The Denver Zoo, Almost

 After church on Sunday we set out for a drive towards Denver, not really knowing where we would end up. We got tacos and quesadillas to go at our local Mexican restaurant and headed south towards a huge mall area in Aurora. The day was brilliant with sunshine, though cold and windy. Here is our usual gorgeous view of the Rocky Mountains to the west.

 I love lone trees out on the prairie, the starkness of their bare limbs in the dead of winter.

 About halfway to the Mall we changed our minds! I've wanted to return to the store at the Denver Zoo to purchase some souvenirs and gifts, so we turned our wheels and headed back north to downtown Denver, deciding now was as good a time as any. We didn't go into the Zoo itself, but only into the shop where I did find several goodies, a coffee mug with giraffes on it, a blank book with a lion on the front, some postcards, a t-shirt for me, and a birthday gift to save for one of the granddaughters. (Shhh!) The Park grounds are overrun with Canada Geese at all times of the year. These guys, feeding near our parked car, paid absolutely no attention to me, snapping away on my camera. I could have gotten even closer.

 After the Zoo store, we did still want to head on down to the big Mall, where we checked out the ice skaters and looked at the movie marquee. Heading home, we were treated to this beautiful sunset. Compare it to the mountains seen in the top photo. They are the same — a gorgeous sight caught at just the right moment!

 Well, I wanted you all to see my new t-shirt! Isn't it pretty? We saw all these cats on a previous visit to the Zoo itself.

Oops! One more majestic cat, Montie, checking out what I'm doing with that camera in my hand!

A Celebration

 Mr. Keith and I had, several months ago, decided that for Christmas we would go to dinner twice, to a restaurant of my choice, then to one of his choice. In mid - November he developed a compression fracture in his back, then later another one, which kept him house and chair bound for over two months. So much for going to dinner! Finally, the day arrived when I had my first real day off in three months, so we chose to celebrate that day, along with Keith's return to working fulltime, by going to dinner at our favorite restaurant, Ruby Tuesday's, out by the Denver International Airport. I am so intrigued by this airport. It's constructed to look like the Rocky Mountains, and it really does, out there on the prairie east of Denver. (Click to enlarge.)

 Yum! Mr. Keith loves seafood, especially shellfish, so he ordered this Shellfish Trio of lobster, shrimp and crab cake, with mashed potatoes. Truly a work of art!

 I chose the 4 Way Sampler platter, mozzarella sticks, chicken fingers, spring rolls, and buffalo wings. Our drink was Ruby Tuesday's wonderful raspberry iced tea. We stuffed ourselves and took home enough for a meal the next day. Oh, yes, we had 4 little cupcakes for dessert, carrot cake and red velvet. Double yum!

We took the back way home, to the north of the airport, and were treated to the sight of several large planes landing and taking off. It was exciting to watch these 2 planes getting lower and slower and then landing. It felt so good to be able to get back to our fun drives outside the campground. Mr. Keith is on the mend, and we will be doing more sightseeing in our remaining time here. God's world is full of amazing sights and experiences!

A Little Fun!

Here are some of our winter guests making the best of a cold, snowy day! This family has 3 small children. They are here for a temporary job in the Denver area, as are most of our monthly RVers. Mr. Keith had fun snapping several photos as he enjoyed their delight in their macho snowman! He, the snowman, will probably last quite awhile since the cold weather will be with us for days. We are getting lots of exercise tromping to work every day!

Snow, and More Snow!

Strasburg was included in the big snowstorm that hit Denver yesterday. I think we got about 18 inches of the fluffy stuff. I wondered what the hump in the middle of the table was till I remembered I put a tumbleweed in the center for decoration! The snow and wind were dangerous enough to close the freeway, I-70, and we had several stranded campers who could not leave. I took this photo right outside the store. It doesn't look like the pizza truck could be going anywhere, but we did make a couple of delivery runs. The roads were not good! Our boss even sent the pizza girls home early for lack of business.

We were so busy shoveling snow around the store and office, and helping the stranded campers, that we didn't have time (or strength) to shovel out our own rig. Imagine our amazement and delight when 3 of our RV neighbors did it for us while we were at work! They cleared out the snow all around the car and up to the porch, and even left a box of snow-melt. Poor little Focus was almost obscured under that load. People are wonderful!

Below, not to be left out of the picture, BigTruk sits cloaked in snow and icicles. He is plugged into space #57 so he can't be hurting too badly. Will Spring ever come?