After an overnight stop in Colby, Kansas, we arrived in Denver on April 20. (We prefer to limit our trips to no more than 6 hours on the road in a day, and ideally a lot less. Without this stop we would have had more than 10 hours of travel.)

On our way to meet our friends Deb and Lou, we had a great visit with my sister-in-law Mia’s sister Moria and her family, who live near Denver and invited us for lunch. We had missed them for Paul and Mia’s big birthday bash, and Mia’s mother’s gallery show closing party, in March. So it was especially nice to get to see them in Denver!

We took a stroll through the green space walking path in their neighborhood, accompanied by what might have been the last snowfall of the season.

Eventually we had to brush the snow off the truck and say thank you and See you soon! to our extended family. Thanks again Moria, Peter and Kristin! Loved our visit!

From Moria and Peter’s home southeast of Denver, we headed to our friends Deb and Lou, northwest of Denver. By the time we arrived, winter’s brief pass through the area was gone, although the temperatures were still chilly.

Deb and Lou have been friends for almost 40 years. I met Deb while we both worked in IT. This was during the start of migration to IT careers from teaching (in Deb’s case) and the arts (in my case). We shared many common interests, including a love of the outdoors and trekking around in the mountains. We’ve gone on several backpacking trips through the Yosemite backcountry together, and also a few trips to the NCAA Women’s Basketball Final Four weekends. The four of us have had great times together and have been able to visit back and forth across the country after Deb and Lou moved to Colorado in the 90’s. It had been a while since we had been out that way last. We were excited to see them again in their home in the mountains!

Our friends had planned to take us to a VR (Virtual Reality) show called Space Explorers: The Infinite on the 20th. Since we delayed our departure from Wichita by a day, they were able to change the tickets for the following day. Lucky us! What a show! This is an experience that makes you feel that you are participating in the events and seeing the sights that appear all around you. Before the show begins, you receive a VR headset programmed to identify the members of your group as blue avatars. You then fit on the headset and join the others within the show venue, all of whom appear as gold avatars. As everyone moves through the event space, you become part of the crew of the International Space Station (ISS). Sometimes you are with the crew inside the station. Other times you are outside the station floating in space, looking at planet Earth as you orbit around it, sometimes looking off into the distance of deep space. There was a particularly dramatic shot of Italy’s boot and Sicily below it, immediately identifiable and huge as it would have filled the view from the ISS. It is an amazing experience! It was especially significant following our visit to the Cosmosphere with Isabel; we had such an appreciation for the history of the space program and what had transpired to bring the ISS missions about. Even the eclipse experience we had resonated as we walked through the venue exploring all the sights and sounds. The show is on tour through the US, and I highly recommend a visit if you find it in your area!

After the show we enjoyed a great dinner at Ocean Prime. The swordfish was memorable! Yum!

Since we are all hikers and we have dogs who like to go trekking with us, we had several nice walks through the area around Deb and Lou’s home. Close to their neighborhood there is access to an extensive multi-use trail system that can take you all the way into Denver. It’s got a large population of chattering prairie dogs, great views of the Rockies, and can be walked or biked for as long as you want!

We also visited Standley Park, a city park on a lake with a campground, hiking trails and boating and fishing opportunities. There is a protected bald eagle nesting site here too, and a big dog park. Although we stuck to the trails, the dogs had fun poking around in the grass and shrubs, investigating all the intriguing scents.

Mount Falcon was the most extensive hike we took, and it was a beauty. This park is the former estate of John Brisben Walker, an early twentieth century businessman and Colorado enthusiast. The ruins of his castle command a high viewpoint in the park, with great views of the Denver area and the surrounding peaks.

Walker was so enthusiastic about the beauty of his surroundings that he tried to encourage the construction of a summer White House for US presidents on a nearby ridge. A structure was designed that resembled the imposing Alpine castles of Europe, and a cornerstone was laid. The idea stalled, but its remnants remain as an interesting chapter in the history of the area.

As we made our way down from the castle ridge, we passed through an area with quite a bit of snow left along the edges of the trail. Gracie had a great time playing in it! There were a few brave spring flowers beginning to make an appearance, too.

We had brought a lunch with us, and by the time we reached the spot where we were planning to take a break, we were ready to enjoy it. We were at a sizable pavilion that had been built on the site of a summer home built by a German family in the mid 1900’s. The home is no longer there, but a structure at the former entrance remains.

We got Gracie to stand still long enough to pose for a picture on a rock outcropping.

We were enjoying our visit with Deb and Lou and had planned to extend it a day, since we arrived a day later than planned. However, the weather had other ideas. Once again, high winds and wintry weather were moving in, changing our plans to head west along I70 to Utah. Instead, we planned a route to Santa Fe, taking us south out of the wintry stuff. We still were unable to get the extra day with our friends, as we had to leave ahead of the high winds. But! We should be able to see a lot more of them soon, since they are now planning to move back east! We, among many others, are delighted by this news! Looking forward to it with great anticipation!

As we departed on April 24, we had one more adventure. My phone was acting up and I had trouble getting to the highway. I found myself in the farthest right lane when I needed to make a left turn onto an entrance ramp in just a few car lengths. And of course it was the morning rush hour, so traffic was backed up across three lanes. A kind soul in the next lane let me in, and I soon was blocking traffic across all the lanes, waiting for the left turn signal to go green. And wouldn’t you know, a policeman was among those waiting for me to clear out of there. He made things better by coming over to ask me why I was waiting, since I could just go down the road a few blocks and get on the highway there. Of course, i didn’t know that, and the GPS was on strike, and … thank goodness he gave up on me before the light changed, so I could get on my way.

See you in Santa Fe!

❤️