Denver: Touring the City and a Drive in the Mountains

At Dakota Ridge RV Park, Golden, Colorado...

We've spent a few low-impact days getting to know Denver and the surrounding area a little better. We had dinner with friends Dave and Martha Jo in their lovely townhouse in Littleton, a suburb of Denver. They clued us in to some things to see and places to eat, so we've been doing some of that. We checked out Boulder and two nearby state parks, Chatfield and Cherry Creek. These are very nice parks, each with more than a hundred RV sites with full hookups. These are very popular, however, and reservations need to be made well in advance. Campers can stay no longer than two weeks, then they must move on. (They can move to another state park, however, for another two weeks, and so on.)

We also drove into the mountains to Idaho Springs, stopping at the Denver KOA West campground to pick up a small telescope that I had ordered. Seeing all the myriad of stars, as we have in the clear night skies in the mountains, has piqued my interest in stargazing. This is what led me to buy a basic telescope to see what I can see beyond merely my bespectacled eyes.

We also took highway 74 from I-70 to Evergreen and Morrison, a really beautiful drive, and we stopped at the Switchback Smokehouse near Evergreen for a late lunch. Very good BBQ, but a little pricey, we thought. However, our table beside the clear mountain stream was worth the slight extra cost:

Switchback Smokehouse

We've been using some of our time to do some necessary errands, like getting prescriptions filled and making Wal-Mart runs. Sandy also got a haircut and, with all that activity, we had to take an afternoon nap.

We had to run the heater a bit this morning, as it was 56 outside. We thought of our friends sweltering back in Texas and decided not to report this to them. Death threats are already piling up.

Tomorrow we play musical campsites, as we have to move Phannie a couple of rows due to someone else's longstanding reservation for our current spot. This is a hassle for sure, but I'm not sure what will change unless some more RV parks are built in the area. 

On August 18, we'll be leaving for Colorado Springs for a week to see some sights and visit friends. So far, we haven't been able to think about going back to Texas next month; I'm pretty sure we're in denial. 

Thank you, Lord, for this wonderful life; please forgive me if I don't appreciate it enough each day.