Casa Bonita!

 One last fling in Denver! We had not planned on going into the big city again, since we are leaving Colorado in 2 1/2 weeks for our next workamping job, but wanted to take our friends out to lunch before that. We left the choice to them and this is what they chose, the Casa Bonita, in west Denver. Apparently it's quite a popular restaurant, one we hadn't heard about. To make our day even better, our friends are native Denverites and really knew where to go and what sights to see in the city. We got a wonderful drive-by tour of places we had visited on our own, but we hadn't heard the stories behind them. This lovely pink building has been operating since 1973 as a Mexican restaurant.

 What glorious weather, 80 degrees, we had for our last big outing! Here we are in front of a lovely fountain framed by blooming trees with exquisite fragrance, at the entrance to the Casa. After a long winter we loved seeing the spring flowering trees in the city. The loveliest creations were our friends Geoff and Tracie!.

 

 This amazing pink building has been operating since 1973 as a Mexican restaurant. The inside is huge, with seating for 1000 in all kinds of labyrinthian alcoves. Here are Geoff and Tracie posing at our table. There  was entertainment going on constantly to keep the diners fascinated.

 After a delicious dinner of  Mexican specialties followed by sopapillas for dessert, Tracie and Geoff gave us a tour of the building. Up an incline we found ourselves behind the waterfall which formed a gorgeous blue pool. We walked through cave tunnels, lava tubes, and many archways. There were tables and booths tucked into every conceivable space.

 Tracie led us to a scary looking monster whose mouth we entered and whose insides we walked through. It was dark in there! We almost felt like we were Jonah in the big fish!

 We found an artist who was doing caricatures for an affordable fee so Mr. Keith and I sat down to be drawn. I've never had anything like this done! How do we look? We gave the man a big tip for his talent. 

We visited the gift shop, too, where I bought a ceramic lotion bottle and a matching heart-shaped covered box with pine cones for decoration, and with "Colorado" painted onto the top.

One last shot of the pink tower with the spring blossoms framing it. So pretty! We completed our day by driving through downtown where Geoff told us the history behind some of the skyscrapers. We went through the old Lowry Air Force Base where Tracie had spent a lot of her childhood, and we learned some more history. It's been 12 years since the base was closed and it has been turned into a classy little "town" with shops, restaurants and apartments. We enjoyed visiting there previously on our own, but this time we learned much more about it. (See my post from November 17, 2010). All in all, we were treated to one of our most enjoyable days since we've been in the Denver area. What made it so much fun were the special friends who joined us on this day. We will miss the wonderful folks we've met here. It's always sad to leave the people, though it's exciting to go on to new adventures in a new place. Who knows — we may find ourselves back here someday!

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.