Denver..together!

We went to Denver for a little vacation (#2 for me!) August 1-5 and it was great! We got along really great..and I was a little surprised. Not that I was expecting it to be bad, it's just I didn't expect all the driving (8 hours one way!) to go that well...I took a ton of pictures, of course. I had my digital camera this time, instead of using my little brothers. We drove over Friday after work (about 3pm) and got there a little after 10pm, with great time! We talked a little with Pat, then crashed. SO TIRED!

Saturday, we were hoping to ride the Cog Train up Pikes Peak, but alas, there were no more reservations available when we got around to looking for stuff to do at noon. So, we decided to tour the Coors Brewery (largest in the world..) in Golden, CO. What a cute town! I loved seeing all the "golden" things..Golden Police, Golden Fire Department, Golden dumpsters..The actual tour was pretty cool! Very hot in the brewing room, I can't remember the exact temperature. We had the opportunity to test some of the brews at the end of the tour, but I politely declined their invitation. For me, if I don't like the smell, I'm assuming I won't like the taste either. But I get the impression that beer isn't for taste..

From Golden, we headed to downtown Denver. We ate at Arby's (oooo!), saw the Art Museum (pretty cool), the History Museum (very cool!), and the state capitol from a distance. I thoroughly enjoyed the History Museum..but I'm just a nerd that way. There was a lot of mining machinery (which Cody loved) and just awesome artifacts.

That night, our hosts had a BBQ and so I got to see Tami, her husband BJ, and their three girls for the second time this year. Considering I hadn't seen Tami for 8 years, that's pretty good! Scott brought out some horses, so we all got to have a turn riding Cherokee - the paint Scott takes care of. I hadn't ridden a horse in...probably 8 years! I was a little nervous, but I had fun! The food was great and we really enjoyed talking to everyone.

Sunday, we went to church with the Austins and it was testimony meeting. I loved listening to their ward share their testimonies, very humbling. After church, we had a little lunch, watched Wall-E on the laptop, then headed up to the Cog Train ride. It was such a beautiful ride! The tour took about 3 hours total, but I loved every minute of it! It was freezing at the summit; it was about 90* at the bottom and 40* at the top! I'm glad I listened to Pat and brought my jacket! 14,110 feet! We ate at Zio's Italian Restaurant that night and hit the sack..so tired, again!

Monday, we saw the U.S. Mint...and it was a little disappointing. We saw less than what they show you on the Discovery Channel, and we had to get our reservation 2 months in advance. I'm glad we got to go, there were some really cool artifacts there, but we were a little let down. I'm just glad the tickets were free! After the Mint, we decided to walk around the other sites in the city. We took a tour of the State Capitol, it was so beautiful! We saw the civic center, which was pretty cool too. Another jewel we found was the Unsinkable Molly Browns house/museum. I hadn't known she lived there, or I would've planned on visiting it! We weren't allowed to touch any of the antiques or original parts of the house, but I still learned so much about her! Did you know, her name wasn't even MOLLY?! It was effing Margaret. Broadway gave her that name because it sounded better with music..silly show-business! After seeing "Molly"s house, we ate at a little pizza place down the street, then headed back to the car. It was a very walk-ative day, but really awesome. I also saw and got to take some photos of the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception ... google it, it's gorgeous.

^That's Molly Brown's house...incase you were wondering. The other photo is the Capitol. All in all, we had a very eventful stay over in Colorado. Cody got some guitar lessons from Mark and we got to eat out at Pat's favorite little Mexican restaurant where she has a "usual".. It was wonderful. Being able to relax with Cody and enjoy ourselves is something we really needed. Remind me to elaborate on the Pikes Peak trip..I have a lot more to express.