Colorado (and #15)

It's been a busy few weeks! Ava, my mom, and I traveled to Colorado for a girls trip, Ava turned 15, and we celebrated Father's Day. Plus, we've both been really busy at work, Ava's been having fun with friends and trumpet sectionals, and G has been settling into his new Summer Power program at a local elementary school. Whew! 

We got some really big strawberries from the store the other day!

1st stripe on his green belt!

2nd stripe on her green belt!

Posing a little bit before swimming

G looks almost like a teen in this one *sob*

Day 1: Wednesday, June 14

We got up really, really early to catch our morning flight into Colorado. Once we arrived in Denver, we took the RTD from the airport to Union Station, and then walked the rest of the way to the hotel. We explored the shops near our hotel in downtown Denver, and had a wonderful Italian dinner.

Choo choo!

Union Station

Waiting to check into the hotel

View from our corner hotel room - loved seeing the mountains!

We had a very interesting corner room with 8 (!) windows...with electric shades!

Yummy dinner!

Day 2: Thursday, June 15

The Nuggets (NBA) had just won the championship after several decades so there was a HUGE (almost a million people) parade in Denver this day, just blocks from our hotel. We were trying to head out to Meow Wolf at the same time as the parade was starting, so it was a little congested with traffic. Luckily, we baked in some extra time so we weren't late to our timed entry into MW.

As for Meow Wolf...it was weird. And trippy. And indescribable. Seriously. The best way to understand is to visit their website.

Here's a snippet: "Commute via the Quantum Department of Transportation to the Convergence, a bustling city created by a rare cosmic event that joined four alien worlds. When you’re not trading memories as a form of currency, you and your fellow interdimensional travelers can venture out into four floors of surreality featuring Meow Wolf’s most epic art to date. If you’ve ever wanted to wax heroic at the crossroads of a real life sci-fi neutopia, this is the space-time for you."

I giggled when I saw the security system was called "Garrett"

After that adventure, we took it easy, walked around downtown some more, and enjoyed dinner at the 5280 Burger Bar

Day 3: Friday, June 16

We picked up our rental car in the morning, and headed north to Ft Collins. It was a walk down memory lane as we visited all of my old schools, our old houses, the mall, the library, City Park, Old Town, etc. It was surreal being there. It was so awesome to show Ava where I grew up. We even walked into my old high school (now part of CSU) and saw how different it now is.

Elementary School

Spring Creek (we used to watch the crawfish in this creek)

Junior High

In front of the old FCHS

High School

Tribute to the old high school

Horsetooth! I forgot how close to the foothills Ft Collins is

Ava requested In-N-Out, so that was our dinner stop on the way back to Denver!

Day 4: Friday, June 17

We toyed around with the idea of driving to Estes Park, but decided we didn't want to drive that far, so instead, we headed to Boulder. It was fun to walk around Pearl Street Mall, and get lost in the vibe.

Hiding from the rain, and eating some pizza

The Flatirons

It was sunny in Denver when we got back, so my mom and I found a patio to sit on and relaxed for a bit (Ava chose to stay in the hotel room)

Our last night dinner was tasty, and a great way to end our trip!

Of course, when we woke up on Sunday, it was also Ava's 15th birthday AND Father's Day, so the events of the day just kept going! (I was able to see my dad for a little bit that day, as well!)

G decorated her door while we were gone :)

We decided that Scott got to choose the Father's Day dinner, and we'd celebrate a special dinner for Ava on Wednesday night. We were all very happy to get back home and into a normal routine again. Traveling is fun, and we love seeing new parts of the country, but there really is no place like home! (Although, I wish we had mountains on our horizon!)