Colorado (part 5)

or The Finale!

We loved our time in Colorado.  We loved being around family we don't get to see often enough and we loved seeing places we've never seen before. 

We said good-bye to Colorado in grand style though, with a parade. 

No, the parade wasn't for us, it was for Eaton Days. Eaton is a small town near my sister's house.

 They had old cars,

and even older cars. 

 And like every good parade, they had horses, 

firetrucks, 

a pageant queen, 

and a super-sized tooth!  

Yeah, what else can I say, it's an enormous tooth walking down the street.  There were at least two dentists and one orthodontist in the parade.  They were the ones driving the nice, new and very expensive looking cars.  It's probably some poor dental assistant in the long pants, long shirt and costume, pretending to be happy about walking in public this way.

 The kids got to say hi to Smokey the Bear.  Good to know he's still around.  He doesn't look like he's aged a bit since I was a kid. 

 Earlier in the week we went to the Poudre Public Library in Fort Collins. 

 

 It had a great kid area, which Taylor loved.  I had to drag them away because we needed to start our drive to Cheyenne.

We also went to the Windsor Public Library.  So we were able to go to four different libraries in two different states during our trip.  

Logan loved the Windsor library because it had Star Wars Legos on display.  (If he looks red and sweaty, it's because he is.  We just came in from playing at a park). 

Before we knew it though, we were on our way back to the Denver airport.  On the way, we passed fields bigger than I've ever seen before, dotted with gigantic rolls of yellow hay.   It was beautiful.  

In Oregon our fields aren't quite so endless looking.  They are usually stopped by hills or rivers or trees.  This was like standing on the seashore and looking out on an endless sea, except that this was a hay field instead.  

The Denver Airport from a distance.

As we approached the airport the kids became excited for the flight and super excited to see their dad again.  We couldn't wait to be back with him again.  It was a happy reunion in the Portland airport.  The kids grabbed onto James' legs and hugged with all their might.  I had to fight my way through, just to reach over and squeeze his shoulder.  Lovely.  

We remember fondly our time in Colorado though.  The kids have been writing about it in their journals and I've been blogging about it.  It won't soon be forgotten!

Thank you Elizabeth for letting us invade your home.  We had a wonderful time.  Can't wait to see you all again. 

 

Colorado (part 4)

 We spent one day in Denver, while we were in Colorado.  That's another place that would take days to thoroughly explore.  We weren't able to begin to see everything we wanted to see. 

 So we had to prioritize and do the most important things first.

We watched the workers make candy canes in July.  They make them all year long.  I guess Santa Claus is their biggest customer. 

We wanted to go on a tour of the US Mint in Denver, but they were all full.  Apparently you have to plan well in advance for that.  So we had to be content with just going into the gift shop. 

 We saw the Denver Art Museum, but didn't have time to go in. 

There were fun sculptures all around the museum and library area. 

 It might be hard to see, but we saw this Cowboy and Indian shootout on the roof of the Denver Art Museum.

This one was my favorite though.

The kids loved this one, in front of the library, but were disappointed they couldn't get up to the horse.

Then, of course, we had to go in the Denver Public Library.

 It didn't have anything nearly as fun as the Cheyenne library though, so they tired of it quickly.

 Downtown Civic Center Park plaza, (that red brick building in the background is the library).

The architecture in the Civic Center Park is done in ancient Greek style.

More Cowboy and 

Indians, this time in the plaza.

We wanted to tour the Colorado State Capitol building as we'd done in Wyoming, but it was being renovated and we were running out of time, so this is as close as we got to the Capitol building.   

Then we hurried back home to celebrate Nana's (my mom's) birthday and enjoy an evening with family.

Colorado (part 3)

Or "What we did in Cheyenne 

other than track down 8 foot tall boots."

 Well, we had to go to the library, of course.  

The Cheyenne library is called the Laramie County Library,  but the town of Laramie, Wyoming is actually in Albany County which is about an hour northwest of Cheyenne.  No wonder I was confused.  

It was the coolest library though.  It had a huge children's area that more resembled a park than a library.  The kids loved the conveyor belt thing.  They watched the tiles go up the conveyor belt and then fall down those over-sized flower petals... over and over again.  

The Historic Cheyenne Train Depot.

This was a very neat map of the railway expanding west, imbedded in the floor of the train depot. 

Logan's showing us how the train would "chug, chug, chug" down the track. 

Cheyenne puts on a Gunslingers Show for tourists like us.  It was pretty cheesy, but Logan thought it was great. 

Put 'em up.

Oh no!  They've been caught! 

We checked out the Wyoming State Capitol building.  Sorry all these pictures were taken when the sun was at it's highest.  See that little round window up there by the top of the flag?  We got to look out that window.

Inside the capitol, looking up at the dome.  

Logan and Taylor were very good during our little tour and were interested in the stain glass, murals and architecture. 

 

We even went into Nebraska! (just long enough to get this picture, but still).

Bucking bronco statue outside the Cheyenne Frontier Museum.  We didn't actually go into the museum.  My kids were awesome in the state capitol building and I didn't want to push my luck by going into a museum.  

We also found a couple of fun parks to run around in, but I feel like there was still so much that we didn't get to.  We'd love go back again and explore some more.   My little cowboys and I really loved Cheyenne!

 

Colorado (part 2)

One day during our visit to Colorado, the kids and I drove up to Cheyenne, Wyoming.  We'd never been there before either.  It's a really cool little town.  

 They have these 8 foot tall boots all over the town.  Nineteen of them actually.  We were on a mission to find every last one of them. 

 

The boots had all been painted by local artists and then auctioned off to various people and companies in town. 

 We got a map from the Historic Cheyenne Train Depot, with the locations of all the boots.  And we were off...  

"Where the Deer and the Antelope Play"

It was a lot of getting in and out of the car, but it was also a fun way to get to know the town of Cheyenne, Wyoming.

  It was a hot, sunny day, but we were determined to find them all.  I don't know who was more determined, Logan or myself.  I think we took turns having moments of determination, keeping the others going.

This one was tricky.  It was actually inside a car dealership. 

Most of them were outside though, like this one, outside the Frontier Museum.  

"Springtime in Cheyenne" (in the heat of summertime).

 

"Outlaws of Wyoming" 

No, not Logan & Taylor.  It's the name of the boot, painted with real outlaws such as The Wild Bunch which included Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid and Kid Currie.

This one's about the rodeo.

And this one is in front of the library.

 We did many other things while in Cheyenne too, like play at parks, go inside the state capitol building and go to the library, but that's for the next post. 

 By the time we found the last boots it was getting on evening time. 

We ended up finding 15 of the 19 boots.  Two had been removed to who knows where and the other two were inside places that weren't open (like a Catholic school that was closed for the summer).

We left Cheyenne with Logan & Taylor both wanting cowboy boots and hats.  Logan says he wants to be a cowboy now.  Taylor says she's already a cowgirl!  

Yee-haw!