Wars (who knew?). The videos were fascinating.
Other exhibits we could hardly tear ourselves away from included the poignant and thoughtfully constructed section on the Sand Creek Massacre and the Top of the World portion on silver mining.
We laughed out loud, though, during our pathetic attempts to virtually ski jump, drive an old car, milk a cow and take photos of ourselves to insert into vintage images in an old yearbook on the wall of the old schoolhouse.
The new center is being touted as a great place for kids because of all of the interactive stuff, but the youngest in this group was … 45. But I can definitely see the appeal for young ‘uns too. Cost: $10 adults, $6 ages 6-12.
After their morning of finals, my daughters joined us at the Brown. It was an ideal follow-up, such a distinguished part of the state’s history, with its 120th anniversary coming up in August.
The hotel has been doing traditional afternoon tea for decades, as well, and I first took my daughters to tea 14 years ago when they were 2 and 4, so this was extra-special for us. The service was as impeccable as always, and not much else has changed — the scones were buttery and unbelievably airy and light (how do they do that?), and the curried egg salad and cucumber canapes as perfectly seasoned and cut into tidy shapes as ever.
Even the tea was some of the best we’ve had, particularly a vanilla rooibos and a chai. Our only complaint? The desserts could be better; there were a lot of overly gelatinous and somewhat bland offerings that were pretty but not very tasty. Cost: $32 for the signature tea per person; $40 to add a Kir Royale and a chocolate truffle.
I stayed with my sister for part of her visit, in one of the lovely, and very comfortable, double rooms, which has a flat-screen HDTV, soaking tub and Keurig coffee maker, and the old-style desk that can be accessed from both sides — with plenty of outlets — is cool, because of course neither of us could resist plugging in our laptops. Rates start at $152 a night, by the way, but that’s on weekends.
We also had a facial (her) and massage (me), which cost $110 and $115 respectively, and were worth every penny, even if just to sit in the quiet, relaxing spa itself and hang out.
Complimentary Wi-Fi would be a classy move (it’s free only in the lobby), but otherwise, the Brown is the epitome of elegance.
Kyle Wagner: 303-954-1599 or outwest@denverpost.com
