Our last week in Denver

Our last week in Denver practically flew by.     We're already through Kansas and into Missouri, about to cross the Mississippi River on our trek back east.

It was wonderful spending time with Jesse and Erin, enjoying their busy lives and our pleasant, private site at Chatfield State Park.

We drove up to Boulder and had lunch at one of our favorite restaurants, Brasserie Ten Ten, then picked up a million half-baked Empanadas from Rincon Argentino to be divided among Jesse and Erin's house and our freezer for the trip to the lake (oh, and some for Judi also..)

Bouillabaisse and crepes at Ten Ten

We spent most dinners with Jess and Erin, either at their house (empanadas, Mother's Day BBQ) or at restaurants (Friday night tradition at Mamma Sannino's, Saturday brunch at The Bindery, Saturday dinner at Duo, or our last night's meal at Cafe Terracotta).    These meals were all gifts from them to celebrate Dave's upcoming "big" birthday.   The carefully procured Lilacs were also for Dave..... So nice to have adult children!

halibut and shrimp with horseradish creme

Tanner keeps an eye on dinner......

tag teaming dinner!

Even their sweet old Lab., Tanner, enjoyed the dinner time rituals.

he jumps for joy in anticipation of his dinner!

We didn't just eat together, although it certainly sounds like that's all we did.  We went to the Clyfford Still Museum, took walks through their neighborhood, and enjoyed a very personal walking tour of downtown Denver's historic district.

the boys

oh Dave.....

old and new

In between visits we were entertained by the many and varied birds that lived at our site.    It's springtime (although you couldn't actually tell from the weather) and all our feathered friends were busy showing off or building nests.

Our special friend, a little guy we nicknamed George Jetson, was particularly taken with our sugar water offering and all but took our heads off to get to it.   One time Dave was in the process of moving the feeder after refilling it and little George landed and commenced drinking.   We called him Mr. Jetson because the loud buzzing noise his wings made as he zoomed around us made us feel the Jetson's flying car was approaching.   We could hear him from inside Beluga!

George

Lewis enjoyed his time at Chatfield State Park also.   Lots of bunnies and Magpies to keep an eye on.

he found that if he sat on Dave's lap he could watch them out the window.....

On our last day, a work day for Jesse and Erin, Dave and I packed a lunch went to the South Platte River for a leisurely drive.

We picked a lovely spot for lunch....one with a view of the river and Scraggy Peak (I don't know if it was Little Scraggy or Long Scraggy Peak, don't ask me).

We followed the river for quite awhile before turning away from it at the little settlement of Deckers.    We saw a body of water on the map, Cheesman Reservoir, and decided to see if we could get to it.       The Wigwam Creek Rd. (FR211) was narrow and winding and  took us up and up into the fire scarred mountains. 

I wasn't sure we were going in the right direction, the landscape certainly didn't suggest a lake!

But, at the top of the last hill, there it was! 

We weren't able to get to the dam because it was fenced off, but we did have a good time walking around and exploring the shoreline.   There was no one else there.

On our way back down the mountains I was a bit more relaxed (we were on the inside of the shelf road) and I could finally notice the little things.   Life persists even after a terrible fire.

We always love our time in Denver, exploring it's mountains and rivers, and most of all our precious time with Jesse and Erin.

Tonight we're in Danville, Missouri (just west of St. Louis) trying to safely wait out the line of nasty storms sweeping across the mid-west.   We've managed to stay ahead of it, but I think Danville is where it catches us!