Now this is a birthday party!

Stained-glass ceiling, Hotel Boulderado 

I’m getting older this week. Well, OK, I get older every week … every day. But my birthday is this week, which means another year has flown, drifted past while I was barely looking. Time is such an odd thing, how it moves faster the more of it you have experienced. So here I am, about a year older, and my partner and I spent a chunk of the weekend marking the historic event.

The celebration began with a shopping trip, which some folks might think is automatically wonderful. But it’s not usually my favorite sort of outing. In fact, I mostly hate shopping. But this was fun because I actually wanted something particular, and it had nothing to do with styles and fit and trying on. We went to hunt for a new backpack to replace my old one, which is (literally) coming apart at the seams. It’s one of my favorite possessions because it carries my computer (and a lot of other stuff) when I travel—and, increasingly, when I go do my editing at neighborhood coffee shops instead of at home. My cabin fever has been especially serious this winter, and the sunlight and company of coffee shops have proven palliative. So my partner got me this very cool backpack,  which is so special that it even came with a registration policy that promises to find it for me should I ever lose it, and a guarantee against every imaginable danger—even airlines!

Then, backpack in trunk, I was treated to breakfast/lunch at my very favorite restaurant, the original Walnut Café (it was lunchtime, but we both ate breakfast. We usually follow our meals with the ‘Nut’s famous pie, but we passed this time in preparation for what lay ahead). After brunch, we indulged in the ultimate leisure afternoon activity—a couple of hours’ reading at a (you guessed it) coffee shop. My current reading for my American West class is a novel, so I didn’t even have to underline or take notes. Perfectly lovely.

Then, we headed for the Hotel Boulderado. Anyone who lives in or near Boulder likely knows of the Boulderado, the clunkily, perfectly named historic luxury hotel in downtown Boulder. The hotel, which opened in 1909, was built as a showcase of the them-tiny city’s aspirations to greatness. A lot of the original features are still there—including the tiled entryway and the cantilevered cherry staircase, which mercifully includes plenty of landings en route from floor to floor (see “elevator” below). Overhead in the lobby is a beautiful stained glass ceiling—not the original, but that’s a story in itself. However, the (tiny) elevator is the original—complete with a folding gate and requiring a human operator. The last elevator like that I remember was in some department store in downtown Denver during my childhood. (Does that date me?) We’ve never stayed at the Boulderado before and may never again—but it seemed perfect for a b-day adventure!

We took the elevator to our fourth-floor, antique-filled, flatirons-view, corner suite—where I’m certain Joan Baez, Lily Tomlin, Dar Williams, and Helen Keller all slept (I know they stayed there, and what other room would they choose?). Then we strolled down the Pearl Street Mall to dinner at Jax, an up-scale seafood restaurant. Another luxury we’ve never enjoyed before and may never again. After pigging out on seafood and observing the nightlife at Jax, we walked back to the hotel, pausing for an ice cream cone on the mall (thank you, weather goddess!). To finish off the celebration, we had breakfast at Q’s, the hotel restaurant, which we both love, complete with French press coffee. Perfect decadence.

And here’s a really fun part of this story. The stay at the Boulderado and dinner at Jax both happened because we had these great coupons. Now, I’m sure you’re wondering how we got them … so here’s the answer. The coupons were part of a package we bought at the auction at last year’s Open Door Fund dinner (the 2013 version of which is just weeks away). For those of you who don’t know about the Open Door Fund (ODF), it’s a permanent endowment of the Community Foundation that specifically gives small grants to groups and agencies that serve the LGBTQ community. The ODF fund-raising dinner each spring includes a speaker (this year, it’s be Dustin Lance Black, screenwriter for the movie “Milk”), followed by the real entertainment, the live auction. A genuine professional auctioneer, who is a riot to watch, nudges and cajoles and persuades folks to higher bids on both wonderful and improbable items. Last year, folks won trips to glamorous destinations (Italy, Santa Fe), a hiking trip with Aaron Ralston (of “127 Hours” fame), dinner and theater packages, artwork, food baskets, and on and on. We bid on and won a package that included discounts on dinner at a couple of really nice Boulder restaurants (including Jax), an assortment of movie and theater tickets,  and a night at the Boulderado. Hence, our improbably luxurious birthday weekend. I’ve rarely felt so up-town, even though we were wearing the requisite Boulder garb for a night on the town: dress jeans.

We likely would have done some of the things in our ODF package anyway. Some—like the Boulderado and Jax—not so likely. This was hard to beat—an over-the-top birthday party that supported the local queer community to boot.

Plus a swell new backpack. Heck, it was as fun as those cake and ice cream parties of my increasingly distant childhood!