Where the Titanic and South Park meet...

Our second day in Denver happened to fall on St. Patrick's Day, so we decided to check out the local festivities. Denver celebrates the holiday with a massive parade that winds its way through the downtown area. We knew we wanted to eat at Snooze, an extremely popular brunch spot with a location in Union Station, but also knew there would be a long wait. So, we put our name in for a table, then ventured outside to people-watch.

The holy grail of people-watching.

The area outside of Union Station was so crowded that we couldn't get a good vantage point for the parade. Instead, we weaved our way between raucous people clad in green to Tattered Cover Book Store, where we spent about an hour perusing the shelves and resting our feet. When our table was ready, we made our way back to Union Station and settled in for a breakfast that was actually an early-day dessert.

Wheat ordered s'mores pancakes with creamy hot chocolate that he drizzled on top, while I settled on the pancake flight with pineapple upside down, sweet potato, and blueberry danish pancakes. If I could only recommend one place for you to check out on your next visit to Denver, I'd choose Snooze. If you're okay with leaving in a sugar coma, of course...

Again, my face does not accurately represent my mood.

After brunch, we desperately needed to move around, so we made our way down 16th Street to the state capitol building. Although the building was closed, we were able to scope out the exterior and pose with the MILE HIGH marker on the stairs.

Unsure of what to do next, we googled what was in the area and found that the Molly Brown house was a short walk away. We made our way over to the beautiful Victorian-era home and signed up for the next available tour. Aside from the fact that she survived the sinking of the Titanic (and was played by Kathy Bates in the movie), I knew very little about Margaret "Molly" Brown, so the tour was fascinating. It provided a glimpse into the history of Denver, as well as an in-depth look at Molly Brown's work as a suffragette and workers' rights activist. The home was gorgeous (and even included indoor plumbing - a rarity for the time) and I left feeling super inspired by Molly and everything she accomplished in a time when women were discouraged from speaking out.

Capitol Building from Molly Brown's front porch.

On the way back to our hotel, we ran into the famous blue bear at the Colorado Convention Center.

For dinner, we decided to check out Casa Bonita, the most absurd Mexican restaurant on the face of the planet. Although it took a 20-minute Uber ride to get there (and we waited at least an hour in the long line to get a table), it was totally worth it to experience this place. It almost defies explanation - Casa Bonita is like a miniature Mexican theme park with unlimited (subpar) food. Seriously, it's all-you-can-eat Mexican food that you wash down with warm, doughy sopapillas and honey for dessert.

However, the draw for Casa Bonita isn't the food - it's the atmosphere. The building itself is enormous, large enough to be an indoor Mexican village complete with a 30-foot waterfall. There are cliff divers, a pirate's cave (Beware of Black Bart), mariachi bands, gunfight shows, an arcade, etc. Somehow, we nabbed a table near the waterfall and were able to watch the diving and gunfight shows, which occur every 15 minutes. Mostly, we sat there in utter disbelief that such a strange place exists. Just to put this into perspective - there is an entire episode of South Park dedicated to Casa Bonita and the restaurant has a Cartman doll tucked into the foliage in honor of his deep-seated love for the place. You have to see it to believe it.

After dinner, we took a leisurely stroll to check out more floors of our hotel and see Larimer Square, the historic district where Denver was founded, lit up at night. Gorgeous.