We finally made it to Malort Monday at Fellow Traveler. Malort is strong, the middle one (besk) was the best and most absinthe tasting, the last (BS) was okay, but the first one (Chicago style Malort) was harsh.
Tubing.
Snacks.
Hike at 3 Sisters.
Hike at Paint mines.
Finally, the right flow and temperature to swim in Clear creek.
Since James was still off we decided to roam around Denver and do some staycation stuff. Things like: Drinks at Fellow Traveler.
Coffe at Riize.
Walking by the Platte.
Going to Happy Camper for the first time.
Checking out Avanti.
Don’t judge that most of our staycation centered around food and drinks…
Jazz at FT.
Driving to Georgetown.
We went to the Energy museum for the first time.
While we were doing that Grace treated herself and a friend to a few days in NY for her 20th bday, she got to see some cool stuff, eat good food and it was a great trip.
This is Jack packing his bag, he needed to make sure his ball was coming.
Don’t have to drive too far before you hit Kansas.
Jack says time to roll (he ended up rolling in every state.)
Pit stop at Pratt farm house.
And the last Indian fight in this county.
Made it to our motel in Downs, KS. The last 30’s style motel bungalows left in the state.
Drove into town and saw the library, then picked up pizza for dinner and came back to the cabin to eat dinner and pineapple upside down cupcakes for James’ bday. Then a toast at sunset.
Checking out the grounds the next morning.
Saw this cute place in the next town, Cawker city, home to the biggest ball of twine.
Made a pit stop in Wamego because of the cute windmill.
Saw the Oz museum, did not stop.
First Triple D restaurant, BoBo’s drive in.
Very good, but very messy. In Topeka we stopped to see the Brown vs. the Board of education site, something that wasn’t on my list, we just found it.
We arrived at our loft in Kansas City.
Union station.
We found a Bark park called Bar K, it had a little dog and big dog area, food and drinks.
Dinner at Charbar.
Sunset over the Missouri river.
The next morning – coffee!
This is when I found out my instant camera wasn’t taking pics right, I thought it was a film issue, it wasn’t , I just hadn’t used the camera in so long I forgot how to set it.
Hall of Waters, gorgeous art deco building.
Arrived at our art loft in St. Louis.
Courthouse where Dred and Harriet Scott sued for freedom from slavery 1857 and were denied freedom in the worst decision of the court.
Arch!
Triple D place, Hwy 61 Roadhouse.
Sunset from the loft.
We turned around and watched the lights going off at the museum across the street.
Made it to Kentucky, first stop Jeptha Creed for a distillery tour.
Then on to Buffalo Trace distillery.
You could smell the oak from the barrels coming out of the storehouse.
When in the South.
State Capitol.
Finally made it to Hotel Distill.
Walking around the Urban Bourbon trail looking for a Mint Julep.
Louisville Slugger museum.
We drove by the cemetery where Col. Sanders is buried, but the way to the grave was blocked by a funeral, didn’t think about that happening. So, we retired for the night. We did eat KFC, just not by the grave.
Saw the first English speaking church in a German area of town.
Union station, not open to the public.
Bridge over the Ohio river at a nice park.
Heigold facade.
Drove by Churchill Downs.
Back in the Urban Bourbon area and hotel.
Dinner at Joe’s Crab shack, they had a patio overlooking the river.
Repeal time at the hotel, every night at 19:33 a free drink to celebrate the end of Prohibition.
We had a good sleep, but Jack didn’t want to leave in the morning.
Off to visit Col. Sanders grave.
And others: the Frito Lay company magician, the lady who wrote The Happy Birthday song, George Rogers Clark, brother of the Clark that was on the Lewis and Clark expedition and Muhammad Ali.
We never made it to Nashville, we had a medical event and had to turn around and go home. But, we are planning to do the last half next Summer.
In the morning we went by Daniels park and the bison were out to greet us, a great start to the day.
Grace made our cake!
We pulled up to the back of Englewood Grand for a pre-dinner drink (that’s what I told James) but in reality LAPOMPE was waiting to play for us while we ate some gumbo I brought and toasted with drinks.
Phil and Erika gave us a bottle to take with us.
(The gift for 30 is pearl.)
The next day was James’ 54th bday and the start of our Anniversary road trip.
Grace and I went to see Quixote Nuevo and it was awesome, great re-imagining of the Don Quixote story.
On the way out we saw Erik on a poster (he was in a show there.)
Play ball!
I saw Carmen, had a great seat, it was awesome.
Jack got a fur cut.
At some point it was Fri-Yay at Phil’s and Taco trucks at Chochino’s.
Went to a cute street fair.
Got my hair cut.
Went kayaking.
I made a field trip to the new CSU Vida building. This building is all about animals, we got to see surgery on a dog, cats being fixed, see a horse playing with a ball and do some hands on stuff with water sheds (Denver water is going to be in another building.) It’s free and very cool to get to see the surgeries and the little vet lab for kids. They have horse therapy there, kids with disabilities or autism come and get to play/ride on the horses to help them. They have a section for horses to have PT for ailments, a hydro pool, a treadmill that is under water, a heat area. I can’t wait to tour the Terra (gardening, earth building) and the Hydro (water) building.
I went to a new smoothie place and got this amazing smoothie bowl with mango, pineapple, coconut, granola, turmeric, blueberries, lime juice, I think that’s it. It was really good.
We had an evening drink date at Prost and they got a new Summer cocktail, blackberry.
Jack was too tired to jump up and eat his treats, so I had to hand feed him.
Hannah started her Drury Inn internship, this is not her uniform, maybe I will get a pic of her in it eventually.
I took my friend Ann to Sherpa House for her bday, haven’t been there in a while and it was good.
I got 6 different boxes of this new cereal and tried the Fruit Loop one, it tasted just like them, but no sugar and fewer carbs.
Walked around the Paris street market.
Stopped for decaf coffee.
Then to Prost for the pig roast, look at that thing! It was so moist and good, didn’t even need sauce (though I added some.)
Since it was Kentucky Derby day we had to go to EG to get a mint julep, Bethany joined us there.
Mother’s Day! Joel moved to his house in Kansas, but everyone else was home for dinner at Tupelo Honey. I took Hannah to work then made an egg waffle stuffed with brussel sprouts, James mowed, I went to church, then the grocery store, then came home for a rest. We went to the park, then back home to wait on Hannah. Dinner was good, I got the spicy fried chicken with grits.
My mint kingdom.
A short walk and snack at Lair O’ the Bear with James and Jack.
I’m making fried tilapia, elote corn and salad for dinner tonight. Tomorrow I’m going to hike somewhere with Jack, not sure where yet.
When I cleaned up the house, garage and porch I started looking for flowers for the front. We have 2 chairs and a small table on the front porch and it’s nice to sit out there in the evening (when it’s warm.) I got some new plants for the side of the porch, hung up the hummingbird feeder, got a hanging plant for the front and some flowers in the front pot. I’m thinking about getting an outdoor rug because Jack has the annoying habit of licking the cement when we’re out there and that would cover a bit of it.
We went to the Farmer’s market for the first time this season and wandered around. We bought some pierogies and toffee and James BBQ’d for lunch. It’s also that time of year, as long as it’s not raining on Sunday he’ll BBQ random stuff and we’ll put potatoes and corn on after to cook for dinner.
When I’m out doing Shipt I like to take breaks to walk, if I can do them in between orders. Jack likes it too. We went on the Lee gulch trail and it was cold, but nice views were had.
Tuesday after delivering some balloons I took Jack to the Springs to hike the Siamese twins trail at Garden of the gods. It’s not a very long trail, but it does start with an incline and at the end you scramble up the rocks to the hole in the rocks. Jack rested for a little bit and on the way down he saw a lizard. It was very quiet, cool, just a bit of wind, gorgeous sky, perfect hike.
The Colorado adventure 