Western Trip 2017

Day 2
Wednesday Oct 4
Day started with breakfast.  A couple different kinds of quiche, coffee and coffee cake.  Very good.
We met a couple from Kansas.  He (Luke?) was originally from the UK.  She, Kate (?) was from Kansas.  They were retired, having worked for University of Kansas.  Nice couple.  She was teaching Qi Gong.  She had been to China to train.

After breakfast, we went to Denver.  First stop was Red Rocks (should be posting some pictures in the near future).  What an impressive concert venue!  A natural amphitheater in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.  The seats were added in the 30's.  We did some steps - rows of seats.  A lot of younger people were there running and other types of exercise.

Then on to Tim and Jaia's house in Denver.  A bit of a busy street and rather modest looking house from the outside.  The inside was amazingly beautiful.  Tim and Jaia have done a wonderful job making this an incredible home for themselves and for Ayla.  The have 6 chickens and consequently fresh eggs.  They even get enough to sell them by the dozen to neighbors!  Jaia is quite the farmer too.  Lots of fresh veggies growing in the yard. And quite the carpenter.  She used old wooden fencing and made a beautiful functional desk for Tim who works from home.  And he's no slouch either on the home front.  He built the chicken coop and made lunch for us.  Apparently he does most of the cooking.
Interesting item here.  The backyard had some bushes that were full of these beautiful butterflies.  We actually saw lots of butterflies in the Denver area.  Actually at Red Rocks, Janice was taking pictures with a camera, and suddenly a butterfly landed on the finger!  It stayed long enough, 4-6 seconds, to be blown off her finger.

We bid farewell, but looking forward to seeing them during the Thanksgiving holiday when they'll be coming to Baltimore - With Mark and Susan and maybe Heather.

We went into downtown Denver to the Tattered Cover book store.  Interesting, but we got tired of it pretty fast.  We stopped for coffee at the Pigtrain inside the Central Train Station.  We decided to head back to Boulder for dinner and a night out.  Side note - we contacted Stefan Smith and thought we'd see him while in Denver.  But he was working and we were tired, so we missed that opportunity.

Back to the Bradley for a little snooze.  Then out to dinner at Foolish Craig's and then back to the Laughing Goat to see a jazz group called Purple Squirrel.  They did all original jazz numbers except for one medley cover of "Lucy in the Skies" and "Dear Prudence".

Probably going to Estes Park - the entrance the Rocky Mountain State Park.