rocky mountain high, day 1

this trip was pretty great. short, fast, but great.

we left from madison last week on thursday morning

and got to denver before lunch.

we even found time for david to sneak in the rigorous junior TSA training program!

we hit denver in our rental car, taking a spin past my old apartment and old hang outs....and that city has changed so much in the last 16 years that it was all pretty unrecognizable. and re-affirmed the feelings i had when i lived there: i don't really like this city.

downtown we hit up the touristy 16th avenue pedestrian mall and crouched around behind the bison,

and gathered for a selfie in front of the picturesque union station.

it's all rehabbed and dressed up inside---less trains, more fancy coffee. but still, those benches and windows... they're gorgeous.

it was hot hot hot in denver, and the kids cooled off in the fountain by union station

and then moved our way back down the pedestrian mall to find the capitol building.

you KNOW we have business there....the business of picking up another state capitol passport book stamp!

and the necessary rotunda peek.

then we headed up into those dry scrubby hot foothills, where we took my favorite detour...right across from red rocks amphitheater is the dinosaur ridge walking path, where bones in stones and footprints are on display, right in the rocky spot there were first identified.

we hopped across the streets to climb around in red rocks, but a musician was doing a sound check and we couldn't get very close to the amphitheater.

so we tried to trick the kids into a short hike...they flatly refused out of safety concerns for their hydration status. they were right. we quit and went to find some water to drink.

then up up up to the top of the continental divide at loveland pass, where it was mercifully cool and windy.



then we took my favorite old driving path past a basin and keystone, around swan mountain and alongside dillon reservoir to breckenridge.

hello, pretty lake dillon!

hello, pretty views from swan mountain road!

aaaaand, hello beautiful view from the front porch of our rental in breckenridge.

we dropped our bags and wandered out across the street to the central area of breck, where the kids immediately hopped into the river with all the other children.

then we found pizza served fresh and hot on a chilly evening patio, which afforded us this sunset view over breckenridge's glorious section of the tenmile range.