Dear everyone,
When is a surprise not a surprise? I tried to keep Cindy
from knowing that her two other children were going to meet us in Denver as a
late birthday surprise – I don’t think she knew for sure that they were coming,
but her comment on finding them waiting for her at a restaurant Friday night
was something to the effect “I would have been more surprised if they had not
shown up”. I want to give a lot of
credit to Lucas, who helped plan a lot of activities, and also did a lot of chauffeuring
for everyone; and I also want to mention Nicola, who has been repeatedly crisscrossing
the US over the last few months for weddings, bachelorette parties, birthday
celebrations, more weddings, etc.
Anyway, before discussing (in great detail) our Denver trip, I should also mention we went to our last Blackhawks game this season, which they lost (They played so badly a couple of weeks ago that the fans started booing them!) We were joined by the Wallochs - -they had tickets to the ‘cheap’ seats on the 300 level. We met them at the Girl and the Goat taqueria between the first and second periods, and they came back to our row in the 100 level for the remainder of the game - - lots of seats were available. Anyway, our tiny syndicate (me Jami, and Andy Brown) won’t bother purchasing a season ticket package for next season; I don’t think we will have any trouble getting good seats for any game.
Jami and I also went birding at the little red schoolhouse
the same day as the game. It’s still
pretty early, but we saw kinglets, towhee, osprey, herons, ducks. I hope it starts to warm up; we are still
getting a bit of snow.
Thursday we flew out to Denver. No problems with our flight other than some
turbulence (our flight back was delayed
about 30 minutes for a pilot, and we also had a bit of rough weather; the
federal judge had yet to rule on wearing masks, so we didn’t have to deal with
passenger unmasking in the middle of our flight. I really don’t understand why people are so
upset about wearing masks. It’s pretty common in crowded Asia. Of course, it’s
all mixed up with Trumpism and conspiracy, but I don’t see people protesting
laws preventing women from going topless, which surely is less of a public
health risk)
We were in Denver ahead of check-in time for our lodging (I also had some idiotic issues with my Airbnb app), so we cooled our heels at Hudson Hill prior to 4 pm. We got to our Airbnb, which was a three bedroom Victorian flat on Clarkson and 13th, right next to a middle school. I tried to tell Cindy we were living there to give us a feel for possible city living, but I knew she was having none of it. The highlight of the apartment was a Galaga machine that Lucas and Jasper played with. That evening we had dinner with Lucas’ roommate Pedro, who has a Masters in psychology, but has been unemployed for awhile, and my college roommate Carlos Madrid and his second wife Julie. We ate at a Vietnamese restaurant called Anise. I had a Moscow Mule with anisette in it – interesting. We got the restaurant at 6:30, and stayed near to closing talking. Carlos and I had a long conversation about what art is - - it was like being in college again.
Friday morning we had breakfast at the Jelly Cafe – I had blueberry corn
pancakes. This is a funky little café with
boxes of breakfast cereals in Plexiglas along the walls instead of
paintings. Looking at what we were
(are?) feeding American children for the last 50 years makes me understand why
we all seem so stupid compared to our grandparents. All of that sugar could not have been good for
us, regardless of vitamin and mineral fortification.
We walked on to the Culture Center, passing by the library, which sadly was closed on
Friday. They are doing some internal
reconstruction, and only the first floor is open Monday – Thursday. Too bad, since I wanted to find out more
about the Denver library system; I guess I will have to do this online.
Just across the street is the Denver art museum, where we met
up with Lucas. This is an unusual, modern building. It has a nice collection of
19th century French impressionists, a floor of Asian art, and
several floors of Native American and western art. On the top floor you have some good views of
the surrounding area.
After the museum we went to the Leven Deli.
It was a long wait to make our orders, but the food was good. We went back to our Airbnb, splitting with
Lucas who went back to his apartment to get his car (Nicola was already there,
working remotely). Lucas picked us up
and headed northeast to the Rocky Mountain Arsenal
National Wildlife Refuge. This is
15,000 acres of high steppe - - mostly low grasses, with some large spiky
plants, home to bison (we saw a few), prairie dogs (we saw holes), black-footed
ferrets (not seen), and a few birds. It
was once a military testing ground that has reverted back to a near natural
state. I think I saw two magpies, some starlings, a robin, and a western
meadowlark on a two mile walk we took along the ‘Discovery’ trail. It ended at ‘Lake Ladora’, which around here
would be called a large pond or a slough. I think we were there pretty early in
the spring, since photos show at least a hint of green. Almost everything we saw was some shade of
beige or brown.
We went back to the Airbnb, knocked the dust from out shoes,
and rested until it was time for dinner. This was at a long-standing good
restaurant near us called Potager. Surprise! Surprise! Nicola, Jasper and Vivian
were also there (Wes was in Texas visiting his grandfather). Cindy gamely tried to act surprised for about
20 seconds. We had a good dinner. I had a rye blini with beef tongue pastrami
(I thought this was the most disappointing dish), Cindy had a flatbread with
ricotta and pickled beets. There was
also some scallop appetizer going around.
For entrees everyone had either a lamb ragu or a pork saltimbocca (I
preferred the latter). For desert we
also had a reconstructed KitKat bar, and a lemon cake. We walked to the Ideal market (really a whole
foods) after dinner to get some breakfast food and ice cream for Saturday
night. I purchased a Croissant
loaf - - so delicious I bought one when we got back to Hinsdale. Back at the apartment, I realized we had
access to every streaming service, so I watched the first episode of The Marvelous
Mrs. Maisel. I ended up seeing three
of these over the weekend. A series I
would have watched if we had Amazon Prime, but not so great that I feel the
urgent need to see more. I also introduced Jasper and Vivian to Taskmaster, and
Old Enough (these
Japanese toddlers are eating sushi, not breakfast cereal).
Saturday morning we set off in two Lyfts to Meow Wolf. I don’t know how to describe this. An interactive Robot
Restaurant? An exploration game? I
wasn’t sure that I liked it immediately after I left the venue, but looking
back at it, I think I would want to go again to see what I missed, and if I
could make more sense out of what I was seeing- - it’s 90,000 square feet of
weirdness - -it took over three years to put the ‘exhibit’ together, and the
amount of attention to detail is astonishing.
I was surprised to see so many kids inside. A lot of the art has creepy undertones, and I
think it could be a bit traumatic for the under 8 set. I wonder how dated it
may feel in twenty years, or if they will continue to revitalize it. I’m sorry
I didn’t try to take more photos.
We took a break after Meow Wolf and went for a late lunch at the Denver Milk Market. This is a large, multi-restaurant food hall. You sit anywhere inside (or out), and can order from any of the associated vendors online. There are roving servers who deliver the food to you based on your location. I’m sure they walk many miles every day. Almost everyone got a poke bowl or something Asian, and then we walked back to the Airbnb.
A couple of hours later, Pedro, and Jacob and Christine showed up. The Friscoites had gone grocery shopping, and
brought three kinds of Italian sausage, lots of raw vegetables, beer, cider,
condiments, etc. Our Airbnb had a small
backyard with a Weber grill, which I fired up, and then realized (too late)
that it was almost out of propane. Lucas
and Jacob went and got a new tank, and after 10-15 frustrating minutes we had
heat again. I was surprised that we ate
almost all of the food that they brought - - it must be all the camping that
they do.
Sunday morning we went to the Denver Botanic Gardens. This is a relatively small (compared to
Chicago at least) garden with a nice tropical greenhouse, a succulent room, and
outside a lot of plants selected to grow in the steppe climate. I didn’t know that tulips and irises were
native to the Asian steppe! We visited almost the entire garden. Sadly, some of the Japanese area was closed
for reconstruction. We did go into the
Science Pyramid though.
Afterwards, some of us walked (while others drove with
Lucas) to Una Mas Taqueria for
fantastic tacos - - they had me at duck confit, but there were many excellent
choices (I got a barbacoa, but others had carnitas, seafood, lengua, al pastor,
etc.) Mango margaritas and palomas were also drunk! In the afternoon, Lucas took all of the other
kids to the train station so they could head back to the airport, and then
afterwards the three of us drove out to the Stem
Acreage cidery in Lafayette, where we met up with Jan Hoh, his Ukrainian
wife Maria, and their 12 year old son Peter.
Peter spent the entire evening playing with electronic devices, but we
had some good conversation with Jan and Maria. We had some flights of cider as
well!
Monday morning we came back home uneventfully. The last thing I must report on is that it’s
time to vote for your Chopped Challenge favorite, if you have Instagram, and
know how to vote for things. Here is the
link; you can at least see what other people made. I think our concoction is within the running.
https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/17935065220987131/
Love, H
No comments:
Post a Comment