Technically this isn't our first outing in Denver. Mark and I did a little bit of sightseeing the weekend that he interviewed with Slawson. That was a very short trip so we didn't get to see as much as we had hoped. The second outing was the weekend that we were on the great house hunt. Suffice to say that weekend was as packed as could be with making decisions about buying our home and not at all about seeing the sights.
So this weekend was our first weekend of starting our New Adventure. Over Spring Break, Delaney, Zack and I went to Denver to see Mark (most importantly) and to show the kids where we were going to live, work and play. (Henley wanted to spend this part of her break with her friends and went to a Miley Cyrus concert in Dallas) I think we managed to get in a few totally touristy things while we were there this time.
Our first day out (Saturday) we started by going out to Parker to show Delaney and Zack the model home of the one that we are building. Okay, this really wasn't touristy at all but Delaney was very curious about the new house (imagine that!) and I also wanted her to see the home so she knew what it looked like before we went to the design center to pick out our finishes for the house. We then went by the lot where the house will be built and were pleasantly surprised to see that I will have a view of the mountains after all!
View of the mountains in the distance.
The homes being built behind us are ranches so they will not be blocking my view. When we picked out the lot, the developer didn't know what floor plan was being built behind us. If the homes were two story then there was no way that I was going to get my view. But they're not and this girl is one happy camper!
We ate a quick bite to eat for lunch in Castle Rock and then headed south to Colorado Springs and went for tour of the Olympic Training Center. Mark and I have always wanted to visit the facility and found it very interesting. What surprised us is that it isn't quite as large as we had imagined. There are several other training centers all over the US that Olympians train at but this is the main campus. We all really enjoyed the tour and managed to speak to several athletes who had just finished their workout for the day.
Not the Jamaican Bobsled Team
View of Pikes Peak from the Olympic Training facility
As close as I will ever get to giving an Olympian a high five!
Mark holding the Olympic torch from the Lake Placid Olympics
We then headed back to Denver with hopes of touring the Mile High Stadium. The internet said the last tour of the day was at 3:30 and we arrived about 3:15 but the last tour had left at 3. So after a little cajoling (and a little cash on the side) we secured a private tour of the stadium! We saw one of the Corporate rooms, the Championship rings, the Horse statues, and the bonus of actually getting to go down on the field! You know how Zack is a sports fanatic so obviously he was in heaven.
One of the Corporate suites inside of the stadium
Zack and Delaney on the field
Four of the famous horse head sculptures in the stadium
Sunday we got up, ate breakfast at the apartment and then headed to Golden. We toured the Coors brewery and then had lunch in downtown Golden.
One of the brewing kettles
All of the different brands of beer that the brewery now makes.
We ate at a really good bakery/sandwich shop called D'Deli and enjoyed a little more of the Coors brew!
At D'Deli
We all agreed that we need to go back to Golden and really take a look around the town when we have a little more time.
Someone at the sandwich shop suggested that we go to Evergreen, Co. Most of the lakes in Evergreen freeze over during the winter and they have open ice skating on them. The lakes are big enough that they have several Zambonis that groom the ice everyday! Of course it is too late in the season to skate but we did take a walk around the lake and at one point had to walk across it because the path was blocked off due to an engagement photo shoot.
Evergreen Lake
Walking across the frozen lake
All of us after walking around/across the lake
We found a great Greek restaurant on our way back to the apartment and ate until I thought we were going to pop!
Monday Mark had to go to work so the three of us hopped on the train and spent the day being tourists in downtown Denver. Side note- Mark has been taking the train everyday since we were there! We took a tour of the Capital building and were pleasantly surprised to find that the architect for Denver's capital is the same man who designed our Texas capital. It is almost identical to ours but Denver's has gold/brass/bronze on EVERYTHING and red marble- not our beloved pink granite. Texas' capital is by far the prettier of the two in my humble opinion.
Denver's capital dome undergoing a facelift
Gold/brass/bronze everywhere…
5280!!!
After a quick tour of Mark's office and meeting his boss, we all ate a quick bite and then went about being tourists.
Mark works in the Key building- 16th floor.
We literally walked the entire downtown area. We went to the Pepsi center (professional basketball, hockey and minor league lacrosse), then walked to Coors Field (Pro baseball field) and then all over LoDo (Lower downtown). There were lots of things to see, lots of street people, and lots of *ahem* colorful characters! Reminded us so much of Austin!
16th Street Mall
Coors Stadium
Tuesday we spent the entire day picking out finishes for the house. It really surprised me that it took so long considering I know what I like and don't like and generally knew what finishes I wanted. The problem was that they had so many good choices of carpeting, tile, granite, lighting, etc. that it was hard to make selections between two or three really good options. I am happy with what we ended up with and know that it was time well spent. I am anxious to see it all come together once the house is finished. Side note- the weather forecaster said that there was an 80% chance of snow showers that afternoon. Of course to these flatlander Texans that meant that it wasn't going to happen. Wrong! We all were woefully underdressed for the day but fortunately we were inside all day long in the design center.
Mark has been in the apartment for about a month now and he's so much happier in it than living in the hotel. It's not ideal but we feel fortunate that we found an apartment that is within walking distance to the train, grocery stores, etc. The builder has told us that once they break ground we should be in our home in 7-8 months. So until then- we will be apartment dwellers. Here's where we will be living.
View out of the bedroom window.
So that's about all we were able to do in the 5 days that we were there. I'm so glad that we were able to spend these few days with Delaney and Z and were able to show off our adopted city, our new home and to begin this crazy new adventure.
