Dan and I both had work to accomplish near Denver, so we decided to drive the hour south one night early and make a date night of it. We saw Hustlers and enjoyed milkshakes at our first Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, then burned up some hotel points at The Source Hotel and Market Hall in the River North neighborhood of Denver.

The Source is a boutique hotel — so boutique, in fact, that we were offered a “check-in beer” when we first stepped foot in the lobby. New Belgium even.

The rooms are full of adorable design details and offer a view of RiNo’s train yards.

The art doesn’t stop in the rooms; the Source has its own small gallery and a wide array of murals and installations throughout the building.

And then there’s the Market Hall itself, an upscale collection of mercantile spaces, bars, juice shops and more, taking up the hotel’s second floor and an entire second barn-like room.

I am so grateful that, two years after moving to Colorado, Dan is still willing to play tourist in our own region. Denver is close enough to Fort Collins that it’s rarely necessary to stay overnight — but where is the fun in that?