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Published: June 21st 2017
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It's May 6, 2011, and more than three years since we had visited our son, Evan, in Colorado. With a new apartment, a great job with a major bike rack company, and a new girlfriend, we were soooo anxious to see him! We’d sacrificed some sleep to drive to the Ft. Myers airport at 3 AM and by the time we landed in Denver, we were famished! Evan drove us to Boulder in his new Suburu, compliments of his employer. Traffic was horrendous: graduation day at Colorado University! But there were tables at the Walnut Brewery as well as some terrific steaks for the guys and a wonderful chicken salad for me. After this great repast, we walked off the calories on the Boulder Creek Path, through Eben G. Fine Park, and then back to Pearl Street. We made a stop at the Tesla dealership to check out the latest models and the consensus was we’d all take one! My guys appreciate wheels; when Evan was 16, he bought an ’80 Corvette with his savings from a paper route (started at 11 years of age) and his earnings at our video store chain in MO. He spent many weekends and holidays
laboring alongside his parents and sisters and deserved every penny of it! Then we checked out his new address at Prana, an attractive apartment complex in Lafayette between Boulder and Denver. Finally, we ended at the Renaissance, a Marriott hotel in Broomfield where Evan provided us with a spacious suite with a great mountain view of the Flatirons. By 9 PM, we were ready for bed, having been awake for 20 hours! Saturday started with a great breakfast at Jason’s, a wonderful deli chain right across the street from the hotel. Stephanie, Ev’s new girl, had thoughtfully provided us with loads of info on all the do-not-miss spots. We checked it out and decided on Garden of the Gods and Pike’s Peak for a full day. The weather was perfect, in the 70’s with no rain at all. I’d always heard about the Garden and was quite curious about it. Sandstone and limestone deposited horizontally became tilted vertically, caused by the uplifting of the surrounding mountains such as Pike’s Peak. The tallest is the North Gateway Rock at 320 ft. The formations are called
hogbacks because they resemble the spines of a pig; one is called Kissing Camels, another Llama’s Heads. There is also a balancing rock that absolutely appears ready to fall at any moment. Climbers were everywhere and I marveled at their bravura; sadly I learned there had been several fatalities over the years. Charles Elliott Perkins bequeathed the 3300 acres to the city of Colorado Springs in 1909, to always be enjoyed by the people for free. Would that we had more magnanimous citizens like him! We left Colorado Springs and headed for Manitou Springs, Colorado’s version of Key West or Matlacha (on Pine Island). No parking here, either, only because of the proximity of the mountains rather than the water in Florida! We bought Pike’s Peak Cog Railway tickets for the 2:40 ride. The trip is a slow one; the 2-car train climbs to 14,115 feet in 90 minutes. Our seats were facing a Wichita KS couple with a 7-yr.-old boy who immediately bonded with Grandpa Bob. It could have had something to do with the chocolate covered raisins they shared. At the top, I was a bit altitude starved, so Evan and I spent most of our time in
the gift shop while Bob ecstatically took as many pictures as possible. The temperature was in the 20’s (in the 70’s below) and there was a lot of snow and mud which made it difficult to walk around even if you could breathe. Our guide had told us that the mountain gets most of its snow in March, April, May and June. We were rewarded with a herd of deer just as the train pulled into the station. Evan told us he hiked up the trail to Pike’s Peak in September and there was no snow at the top. We chose the Loop, a good Mexican restaurant, for dinner; it was so named because of a roundabout in front of it. I had a taco salad and the guys chose chicken Ensenada and Margaritas, resulting in some hysterical brain freezes. It was a great day with our son!Mother’s Day, I was told, would be my choice of food and activities. We started with a great breakfast prepared by Evan—yummy smoothies, hash browns, bacon, ham & eggs accompanied by a beautiful bouquet of white tulips,
then a replay of the Kentucky Derby (someday I’m going!), then a tour of the Denver Botanic Gardens. The perennial walk is outstanding (wait til you see the pics!) and we loved the greenhouse complex, I suppose, because it included so many of the plants we have at home. The orchids were my favorite. Then we browsed shops in downtown Denver, stopping at Kazoo & Co., absolutely the most complete toy store I’d ever seen. Ava, our 6-yr.-old granddaughter, had requested a "penny bank" which is the souvenir she collects; mission accomplished. We were ready for food at this point and Evan suggested Duffy’s Cherry Cricket, where we found great soup, burgers and flings (fries with onion rings). The day almost over, we had to squeeze a bit more out it, so Evan drove us to Evergreen. Wow! Picture a mountain lake, small enough to walk around, picture-postcard perfect. This would be the spot I would pick in which to settle if I were ever to leave Florida (only wild horses could drag me away). After another terrific day, we ended exhausted and happy.Evan
needed to catch up on some work today, so we browsed the Flatiron Crossing Mall. We were quite impressed with the clerks in all the venues we visited, be it restaurant, hotel, shop, tourist attraction. Every employee was courteous, helpful, friendly; we’d spent 25 years in retail and could only have wished for such great people. Evan picked us up and suggested we visit the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. We thought this was strange because we had agreed to tour the Coors Brewery the night before. However, when we learned that Stephanie was joining us for dinner after the museum, we were elated! The featured exhibit is the Whydah, the only pirate treasure ever recovered. The shipwreck happened in 1717 off the coast of Massachusetts. Black Sam Bellamy, a sailor in love with Maria Hallett, was driven to piracy in order to win his fortune and be allowed to marry her. The ship was carrying between 4 and 5 tons of silver and gold which was divided up into 180 50-lb. bags to be distributed to the crew. When the Whydah sank along with another of Bellamy’s ships, there were 102 dead and 9 survivors, most of who
were hanged. In 1984, the wreck was located and a wealth of artifacts recovered; more is still being salvaged. The whole display really piqued our interest and I definitely have a new perspective on pirates and the times that created them. Evan took us on a tour of REI, his biggest client, a huge sporting goods company with a spectacular store in Denver housed in an old railway station. Then we ended at Lola, a good choice for dinner. Stephanie joined us and she is as Evan describes her: “the happiest person I know.” Ceviche was the popular choice and I ordered fried calamari. It was fun getting acquainted; Stephanie works for a prominent electronics wholesaler and travels much like Evan (he drove 40,000 miles and flew a ton more last year). So they share a common type of work ; they certainly seemed to enjoy each other and we’re excited for their happiness. This short trip ended too soon as Evan left us at the Denver Airport; now he’ll fly to Lake Tahoe for a big bike event and we’ll end where we
started in Ft. Myers. But we know it won’t be three years before we return!
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