Hello SBR family!
I don’t know if I’ve ever written a blog directly to y’all, so thought why not start with a trip to Golden, Colorado that Samantha and I took earlier this month. So excited to share some of the places to eat, things to do, and things not to do, haha!
Why Golden, Colorado you ask? Sweet Baton Rouge® had the opportunity to travel and stay at the Origin Hotel in Red Rock. Origin Hotel strives to provide travelers the best place to venture out, balance a healthy lifestyle, and connect with others, and support local movement. In case you didn’t know, Origin Hotel is coming to the downtown Baton Rouge area and will be an exquisite boutique hotel to visit for out of towners and staycationers. Currently, renovations on the old Holiday Inn are underway to soon open the new 400 North Blvd Origin Hotel equipped with a full restaurant, shopping, and more.
We flew to the Golden location to see the hotel’s vision for venture, balance, and connecting locally. It was our first time visiting Colorado in the fall and the weather was on point! Samantha, our manager felt right at home in the cooler temperatures and wished we had found a good place for gumbo considering the Gumbo Weather there! Instead, we traded it for delicious food outings within walking distance around the hotel to the Golden downtown area.
I still haven’t shared why we were really there, have I?! So…. I can’t really spill the tea just yet but what I can say is, Sweet Baton Rouge® is working closely with Origin Hotel on some fun things to come later this year! We cannot wait to share more with y’all soon.
Two crazy stories for you…. Let’s start with leaving Baton Rouge to head to the airport in New Orleans. Samantha stayed at my house since our flight out of New Orleans was for 5:30 AM take off and being I live in Ascension Parish, I’m closer and easier to get to the airport ....so we thought! Our alarms were set for 3:00 AM to wake up and well… my phone went off, headed into the kitchen to start the coffee, looked at my phone to find text messages from Samantha making sure I was up. I gasped when I read the current time of 4:15 AM knowing our plane was boarding at 5:20 AM and started freaking out. So, I hurried and got dressed, left ASAP and made it to the airport just in time. Thank goodness we didn’t check bags because then came through security. I was TSA precheck but Samantha wasn’t, so I did Clear for her which is usually is great and quick but everyone else had the same idea and she couldn’t come through precheck with me. While she got in line to get through security,I ran to our gate and told them we’re here but one of us was stuck in security and en route ASAP to board the plane. And if that wasn’t bad enough, Samantha was picked randomly to go through her bag. Needless to say, our beginning to the trip was a little stressful! Nonetheless, we made it on the plane by the skin of our teeth and this will always be something we’ll remember together and laugh about. In my defense though, that has never happened. I’m an early riser and couldn’t believe I slept through my alarm. Poor Samantha dear not knowing what to do at her boss's house LOL!
The second really crazy story—not crazy, more like dumb and I take full ownership being I’m the elder here—begins with me really wanting to go hiking. I love being outdoors doing any activity from walking, running, or biking, and coming to Colorado I couldn’t wait to hike a trail or two. I had talked Samantha into doing it knowing it would be a great bonding experience and we could brainstorm + set goals for Sweet Baton Rouge® while soaking in the picturesque views. Well my first mistake, I didn’t rent a car. “Big mistake” in a mountain town. Big advisory: rent a car so you can see and do all the sights. We took an Uber to Lookout Mountain, as we heard it has beautiful views, is the burial site of Buffalo Bill + Buffalo Bill Museum, and trails of course!
Before we got into the car, I asked the driver if Uber could get down the mountain too or just drop you off. I talked about this before leaving the hotel so I could decide beforehand and he made me feel 75% ok that we could get a ride back down. We rode roughly about 10 miles up the mountain to our destination and in a parking lot full of cars, an older couple sitting on a bench ran up to our Uber asking if he could take them down the mountain because you guessed it….! The couple had been waiting on an Uber for over 30 minutes and yep, no service. OMG, I started freaking out and as I turned around to ask the driver to just bring us down too, he pulled out and drove away. Immediately I got on my app to start getting us a ride, and no service. Granted, our walk back to the hotel would’ve been only 10 miles but that’s no place for two young women to be. I felt so terrible that I’d put us in this situation now on how we would get down the mountain. The couple I mentioned gave us a big “Yahoo! We are over here! Going to take a ride down with these two people.” Naturally, we sprinted and asked if we could ride down as well and the drivers were kind enough to allow us to squeeze in the back of their truck. Within minutes of us leaving with all strangers, I began to start freaking out all over again thinking to myself what I have done again. Now I’ve put us in a worse condition riding with complete strangers back down the mountain. I’ve read too many books about crimes or watched thriller TV shows that my thoughts began to get the worst of me. Thankfully, the people that brought us down were very very kind, and we made it back safely to our hotel. Laurie [Samantha’s mom], I’m so sorry for sharing this story and promise to never have such a lapse in judgment! The moral of this story is two fold: 1) listen to your gut when you may not feel good about a plan and 2) there are kind people all around us doing nice things. Certainly as a woman, it is always good to use major caution but it also feels good to see kind Samaritans. Last point, rent a car so you can have a blast exploring!!
Ok, now for the fun stuff!
For lunch on Thursday, we ate in downtown Golden at this cute Mexican restaurant attached to another hotel called Table Mountain Grill & Cantina. We sat on the patio with the sun out, amazing temperatures, and ate some delicious food..
For dinner that night, we ate at Morris & Mae Food Hall and had some out of this world mac & cheese by Mac Nation Cafe.
Come Friday after that insane trip to try and hike, we decided to grab a drink at the Origin Hotel bar Nomad Taqueria + Beer Garden, where we met Vinny. He’s the bartender who’s been there since they opened and was the nicest bartender and very beloved by locals to hotel guests at Origin. Fun Fact: the bar also has a king cake baby sitting in a photo with Vinny on the wall like us having a king cake baby on our Petey Pelican sign behind the checkout counter. Neat seeing some Louisiana fun there!
We visited Denver which was very Uber friendly and went to the Cherry Creek Mall and took in some store inspiration + shopping. Also, we took a visit to the local t-shirt company yocolorado. Fun seeing some local similarities between their brand and ours! You can find merchandise from them inside the Origin Hotel “wink wink” in their Red Rock and Westminster locations.
Here n there we watched a lot of Gilmore Girls to get in the mood for our Fall launch while working in the hotel for a little while and then enjoyed lattes at the yummiest coffee shop which just so happened to be called Launch.
Lastly, here's some fun things Golden, Co is known for:
- Golden is home to the headquarters and brewery of Coors Beer.
- Home to the Colorado School of Mines
- Gravesite of William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody
- Downtown Golden is a destination all its own. Its charming old-Western-style town is a must to visit and shop locally.
- Definitely shop locally in Golden or in the Origin Hotel for YoColorado®
I will definitely share more about our partnership with Origin Hotel in the coming month or so! We cannot wait to share what we are up to, what the hotel in Baton Rouge will look like, and more.
Lastly, ending with some fun business chat before I close my newsletter. Our birthday for Sweet Baton Rouge® is in October as we turn 13 years in business and I hope to share a few more personal newsletters with you on How To Start A T-Shirt Business, What Keeps Me Geauxing, and Year In The Life of Sweet Baton Rouge® Over 13 Years, and drumroll……….some exciting news that we’ve been holding on too!
XOXO - Meredith
