Silly Things

 Today I was in the mood to make a blog post! Didn't really have any recent trips to write about, so I thought of some silly things. Since we've been fulltiming and workamping I seem to have collected some teddy bears and other  "bearaphenalia". I don't remember having teddy bears as a child, though I probably did, but working at Bear Country USA in Rapid City gave me a love for the critters. Here are my bears sitting on my bed cover which also has bears on it. The first one on the left is Annie Bear, to remind me that one of the cinnamon black bears at Bear Country is named after me! I got to bottle feed the real little Annie. Included in this collection is a Pooh Bear, center, my son's first teddy bear. He's a little ragged. The others I've picked up here and there.

 My newest bear! I'm taking an online course in creativity from my cousin, a published author, and one of our recent chapter assignments encouraged us to find a "totem" to remind us of our artistic inclinations. I couldn't think of a thing, till we were instructed to empty out the prizes in one of the games in the entertainment center at our KOA. Digging through the stuffed animals I was surprised to find this small red bear with my initial on the front and KOA on the back. The red color goes perfectly with my red and black bedroom. What a find! I asked to buy it, but the owner said I could have it. So...here she sits on my computer to inspire me!

 On a totally different subject — driving home from Denver the other day Mr. Keith spotted this odd looking domed church and had to have a photo of it. He did a little zigzagging through traffic trying to find the entrance to the church, a feat he's pretty good at when he sees something out of the ordinary!

We found the sign telling what kind of church it is, and, not to be disrespectful, at first I thought it said "Dagnabit"! The language must be Ethiopian. That's one thing about Denver and the surrounding cities. We've seen about every kind of ethnic peoples and languages, stores, businesses, churches, schools, signs. We enjoy the education we're getting!

Denver's Riverfront Park

Denver is known as "The Mile High City", but since we've been working in Colorado I've wondered why the little prairie towns to the east actually have a little higher elevation than Denver. I think the reason is that Denver was built along the Platte River, which created a valley between the prairie and the Rockies. This is the mighty Platte, right near downtown Denver, from one of several walking bridges crossing over the river. There were lots of people out enjoying the warmer, sunshiny weather, many walking their dogs. These folks on the shore were letting their Labs swim in the river. It was fun to watch.

Here is Mr. Keith, out on one of several rocky causeways positioned to control the flow of the river. He is looking at the iPad, just to strike a silly pose. Better not drop it!

I am standing on the walking bridge. Notice the colorful apartment buildings right on the river. If I were to live in Denver (and could afford it!) I would chose this view of the Platte.

I love this picture of mallard ducks dozing on a sandbar. Doesn't it look like a face? There were pigeons, gulls and Canada Geese all enjoying the warmth, the water, and the folks on shore tossing treats to them.

We found a hotdog vender on the overlook of the confluence of the Platte River and Cherry Creek. Couldn't resist having a hotdog for me and a Bratwurst for Keith. I shared bits of my hotdog bun with a lone pigeon who was brave enough to come close.

This is the hotdog stand, set up with everything one could want on a dog, Polish, Bratwurst, and just plain hotdog. Both our choices were very yummy and the atmosphere made them all the better.

I love this photo of the enormous apartment buildings all around the park, with their glass reflecting the winter sky. What a view they have — skyscrapers on one side and the Riverfront Park on the other.

As we headed away from the Park on our way to the Cherry Creek Mall we saw this amazing sight. I'm not sure what it represents. These 30 foot high figures are near the Performing Arts Center, so perhaps they are dancers. Beautiful! They seemed to be waving good-bye to us at the end of our pleasant day in Denver.

Winter Park & Granby, Colorado

 Today's drive took us across Denver (during rush hour!) and up to the 10,000 foot level in the Rockies. Winter Park and Granby were our destinations. We'd been to Winter Park, a premier skiing area, last winter, but no further west. There is still quite a bit of snow on the way up to the higher elevations.

 We found a wonderful restaurant in Granby. This monster moose was hanging right over our table! Mr. Keith bumped his head on the moose's nose when he tried to sit down. How would you like to have this fellow gazing at you during your lunch? (I mean the moose, not Mr. Keith!)

The restaurant, called Maverick's Grill, was superb. We had the best food ever! My choice was the fish (pollack) and chips, along with excellent coleslaw. Mr. Keith had the pollack on a bun with avacado on the side. It was perfecto! For dessert we had deep fried cheesecake bites, something I'd never heard of before. Yum!

 We were close enough to the south entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park, so we drove on up to see Lake Granby. It's there, really it is! It's a huge lake, completely frozen over. We didn't expect that, but maybe we should have, at 10,000 feet. We could see snowmobile tracks all over in the snow.

 There were several ice fishing huts out on the lake, even some ramshackle little buildings. You can see a tiny hut out there. We were told by our waiter at the restaurant that ice fishing is a major draw to the area in the winter.

 Winter Park and Granby, along with several other small towns, are nestled in a valley in between the Rocky Mountain Peaks. On all sides we were treated to this gorgeous view.

 Just for fun — in Granby we found a "Zero" Street. As one might expect, it was followed by 1st Street, 2nd Street, etc. Click to enlarge.

Also in Granby — The End!