Day 3--sights to see! Part 1

On the morning of the third day of our trip (our 10th anniversary!), we went to the Denver Science Museum.  We didn't get to see all the exhibits, but the ones we did see were pretty cool.  We started at the Minerals & Gems exhibit....(most of the pictures have their own explanation so click on them to read what's there)

The entrance to the exhibit

Quartz

Pyrite

An actual cave formation--they had moved an entire cave apparently.

Crystals inside the cave

Cool crystal!  Looks like hair

This is an amethyst geode--you can't tell from the picture, but it's about 4 feet dep

More amethyst

Gooooooold!

Large minerals/crystals

Aquamarine formation--our birthstone and Colorado's state gemstone

Gold display.  Two very thick safe doors on each side close every night to protect the display.

I love gooooooooold

More aquamarines

After viewing the exhibit, we headed for the IMAX theater for the show "Under the Sea".  While we waited in line, Mister & I kissed.  We saw the little girl in front of us poke at her mom and then say, "They kissed!"  She covered her mouth with her hand and looked back at us again.  It was pretty funny.  Of course the Mister then struck up a conversation with her.  Her name was Maya and she was wearing glitter on her face and sparkly flip flops.  That was the extent of the conversation.

We were let into the theater soon after.  Maya and her mom went to a lower area of seating and we sat higher and off to the side.  As we settled in, Maya arrived with her mom in tow.  She wanted to sit with us.  Luckily the Mister had a couple of seats open on his other side, so Maya sat next to him.  She told us, "We were sitting next to some Chinese people and I'm Chinese but I don't speak the language..."  And throughout the movie she would grab the Mister's arm and whisper something to him every now and then.

After the movie, we said goodbye to Maya and her mom.  They were going to the dinosaur exhibit and we were going to find the terrace.  Maya told the Mister, "I hope you don't get rained on!"

Off we went in search of the 4th floor for good vantage point pictures.  Somehow we got through running downstairs for him to have a smoke and as we came back upstairs we ran into Maya & mom again.  Mister told them we were still in search of the terrace and Maya immediately said, "Ok, let's go!" but her mom told her they were going to a different exhibit again.  Funny, right?

We made our way through a rare/endangered/extinct? birds exhibit (and let me tell you, they were a LOT more cooperative for pictures than the animals at the zoo the next day!)

Since I have a few more pictures of the rest of our day at the museum, I'll cut this day into 2 parts.

Day 2--switch up and test drive

On the morning of Day 2, we got ready for a day of sightseeing.  And while doing so, I noticed something on the ceiling of the bathroom in our hotel room.  Something that looked like blood.
I told the Mister, who then went to the front desk and very calmly told them we were NOT happy with how we were being treated and we'd like another, clean room.  They offered to move us to another room while we were out for the day and that was that.

Off we went to the dealership to drop off the car.  While we were there, we test drove a new Countryman--which looks to be my soon-to-be ride?  The Mister really likes it and thinks it'd be a much more comfortable trip car, not to mention it's AWD.  Something very useful in Montana.  Where it snows 9 months a year.
The Mister got a MINI t-shirt while we waited, as well.  He has a MINI t-shirt and I don't.  How wrong!

After all the time we spent at the dealership, by the time we got to the zoo the parking was overflowing and the temps were pretty high.  We decided to try to go to the zoo first thing in the morning another day.  In the meantime, we may as well do some shopping...and shopping we did.
We went to an outlet mall west of Denver called Colorado Mills.  The Mister needed some accessories.  Malls usually make me twitchy--this one was no exception.  But we managed to find a couple places that made the twitching calm down:  kitchen stores!  Oh boy!  In one we wound up getting a handy dandy screwpull, which makes uncorking bottles of wine & champagne fun.  Then we found a set of pots & pans that we needed, and I'd wanted, for a few months now.  Yay hooray!  The sales tax was a bitch, but I still got kitchen goodies.
After all the shopping, we found a mini putt blacklight 18-hole course.  We were on vacation, so why not?

Rockin' the MINI shirt

Under the Sea

Magic Mushrooms!

more under the sea...

So cool!

Flowers/coral/funky

Mayan ruins?

We didn't keep score, the Mister managed a couple hole-in-ones and I think I got 3 or 4 2-putts.  But I couldn't stop staring at the artwork.  They'd obviously put a lot of effort into making all the cool drawings on the walls & stuff.

Once we'd finished at the mall, we went back to the hotel.  They hadn't moved our stuff for us, but they'd given us a new room.  With a king size bed.  And free internet service--for the week.  And free breakfast--for the week.  AND a cheese & fruit tray with a bottle of wine and a nice apology note.  How cool is that?

Needless to say, we'd been very well appeased.  We went to bed happy.

And woke up at midnight to the fire alarm going off.  No kidding.  The hotel was evacuated, firetrucks arrived, the whole shebang.  

So we waited outside for the all clear.  Luckily the lightning storm that'd been going on when we went to bed had just passed.  Whew!  The Mister and I weren't grumpy, we figured this was just another part of the adventure at the hotel.... -snort
The fire alarm had been a false alarm so we were all allowed to go back to our rooms after about 15 minutes.  Yay!
And so ended day 2.

10 year anniversary trip--Day 1

The Mister & I took a trip last week, to Denver.  For a week.  Denver because we had to get the car serviced and we figured while we were there, we may as well make a vacation of it.
It's the longest vacation we've ever had together.  And it was a hellishly hot & stormy time, but good nonetheless.

On Day 1 we....
...took the dogs to the kennel, where they looked at me with fear & sorrow in their poor little puppy eyes.  The barking of the other dogs in the kennel made the girls run back to me and hide behind/between my legs.  Talk about guilt.
...hit the road only a half hour after schedule!  That's a feat, let me tell you.
...stopped along the way about 10 times.  First to fill up, stretch (Mister), use the facilities, smoke (Mister), be sick (Mister), check tire pressure after the alarm went off, fill up again and get some McD's fries (again Mister).

...drove into a hell of a storm.  I mean 60+ mph winds, downpour rain in sheets and constant lightning.  I almost had a major freak out.  I HATE storms, and if there'd been a worse storm in there we wouldn't have known until it hit us.  So thankful there was no hail!
...arrived in Denver 11 hours after we left Bozeman.  Average drive time is 10 hours.  All those stops put us behind a full hour.
...checked in to the hotel and find out we were given a 2 queen room instead of the king room I'd requested and had been told we had.  grr!
...hung out on our 4th floor balcony overlooking the atrium & indoor pool.
...went to bed early since we had to have the car to the dealership at 9 the next morning.

Week three: heatwave & fireworks

Well, summer finally arrived.  This week has been up into the 90's, thankfully not into the triple digits.
The dogs didn't get to walk as much because by the time I woke up, it was already too warm to take them.  I won't walk them if they're going to be exhausted after one lap at the park, so we stayed home for a couple of mornings this week.  They got hot enough just in the house, forget about going outside.
The 4th turned out to be pretty bland.  The Mister wasn't feeling good, so I was the only one enjoying the fireworks.  After I got over being jumpy every time one was set off.
Earlier on Monday afternoon, while minding my own business playing on the iPad, a FLASH BOOM scared the holy hell out of me.  Lightning seemed to have struck a tree half a block away.  I HATE it when that happens!!  So once fireworks started going off, I was jumping almost every time.  Ugh.
Later in the evening, as the fireworks really started going off everywhere, I took a little video.  It's a bit boring if you're looking for fireworks.  To me, it's very interesting to see the metamorphosis of the clouds as they continue to grow & change shape.  The video is over a 15-minute period, I just cut out the non-busy stuff.

Week two: learning limits

After walking the dogs so much last week, my feet/legs started to hurt pretty bad.  This week I had to take it easy.  I think I jumped in, full swing, with a bit too much enthusiasm.

The weather this week has been absolutely lovely.  I got to meet up with a friend on Tuesday for brunch--where she told me she's moving to England.  Very excited for her, very bummed for me.

Long weekend is here now, the Mister gets to be home for two days in a row.  Woo!!  Hopefully we can relax and hang out together, maybe putter around the house a bit.

The longer I'm off, the more errands I seem to run, the more often I find myself thinking, "How the hell did I get anything done when I was working full time?"

Trying to prepare for our anniversary trip.  We're both really looking forward to it and I'm starting to get ideas of what to do with our time.  One thing I can definitely say--YAY FOR HOTWIRE!  Talk about an awesome deal on a super nice hotel.

Quick, no pics

A friend on facebook posted this link:  10 Myths About Introverts
What a shock for me to find out that I'm not broken, I'm not a freak (well, at least not for the obvious reasons) and there might be more people out there like me.
Now I'm waiting for that book to arrive.  Very interested to read more about myself.

Week one: the dogs are happy

So for the first week of my time off, I took the dogs to the local park for a walk every day with the exception of one day.
The pictures below are of Sunday's walk.  First thing in the morning, with the sun just rising, it's nice and cool and the park isn't very busy.  Needless to say, I enjoy the walks almost as much as the dogs do.  They get to run free and play and sniff to their heart's content.
Lily loves the hill there--every time we lap, she runs up to the top, sometimes just halfway.  She'll look down at the grass below her and then take off at full speed toward the bottom of the hill.  She's goofy.
Amber, on the other hand, has only one thing on her mind:  a ball.  She must find a ball, usually not long after we arrive.  It seems that a lot of dogs lose their ball in the long grass and Amber's more than happy to retrieve it.  Luckily, she doesn't expect me to throw the slimy slobber-covered thing for her.  It's mostly just a pacifier.
And if she doesn't find a ball?  She's more than happy to go after one that another dog's owner is throwing.  It's pretty frustrating that she's so obsessed, but most dog owners are pretty understanding.

Off we go

My Bridgers

Winding trail

Beautiful morning

Sometimes the only way I can find them is by their tails sticking up

Hard to not love the view

Up she goes

Surveying the ground below

Ready for takeoff

Down she comes

I only see them this close near the end of the walk, when they're getting tired