Wednesday 14 September 2016

Another airplane, another destination

Boettcher Memorial Tropical Conservatory

Apart from the one stop in Stapleton airport and a ski trip (by bus) to Steamboat Springs, both many years ago, I had never spent time in Colorado until I arrived in Denver on Tuesday last week.

It’s a stunning airport, and even though it’s large — I had to take a train from my terminal to pick up my baggage before picking up the rail line into the city — my baggage arrived. Quickly, even. I’m looking forward to exploring it more when I catch my return flight to Calgary.

Lotus and friend

By the time I got into the city, found my AirBnb, got myself changed into more appropriate attire (it was close to freezing when I left Calgary, and 90˚ F (xx ˚C) when I got to Denver, so I swapped shoes for Birkies and long pants to shorts, dug out my hat, and set off for the Denver Botanic Gardens (where I shot these pictures: the lotuses are part of their Monet pool this is simply amazing) and then set off to pick up a couple of things at the nearest Trader Joe’s.

Lotus Example #1

Wednesday morning, I was up bright and early to catch one bus, and then a second to go to Boulder to have lunch with a friend, and to simply hang out. Apart from lunch at the Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse (a photo of the interior is at the bottom of this post: click the link I’ve attached to the name to read the fascinating story of this amazing building),

I also had the opportunity to visit two of Boulder’s most venerable stores: Shuttles Spindles and Skeins, where I was a good girl and didn’t buy anything, and McGuckin, where I indulged my Dremel fantasies as they stock every single bit you can get. I’m going home with a nice selection of fun things I could never find in Canada.

Lotus Example #2

Coming home from Boulder as the sun set, the sky was like someone had taken a large book of gold leaf, ripped it apart, and threw it up into the sky: the fingers of golden clouds shot up from the mountains as the bus sped away to Denver. I tried to get a picture, but it was too difficult on the bus.

Thursday was my big adventure to downtown Denver: bookstores, galleries, museums, and a great lunch rounded out the big city adventure.

Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse #1

Friday morning, I picked up some new business cards, loaded my bags up, and headed for the bus depot. A pretty empty bus left in the early afternoon, bound south and west down US 285: the next part of the adventure was about to begin. More about that in the next entry!

Books for Sale

The shop is currently empty.