A Thanksgiving Trip to Denver. November 23-29, 2017

So we checked airline flights and found a very reasonable direct flight Jacksonville to Denver to visit Brett and Natalie.  We flew out on Thanksgiving afternoon and returned on Tuesday....well actually Wednesday with the 3 hour plane issue delay. It is only the second Thanksgiving we have missed the Michigan celebration with Tom's family in 30 years or so. But it was so nice to be with Brett and Natalie for a few days.

We landed and got our free rental car (thank you Enterprise/National).  We were just in time for a great sunset and some unique (to us at least) cloud formations. Perhaps these clouds help explain our bumpy ride here.

We drove to the Westminster area near their apartment to find a bite to eat.  We ended up at a Macaroni Grill and Julie had lamb and I had lasagna for our Thanksgiving feast!  Actually it was quite good.
It was great to see Brett and Natalie Thanksgiving evening and see their beautiful recently remodeled 2 bedroom/ 2 bath apartment.  Very nice.  The golf course view from their balcony.

Friday we did some grocery shopping, took a nice walk on the trails around Standley Lake (although a quick rainstorm cut it short) and settled in for the short stay. 

We went to dinner in Arvada at a really nice little Italian place, Zuccas.  What a great little downtown area.
Saturday we ran errands and visited / caught up on things with Brett and Natalie.  We took the light rail into the city and Brett bought us lunch at a great Mexican restaurant near Union Station, Machette Tequila and Tacos.  Really good!  Thanks Brett! 

We walked around town and found the street location Julie's great uncle lived in the 1920's on Wazee St.

This is the original seed company building.  We think the residents might have been different seeds today.  It is Colorado.

That evening Brett grilled steaks for dinner....delicious!
Sunday we took a ride to the mountains and visited Staunton State Park for a nice 5 mile hike. 

The record high temperatures we enjoyed here on the trip were great.  Hiked in just a sweatshirt at almost 9000 feet.  There were a couple icy areas on the trails and some snow here and there but it was a spectacular hiking day.

Monday Julie continued to work on Brett's baby book.  This even included a call to Mom Van Hall to get some details on her childhood, etc "for the record" in the book. It was done by the time we left!

We also enjoyed some time with their cat and dog, Sophie and Leo.  Sophie reminds us so much of our cat Frisky.

 And Leo is still a puppy!

We also checked out the local prairie dog population on one of our neighborhood walks.

Monday night Julie and I cooked dinner for Brett and Natalie.  Gotta check on the blueberry pie Tom is baking. Yes the ice cream is in the freezer....

We returned to Jacksonville on Tuesday.  But......
It was a late night....OK early morning arrival back in Jacksonville.

November statistics:
Miles travelled:  Month: 390 / Trip to Date: 8982
Travel days:   11/ 195
Engine hours: 46 / 1022
Locks:   0/ 47
Bridges opened:   8 / 76
Days on hook or free wall:   8 / 86
Gallons of diesel:  322  / 7318