Denver: Rocky Mountain High

Four days in Denver! What to do? This is a long post because we found a bunch to do.

My primary goal was to spend time with son Evan and D-I-L Lauren, who moved from Louisville to Denver 3 years ago to follow jobs. Due to my husband Eric’s illness and then COVID, I had been to Denver just once in those 3 years.

We had 4 days to spend in Denver and all wanted to get to know the area better, so we went to The Denver Aquarium, The Garden of the Gods, Manitou Springs, the Larimer area of Denver (wall murals) and the Colorado Train Museum in Golden. (Plus restaurants,of course, grocery stores, liquor stores and laundromats. We kept busy seeing, eating, drinking, and getting clean clothes)

The Aquarium was interesting and filled with tanks and tanks of fresh water fish, salt water fish, anemones, sharks, snakes and turtles. PLUS 3 tigers in a “rainforest” section. They seemed out of place but did have their own swimming pool.

Then lunch at The Ale House down the street. And no, we didn’t have fish n chips.

The traveling circus, happy with their beer and hard cider. (And food, I almost forgot that)

You’ve got to have a sense of humor at all this COVID frenzy….

That evening, an epicurean adventure; dinner with Evan and Lauren at a Chinese Hot Pot restaurant.

At hot pot restaurants, the heaters are built right into the table and each person gets their own broth (6 kinds to choose from.) Then you order raw ingredients to cook in the broth: meats, noodles, veggies, tofu, herbs, etc. They are served family style as each person creates their own unique Hot Pot.

Day 2 it had gotten colder and there was heavy frost on car windows and plants. We drove south towards Colorado Springs to the Garden of the Gods, majestic sandstone rocks jutting vertically out of the ground. Huge, red and beautiful!

Edith in front of The Three Sisters

Then on to Manitou Springs, a mere 15 min. away, where you could:
a. Hike an “extremely difficult” trail to Pikes Peak, or
b. Shop and eat.
We chose “b”. 😀

We ate at a small Indian/Nepalese restaurant in Manitou Springs. We were a bit chilled by then, so sitting in a warm restaurant eating spicy food helped recapture our Mojo.

Day 3 we joined Evan and Lauren for breakfast at Annie’s, a neighborhood favorite. Of course we over-ate, but who doesn’t like a hardy breakfast with a hot cup of coffee? Then off to the Larimer section of town which has blossomed into the wall mural Capital. Below are just a few of the murals.

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Finally it was our last day in Denver but our train didn’t leave til 7:00pm so we hit the road to Golden and visited the Colorado Train Museum. Old trains, new trains (full size cars) and a small museum with a huge miniature train town. And a short ride on a steam engine train around the property.

The visitors train. Wood interior and velveteen seats.

Finally a quick drive through Golden (home to Coors beer.. but it was Sunday so sadly no tours were running.) The snow was coming down harder and the temperature dropping. According to the Weather Channel it was 16 degrees but felt like 2 degrees.

After a prolonged lunch just to stay warm inside, we headed back to the Denver train station, returned the rental car and then waited 3 hours before boarding in the driving snow and wind for our final leg home. We were getting out just in time!

Denver’s Union Station

From here, I say Adios. We will train thru the night and hopefully arrive in Chicago at about 2 pm tomorrow. Then a mere 6 hour drive back to Kentucky.

(LAST MINUTE NEWS: We stopped in the middle of Iowa to wait for a broken RR tie to be replaced — for 3 hours! New ETA is 5:30pm.
Thanks readers for coming along with us vicariously. We’ve enjoyed the trip but are all looking forward to sleeping in our own beds tonight.