Denver, CO

I have been slacking with my blogging.  It feels like it has been much longer than 3 weeks since our amazing trip to Colorado!

We flew into Denver on a Saturday and hit the ground running.  Our first stop was the Denver Botanical Gardens which were very peaceful and beautiful.  Like the gardens in Atlanta they are next to a large park in the heart of the city but still managed to feel tucked away.  I was the most impressed by their Japanese garden, bonsai tree exhibit, and alpine garden.  I enjoy botanical gardens even more now that I have my Canon Rebel t4i.  I love practicing photography on plants because God’s creations in wildlife are so beautiful that it’s hard to get a bad shot.  It is hard to get a great shot but it’s impossible to make flowers look bad, wildlife always make me reflect on the beauty and thoughtfulness of God’s design.  Everything in nature works together in such harmony – insects, water, and flowers.  We also had lunch at 10:30 AM since the time change was really messing with us.  It felt perfectly natural to share a Jalapeño cheese pretzel and chocolate éclair since for us it felt like 12:30 but I think the garden café employees probably found our menu selections a bit odd.

After the gardens we met up with Kyle’s cousin since he was also in Denver for work.  It was a lovely coincidence that we were there at the same time since he lives in Kansas and we don’t get to see him often.  After meeting with Chris we headed to the hotel and took a nap.  Naps are one of my favorite luxuries of vacation.  I may not love the idea that I’m getting older but thinking about daily naps in my retirement and twilight years softens the blow a bit. The rest of the day we explored Downtown Denver.  We tried a few highly recommended breweries and did a pretty extensive walking tour.  I racked up 17,000+ steps that day.  I think my route may have been a bit ambitious, but we did it!  I always love seeing the layouts and neighborhoods in new cities.  I love the feeling when you turn a corner and discover a whole new vibe and collections of shops and restaurants.