Denver and my Birthday Weekend

Sam & Tawny, taking a power rest

Thurs morning (Nov 6th) we left Seibert, Co. and drove to Castlewood Canyon State Park to walk the cats before driving into Denver.  It was a beautiful park and the cats had a lovely hour or so wandering the rocks and looking for mice.  What a gorgeous, sunny, warm day!!

We got to Centennial, Co. and took up all of Cousin Kim and Eric's driveway!  Sammy walked right into their house and wandered around, looking to meet Sophia and Francesca, the shih tzus, and Mia the siamese kitty who all live in the house!  Luckily, none knew he was in there and I was able to get him back outside without incident.  I think he likes it here! (we all do!!)

Kim grilled a wonderful dinner Thursday night - steak for she and John, and Mahi Mahi for me.  We had a lovely visit with her, then Eric got home from the hockey game and we visited with him until 1:30 in the morning!

Friday (Nov 7th) Kim made us a beautiful breakfast then John & I took the cats over to Arapahoe Park for a walk.  Denver is very dry (and warm!) and cactus and sharp succulents abound!  We took them down into a creek gully and Sam moused in the bushes while Tawny tried to get under any rock with a hole under it... and into the culverts, and into whatever animal holes she came across.... She was a busy girl!  Sam moused under a juniper bush near the parking lot for over 1/2 an hour (AFTER our walk) and we had a hard time getting him into the truck, but once we did, he immediately fell asleep in Tawny's kennel (which he really doesn't fit) in the truck and we couldn't wake him up when we got back to the trailer, so Tawny went in and Sam went with John & I to run errands.  He had a great nap in the truck, half in and half out of Tawny's small kennel.

 Friday afternoon, Kim drove us to Boulder, Co. and up a large mountain to Cousin Julie and Todd's new place which is about 7500 ft.  The views are spectacular (!!) and we got there just before sundown and got amazing shots of the sun setting over the mountains.  

Cousin Kim, John, Cousin Julie & Todd

Julie & Todd's house

John, Dawn, Julie, Kim (and Tavin!)

Julie made shrimp scampi for dinner and we had a lovely time with her and Todd, and their boys, Caleb and Ryan. We had cupcakes and non-dairy crumble for my birthday dessert!!

Julie & Todd

Kim and her cupcake!

 It started to snow about 10 pm, and Julie exclaimed "oh my God, look at the snow; it's so beautiful!!" (she moved here a month ago from Pennsylvania...), and I said "oh my God, look at the snow - we have to leave!!" :)  But it was only snowing at the top of the mountain, and Kim's drive home was wet but not the snowy mess I was worried she would have.  Julie and Todd are loving their new home on the mountain. It is a beautiful spot and I'm so happy for them and their new life in Colorado.

















Saturday (Nov 8th) Kim showed up at our trailer door with a tray full of BREAKFAST!!  Kim & Eric, John & I and the cats all had a wonderful meal in the trailer, then John & I took the cats to a different park to run around in.  Unfortunately that day, it was more of a sit than a walk: Sam and Tawny were both mousing under the razor-sharp succulent bushes, but Sam was walking right though the paddle cactus to get to them.  Notwithstanding that his feet were bleeding, they both a delightful time and we had a lot of trouble getting them back into the truck to come home!  They both crashed as soon as we got back to the trailer, which is always a good thing.

Saturday afternoon we all met Julie & Todd near Morrison, CO for an awesome hike on one of the many hiking and biking trails that are in this area.  It's truly amazing how developed the trail system is, and how many people take advantage of it.  This is truly a great area to live in and be able to lead a healthy and active lifestyle.  I love it here.

Red Rocks - there is an ampitheatre behind the largest
of the rocks; they do concerts there in the summer!

Denver skyline in distance

Looking down at the hiking trail

Julie & Kim.  They look related, all righty!! :)

Eric, Julie, Kim, Dawn & John

The Girls - Julie, Dawn and Kim

Kim & Eric

Julie & Todd

Dawn & John

The Boys - "GQ'ing"... Eric, John & Todd

We stopped for cocktails at the Morrison Inn before heading back to Kim & Eric's place for dinner.  We called it our "progressive" dinner... cocktails in Morrison, then appetizers in our trailer and finally, another sumptuous meal at Kim & Eric's place.  Kim made one of her (Italian Rossi) family's recipes for baked chicken and sausage with potatoes, and salad and green beans.  What an awesome meal.  We had another  delightful visit with Julie & Todd, and Kim & Eric, and we are so thankful to have this much time with our cousins.

Chef Kimmie

Sunday (Nov 9th) was my pretend birthday as we have to travel today (the 10th).  I started the day with a sparkling Prosecco tasting... I liked them BOTH (duh). then Kim made brunch and not surprisingly, it was amazing...  We took the cats to an empty field not far from Kim & Eric's for their daily walk and it was the best spot yet.  They walked for over an hour and didn't get into any cactus or sharp succulents.  No new injuries for either of them, which makes it a good day!  The views of the mountains were spectacular.

Eric drove us all over to Thornton, CO in the afternoon, to tour the neighbourhoods we lived in when I was little little (I was born here).  Then we hit a liqour superstore called "Tipsy's" on the way home.  It is a massive Costco-style wine and liquor warehouse - so fun to browse around.


Kim & Eric are both from Chicago - and the Chicago Bears and the Chicago Blackhawks were both playing that night, so we dial-diddled between the football and hockey games (the hockey game was definitely the better game!) and had another lovely dinner by the fireplace.  We watched Chevy Chase's "Christmas Vacation" movie after the games were over - neither John nor I had ever seen it, so the "holiday" season is officially kicked off.

We're packing up and heading out today, avoiding a Canadian cold front that is coming thru this afternoon.  It will be minus 10 deg C tonight here, and worse the further north we go on this side of the mountains, so we are heading west towards Salt Lake City and then we will go north thru Idaho to go home.  The lows are not nearly as low on that side of the mountain and we will be able to go another couple of days in the trailer before winterizing it and doing hotels the rest of the way home...  We almost made it the whole trip without having to winterize and "camp" in La Quinta's with the cats, but alas... we are out of lovely autumn weather.  Most of the campgrounds on our route are now closed so we are lucky to have found a couple to hit in the next 2 days before we end our "trailer living".  It's been so great to have our home away from home...