7. ­ Amusement Food | 12 p.m.

For an unusual lunch, order the rattlesnake and pheasant, Alaskan reindeer, duck cilantro or wild boar hot dog (from $6.50) at Biker Jim’s Gourmet Dogs. The menu also includes sides, like charred tahini cauliflower ($4.25) and deep-fried pickles ($4), a rare Boylan’s Natural Soda fountain and craft beer. Housed in a 28-foot-tall cream can reminiscent of the doughnut and hot-dog-shaped restaurants of vintage Americana, Little Man Ice Cream serves dozens of flavors, including Bhakti Chai, French Toast and Pomegranate Chia Seed in the increasingly trendy Highland neighborhood, where you’ll also find a faux speakeasy with a bookstore facade and a vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free friendly new American restaurant in a former 1950s garage.

8. ­ Escape the City | 1:30 p.m.

The Denver Botanic Gardens are spectacular in any season. Winter highlights include the orchid showcase, which starts in mid-January and features rare breeds of tropical orchids; the tropical conservancy, with a treehouse for kids; and the Japanese gardens. Just over an hour out of town, on the road to Breckenridge, the Frisco Nordic Center is an easy snow-lover’s day trip with snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, hot chocolate sleigh rides and tubing.

9. ­ Beer for All | 4 p.m.

Image TRVE Brewing Co., one of dozens of breweries in town. Credit... Morgan Rachel Levy for The New York Times

Despite being the home of the mega-brewery Coors, Colorado has one of the most varied and exciting craft beer scenes in the country. With dozens of breweries in Denver alone — including an English-style brewery (Hogshead Brewery), a German beer brewery (Prost Brewing Company), a hippie brewery (Vine Street Pub & Brewery), even a heavy metal brewery (TRVE Brewing Company) — it can seem as if there’s a brewery for every subculture. But if you have to hit just one, try Great Divide.

10. ­Foundry Fine Dining | 8 p.m.

Opened in 2013 in a former 19th-century foundry — now an upscale public market called the Source — Acorn calls itself “eclectic American.” Bon Appétit calls it one of the 50 best new restaurants in the country. ­Menu highlights include oak-grilled octopus ($15) with gnocchi, braised artichokes, house-made chorizo and salsa verde, and tomato-braised meatballs with grits, burrata and basil ($14). If Acorn’s current celebrity makes a table hard to come by, try ChoLon, an inventive, Asian-influence bistro in LoDo, where the chef is a graduate of Jean-Georges, Spice Market and Budakkan, and dishes include banana leaf broiled black cod ($29) and wok-fried brussels sprouts with ground pork and mint ($12).

Sunday

11. ­ Brunch Best | 9 a.m.

Get to Lucile’s Creole Cafe early to avoid weekend lines. This four-restaurant regional chain does one thing — New Orleans-style brunch — and does it well. When the first Lucile’s opened in Boulder some 30-plus years ago, its chef came directly from Nola’s jazz brunch institution, Commander’s Palace. The coffee is laced with chicory, the Bloody Marys are spicy, the beignets addictive, the entrees indulgent. Try the eggs Pontchartrain (pan-fried trout, poached eggs and béarnaise sauce with grits and a buttermilk biscuit, $10.95), or oyster po’boy with artichoke mayonnaise, arugula, slaw or Cajun fries ($11.25).