Denver or Bust - Day One

We are not vacationers. We just don't do vacations. Mostly it is about the pain and agony of finding someone to do the chores and then actually imposing that duty on said person.

You can really run out of friends quick when you have chickens that need let out, fed, shut in and eggs that need to be collected. It is a perpetual Easter Egg hunt at our house because our birds are "free range". So....it is an added bonus if said person is not averse to stepping in chicken doo.

Then there is the milk cow. We actually had a family say that they would take her to their house and milk her and manage all that is - Princess. Ruby was also "fresh" at that time but John let her start to dry down so thankfully there was only one to deal with.

The dogs and cats pretty much take care of themselves.....it is like 'Survivor - Animal' all the time in their lives. They have a self- feeder (John tears one end of a big bag of dog food open) and when it is empty, Ring (Head ranch dog) will drag the empty sack up into the yard. And rip it up. And string the ripped parts all over. It works. We buy more dog food. Then we pick up the pieces of dog food bag.

The Cattle and Horses take care of themselves and although John never stops fretting that there will be fence problems or bull problems or water problems....he always checks everything really good before going anywhere for any length of time and then has to trust that it will all be ok when we return.

So, as you can see....it just isn't a carefree decision....add to that equation the fact that John and I are super content to stay at home all the time and....well, vacations just don't rise to the top of the priority list very often.

But this trip was different. This was about having fun new experiences as a family and, most notably, it in no way had to do with cattle....that is unique, and, I must say....refreshing.

It was totally a sacrificial vacation for John.

He hates cities.

He hates to be gone.

He hates to shop.

He hates to spend money.

He hates to eat out.

And, he hates to drive in heavy traffic.

What I haven't told you is that he planned this trip...pretty much from start to finish and the whole purpose, outside of fun family time, was for him to talk to Cole about adolescence. You know, the birds and the bees.....only that actual talk took place after the vacation and when I was at work.

Oh.....John hates adolescence and talking about the birds and the bees too. :)

Now you have the background....sorry that it was so long. I have trouble filtering sometimes.

The whole thing almost didn't happen.

John and Cole got cold feet the night before and wanted to call it off....it seems Cole hates adolescence and the thought of talking about the birds and the bees too.

But, even though I was really tired of traveling and I would have welcomed a few days at home before I started back to work full-time, I felt that we had planned on it all summer and we should just stick to our plan.

Not to mention that Cole was soon to be 14 and perhaps it would be good to talk to him about adolescence .... while he actually was one. We were all glad we persevered.

We left home on Wednesday the 13th a little before noon and stopped in Scottsbluff to grab a bite to eat before continuing on to Colorado. We didn't get left here as early as we wanted so we didn't stop at the Outlet malls going down. The traffic wasn't bad at all until we got closer to Denver. We got to our hotel (Downtown Colfax Street) safely (Downtown Colfax and safely don't always go together) about 6 or so and checked in and got ready to go out for supper.

I had planned on us eating at Casa Bonita. I love Casa Bonita. We had a little trouble finding it. I knew it was on West Colfax. There were lots of....activities..... going on on Colfax. Cole is sure most of them had to do with illegal drugs. He might be right.

It was a balmy evening in Denver and Casa Bonita was lit up like it was Christmas time. There were quite a few people there and we had to wait in line for 30 minutes or so. Casa Bonita was good. I wouldn't say that they have the best food in the world, but it is definitely entertaining.

We watched fire juggling, and old time gunfight, the gorilla - it was all fun and festive.

One of my favorite things about going there is watching the cliff divers. We tried several times to get a good picture of it but it was just too difficult to time the picture just right. You can't really tell, but this diver would dive from pretty high up into this little pool right in the restaurant.

While we were eating a mariachi band was playing and would stop by tables and serenade the diners. This guy was stopping by tables as well and entertaining people with magic tricks. He was really good and although I wasn't expecting much....he really got us in the end. He started with a coin trick and actually it seemed like a below average type of act....but when he opened his hand, after several slights, and there were dice there instead of coins....it blew my mind. He hit a home run with that one at our table.

We stayed there until closing, just walking around and taking in the sights. Cole and John got a caricature done....sorry it is sideways...just maybe lay your head over to the left and you can get the idea. I thought it was real good of Cole. John looks a little chubbier than he has ever been and she went on and on about his "good STRONG chin but didn't put in his 'Kirk Douglas like' chin dimple. That's ok. The goal was to commemorate the weekend of the son-Dad talk and that was effectively done.

Casa Bonita was ready to close before we were ready to go....but in order to avoid a scene....we did eventually exit on our own.

The night was still beautiful, the action was still in full swing on ole Colfax street and we made it to the hotel without incident.

It was time to turn in and after obeying John's every caution and tip about avoiding bringing bed bugs home with us....we turned in for the night.

End of Day One.