Eating Burritos a Mile High: Denver Adventures

I did two pretty important things in Denver today:

1) I ate an outstanding burrito.

2) I finally bought a Topo Designs bag. At the flagship store. 

The burrito came from a place my coworker had heard of and really wanted to try. I consider myself something of a burrito connoisseur, so I was game to have Denver give me its best shot. The burrito in question was the Big Fish from Illegal Pete's and yes, it passed the test. We all had to spend the larger part of the day walking around the city just to work off the urge to go en masse into a giant burrito coma. To be honest I'm usually very wary of getting anything with fish in a place that's far from the water, and you really can't get much more landlocked than Denver, but for whatever reason the well-intentioned eagerness to make my burrito dreams come true of the guy behind the counter really swayed my judgment. I don't regret it.

On to the bag. I've been a Topo Designs fan for quite a while now... and when my boyfriend picked up a Mountain Briefcase in Duck Camo on his trip to Colorado last winter, I was super jealous but encouraged him to write a guest post about the experience. So after our burrito break and a leisurely stroll through some small shops in the city, I forced my accomplices to take the 20 minute walk in 95 degree heat up to the Topo flagship store. Come hell or high water... I'm in Denver, I'm getting one of these bags.

I have a monstrosity of a messenger bag that I'd bought from Incase in the beginning of graduate school. It certainly served it's purpose, and it has tons of little pockets, but it's big and structureless, and the size/weight make it extremely difficult for me to haul around as a single strap messenger bag. What I needed was a bag that can carry what I need daily for work: 15" Macbook Pro, binder, legal pads, notebook, planner, pens, measuring tape, knife, etc., be acceptable to maybe walk into a conference or something with, but also be dope, neither too feminine nor too masculine, and not boring. I recognize that this is quite a tall order, but the genuinely helpful salesman at Topo was unflagged by my request. I said that my boyfriend had the Mountain Briefcase and that I essentially wanted something to serve the same function without just copying my boyfriend. In a "I've got just the thing for you" move, he whipped out the Backpack Tote, a clever little hybrid with the right shape and shoulder straps to be a woman's tote bag, but with hidden backpack straps that can be taken out to transform the bag into a very manageable backpack. I was sold on the functionality of the bag, but neither of the two color options really leapt out at me. I asked if there were any alternatives and the Topo gods smiled down upon me when he ran to the back and brought out a one-off of the same bag, done in coyote brown and purple. The color combo was pretty solid, but the fact that it was a "one of a kind" of sorts made it extra appealing.

Front!

Back with straps out!

Back with straps hidden!

Proof that it fits lots of stuff!

Thank you, Denver, for being awesome! I'm here until Sept. 6th... and this was only Day 1. I can't wait to see what the rest of the week has in store for me.