Back in the saddle again ...

I took a sabbatical from blogging .. a break, writer's block, whatever.  But now back to our regularly scheduled program ...

February is one of my favorite times of the year; it's time for the annual Westminster dog show.  The whole fam gathers around the television, each one of us offering up our august opinions; opinions that are grounded in little more than a penchant for one dog over another.

Here I am watching the program ... offering feedback for one of the inferior breeds

Be the competitors hound, toy, non-sporting, herding, sporting, working ... blah, blah, blah.  The cherry on noight two is, of course, the terriers :)  While all my bretheren are indeed lovely ... let me be very clear ... the Scottie was robbed !

Heading for Home

After a lovely weekend with the fam ... we loaded up the kennel and headed for Lincoln.  It's a really long drive from Denver to Lincoln.  After about 6 solid hours of riding on Mom's lap and looking out the passenger side of the car, I decided to see how the other half lives. 

While I was hanging on Dad's side, I thought I'd lend a hand with the driving.

We finished Saturday at the Colorado Railroad Museum.  The collection of rail cars, including full size and scale model trains, was amazing.




Dad, Nana, Opa and Uncle Buck at the Colorado Railroad Museum 

 



Dad looking like he's ready to ride the rails ...

   

The Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum and The Astor House were next on the list of destinations.  Needless the say, we fellas left the quilt museum to Mom and Nana.  They enjoyed a collection of Baltimore albums by Ann Elliot quilts and art quilts by Kathie Kerler. 

The Astor House is on the National Register of Historic Places.  The hotel opened as a prominent hostelry by a founding father of Golden.  However, as it's luster faded, the hotel changed hands, survived fires, transitioned to a boarding house as well as a stint as a hospitality hotel.   I do believe this is an ambiguous description for a hotel where women 'entertained' their gentlemen callers. 



Mom and Nana on the balcony of The Astor House



On Saturday, our sightseeing excursion began at Red Rocks.

Red Rocks Amphitheatre is an open-air amphitheatre. The venue has hosted some amazing acts, as well as a few that don't quite meet the level of amazing. The natural acoustics are supposed to be amazing.  Nana and Opa said the many concerts, including the Further tour that brought them to Red Rocks this time, have been amazing.

Nana and Dad



Mummy and Opa

We took Nana to Boulder to visit her alma mater, the University of Colorado. Ralphie is the university's mascot. This picture was taken outside the stadium.

Nana likes to tell the story that in her day, the dining facility was named for Alfred G Packer. A cannibalistic prospector. I'll include the wiki link here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alferd_Packer

After departing Boulder, we took advantage of a perfect opportunity and drove the scenic mountain route to take in the quaking Aspens.

Unless you have experienced this for yourself, it may be somewhat difficult to describe. The Aspens quiver and shiver ... as if they are trembling on their branches. It's positively

fascinating. The juxtaposition of the brilliant gold of the Aspens interspersed among the deep rich green of the evergreen forest is fabulous. Our timing to see these beautiful autumn colors could not have been more perfect.

Day 1 of our travels took us to Golden where Nana, Opa and Uncle Buck patiently waited for us to arrive. With a six o'clock dinner reservation, we made the most of our few hours of daylight. We drove up Lookout Mountain.

Here's a shot of the fam overlooking the city of Golden. Over Dad's shoulder is the Denver Skyline.

Atop Lookout Mountain, we visited the site of the Buffalo Bill Cody Museum and gravesite. Here's a snapshot of the gravesite.

And here's a photo of the carved likeness in the gift shop standing next to Pop.

After our visit, we wound our way down the mountain, where we found ourselves face to face with some of the locals. This was a seriously up close experience.

We closed the evening with an exceptional dinner at the Briarwood Inn. If you find yourself in Golden and ready for a lovely meal, you can't go wrong here.