After being dropped off by Deb and Gene at the Greyhound station, or in another words, McDonalds. Yes the 'branch' was inside McDonalds. We gave (based on the picture) an imaginary lady our bags to weigh and our tickets to exchange and we were ready. Boarding passes in hand, bags all weighed and signed off, all we had to do was wait 20 minutes and we'd be on our way to Colorado!
She told us that we would be better to wait inside and look out for the bus going by the window outside, so we did just that. Also due to it being absolutely boiling outside, a tepid 100'F, we thought sitting in the air conditioning was a preferred option.
However, as the time went by, we decided to have a look outside for ourselves. Turns out the bus was there and that the lady was completely wrong all along. The bus did indeed go by the front, however this was seconds before it pulled out onto the road and started it's journey to the destination. Thank you lady...so much! Thanks to you we nearly missed our bus! Anyway...we showed our tickets and ID and were faced with the worst things that you can face, a full bus. Thankfully there were seats for us however not two together as people don't sit together and don't want to talk to strangers and make friends. Not that you would do that of course on a bus.
Turns out we sat next to some really lovely people, well I did anyway. I sat next to a lady who had a mammoth journey ahead of her, she was travelling from Los Angeles, all the way to Chicago to see her family. She must really love them to tolerate a bus for 3 days (yes she was on a bus for 3 days in total!).
We then had a few hours of diary-ing, blogging, talking and just general bus-ing... until we had a stop where we all had to get off. We had a 20 minute rest stop and we of course took this time to look at some cows across a field...we are so normal!
Then we realised that there was a pretty sunset happening.
We then got back on the road and started a night of travelling towards Denver. We both got a few hours sleep but not ideal. And THEN at 3.30am....yes half past three A-M we were awoken and told that we had to get off the bus for 30 minutes so the bus could be cleaned. It really wasn't that dirty to warrant us being disturbed at that time.
Day Two
We were being picked up by a family friend but we were delayed by 2 hours so we felt awful when we had to rearrange several times due to the bus. We saw some amazing scenery especially as we entered Colorado. We stopped at Vail for a short period of time and that was stunning. The mountains, the snow peaks right at the very top and just gorgeous scenery.
We finally arrived at Denver at 9.30am, two hours later than we should have and were welcomed by Mary, our family friend. :) It had been 3 years since we had seen her and we would be staying with her family for a week (approx.). As time went on, we would end up staying with Nora (really a family friend but we have known her all our lives so she's family to us!) which we actually loved and would go on day trips out to the mountains when they weren't at work. When we first saw Nora we ran over and gave her a great big hug!! We couldn't believe she was there, in front of us. We are so used to meeting up in England, and with her being 94 now she can't get over as often as she likes. She is so extremely well for her age and we love her to bits :)
After catching up and a little unpacking we decided to go out for dinner. There is a local restaurant called 'The Copper Pot' and we nipped there to grab some food whilst we talked and talked and talked :)
The restaurant had two options, regular (aka GIGANTIC normal portions) and also 'blue plate' (a more sensible yet still big portion). Due to me not knowing this prior to ordering I went for the regular :S . This is what I got. Three massive bits of fish and loads of chips and some coleslaw. This picture doesn't really give the size of the dish justice but I hardly....just managed to eat it :) Delicious!
Nat went for a burrito and it was soooooooooooo spicy and full of peppers. She really should have said but with us being polite English girls, we just don't do that - we should change! Q
Hmm...we are in Colorado...
On our way back we saw how lovely Nora's accomodation looked from the outside, including a lovely piece of artwork presented outside on the street.
And now readers...meet Lucky, Nora's cat. He is about 11 years old and he is such a fusspot. So cute and personally I am a dog lover and don't really take to cats however the time we would spend with Lucky we got really fond of him :)
Amongst all the socialising and catching up, Nora gave us a little tour of her sheltered housing. Downstairs in the common room, there was a pool table. We quickly couldn't get away. before we knew it I was doing practice shots. haha!
Nat soon remembered who wins pool when we play each other. I won...all of them. Nats reminding me 'apart from one!'. Oh yes Natalie, was that the one where I had to play with my non-playing hand and you played regular. How fair is that. Very fair in Nat's eye ha!
After a while we decided to call it a day and head up to carry on the chatting :)
For the rest of the night we laughed, joked and smiled about memories and stories of yesteryear.
Day Three
Due to Mary having a day off, after breakfast we all headed out towards Golden. When the state was first starting out, the first people to live there were the 'settlers'. There is a small patch of land where original and mostly replicas are located and are stocked up and furnished with all the trimmings of how they were years ago.
This is one of the buildings open to the public and gave a real insight into the working and methods of the settlers.
There were some chickens, of course...of course!!
As we walked towards the Farmer's Market that was going on, we walked over a bridge and saw some people doing what alot of people do here, tubing down the Colorado River.
We then got there and faced a regular sight again, chickens.
They had some lovely and delicious smelling food there but we resisted temptation and headed back. We were going out for lunch so we didn't want to ruin our appetite.
As we parked up, we were told about the Coors Brewery. Golden is very well known for that and sadly we didn't have time to do a tour however as we aren't beer drinkers we weren't really interested.
We then headed towards lunch at a Mediterranean restaurant called Grappa. It was a lovely place and had some delicious food that we enjoyed alot!!
After lunch we went for a walkabout and saw these bears, they are at most shops here and we can see why. They have all sorts of bears, colours, sizes, and some not even bears!
Then we saw this sign...
After a lovely look around we headed back to the car and back towards Denver. We had a great day and would love to come back.
We arrived back after a full day out and decided to have a relaxed night. It was only 4pm but we had set off early so we had time for a couple of films. At the Safeway across the street, and also at most supermarkets, there is a thing called Red Box. It's basically an extremely cheap ($1.20 per film per day) cinema where you can rent games, films, all sorts. We settled on Hangover 3 and also Nat's favourite, which I hadn't seen, About Time.
It was great, we set up the couch with some choccies and chose to watch About Time first. In between the two films we would have a rest and play a bit of Bingo. Saturday Night and we were going to play...BINGO with the regulars downstairs in the common room. It was nice to have abit of downtime and have some fun with Nora :)
Turns out Nat made some enemies as she won not once...but twice! And these were the first two games of the 11 overall. Nora had a win and I just played...and didn't win. But we shared the money as that's what sister do...Natalie :D
hehe.
After making some friends, having such a fun time and also making some enemies (Nat) we headed back to watch the second film, Hangover 3. It is the only one that we both haven't seen and it wasn't as good as the first but it was really funny!
Such a fun day :)
Day Four
Today we were off into the beautiful Colorado Mountains, in a doorless jeep. Great fun! Mary and her husband Lance were both off work so we headed off for a day of adventure.
They gave us a choice...the normal car or the jeep with no doors! Without question, due to our adventurous nature in recent months we obviously opted for the jeep! Lance gave us abit of advice, to make sure we had a hair bobble!
We waited for them to arrive and we headed off on our trip into the mountains. The jeep was fab, very open and had a slight draft going through!
After an amazing and scenic drive up the hills we got to a fantastic spot where I had a little boulder up the rocks to the top to catch a look at the spectacular views!
What a view! It was that nice I did a jump :)
Whilst we were driving we saw a load of helicopters flying over, I caught a pic as there were about 5 or so training or something! Helicopter party!
We then headed to a small town called Manautu Springs in which we had a lovely look around and saw the reoccurring animal...
We stopped into a Mexican restaurant (claimed to be) for some lunch. To us, based on what we've eaten on this trip thought it was 'ok' but we were told by Lance that it was really disappointing. He said he's take us to a proper Mexican! We look forward to that!
Who said that Christmas lasts only a day!
They also had fresh water springs directly from the rocks so you could stick your head or your bottle under and take a drink from ultra fresh and clean water! Pretty unique!
We came across some very suspect 'hippy'shops. Based on the fact Colorado is the first and only state in the whole of the States to legalise the possession and distributing of majuana, we knew what was inside!
I was enjoying today so much! As I do every single day of this trip!
She handed herself in and was sentenced to 10 years in prison! Thankfully nobody was killed however millions and millions of animals were caught and killed in the devastation. As an animal lover, I completely agree with the sentencing due to all the animals that were killed for the sake of her utter stupidity.
Everywhere you looked,360 degrees around, it all was destroyed. It truly gave us goosebumps.
We thoroughly enjoyed meeting the rest of the family, fussing the 'obviously attention deprived' (haha!) dogs and enjoyed a delicious BBQ meal. Thank you so much! :)
Day Five
Today was a day to have a look at Denver downtown, primarily sticking the 16th Street Mall. A street pedestrianised so no cars were allowed. After breakfast with Nora and a good chat as always we headed towards the Light Rail, the RTD and grabbed a ticket.
This was a train that literally would have had at least a hundred carriages of coal attached to it. We were counting it, until we realised how slow it was going and therefore lost interest and kind of made our eyes blur. When we were waiting for the train, it started going by, and when we got on the train and set off, its endless amounts of carriages were going by and actually we caught up to the front and easily passed it.
We don't really fancy this as a diet...
We arrived at 16th Street Mall and first of all nipped to an information kiosk (for our souvenir of course, a map) and also genuinely to ask what there was to see. We were directed to here first, a small open shopping centre packed with funky shops, souvenir shops, cafe's, restaurants and all sorts. We had a good look around, and a very good look at a policeman that went by...wow...and after seeing all of it we headed off.
Down the mall, they have a free bus that services shoppers. It's completely free and you just jump on and it stops at every block along the street. It's probably better and faster to walk if going a short distance but if catching it for quite a long time (like us) it was much faster.
It was a pretty warm and humid day so a starbucks was definately warranted. Was just what was needed, other than the wrongly spelt name of course!
We then made our way up the street and came across these very funky tables where you could play chess.
There was a pianist there who was really good too, love street entertainers. Especially when they aren't shouting for tips!
We spotted the sign 'Popcorn' and after having some amazing popcorn at bingo, we headed in in search for the flavour! They had 70 flavours, yes 70 flavours of popcorn and of them some were ultra strange. For example there was cheese, cheesecake, dill, orange, and some other weird flavours. The white chocolate one was nice though!
From here one of the other shops we nipped in was Ross (Dress for less). It's basically where top brands give clothes they can't sell and Ross sell them for a proportion of the price. You can find some extremely good stuff including these Michael Kors heels, sadly they weren't our size (UK9 but in USA it is 11!!!). What a way to feel like you have massive feet, even though we do!
Grandma will be ultra pleased as my shoes that I've been travelling in for 5 months look pretty ruined now and I kind of look like a tramp! :S So I spent $30 and got myself a new pair of shoes to last the final month of the trip. The Fiji trek kind of pushed them over the edge therefore the soles were falling off and duck tape was coming in handy! haha.
And here's the new pair...
Down the 16th Street Mall they have a free mallride bus which is so handy. Kind of lazy if you aren't going far however getting to and from either end can come in very handy. But you had to be careful as the roads allocated for them weren't clear so I wandered onto them a couple of times but thankfully nothing was coming!
Nat and her feet...
We had wanted to go see something big, blue and inquisitive...a big, blue and inquisitive BEAR! So sweet, there were lots of pieces of artwork around and this was one of the most recognisible ones. It was at the convention centre so we took the free bus up there and had a look :)
After deciding on heading back we had to figure out where the nearest station was and also which train to catch. There are a few different lines and services so thankfully we worked it out and were ready and waiting for the train.
As we arrived back to Englewood, we came across some more artwork .... so of course we took a few pictures. One of which was one of Nat and her American mum and dad!
Oh my god her face!
We then jumped on the Art shuttle bus that took us up back towards Nora's. The thing was that we ended up being let off about half a mile further down the street due to his obviously amazing hearing! Hmm. It was a lovely day so we didn't mind and so we headed north.
On the way back we came across this sign in a shop. Basically we are in the middle of America, ages away from water but it took us back to Thailand where everyone just wears swimwear....those days seem far away now :( . It made us laugh though!
When we got back, a lady in the common room was struggling to work the television so I was a caring 'resident' and tried my best to help :) Earning our keep!
After that we headed to see Nora and had some laughs and chats with her and fussed Lucky of course! We planned what was happening tomorrow and were thinking a relaxed day!
Day Six
We had a nice sleep in and decided to head out for lunch. We were about to go out the front door and then we saw Julio! We always used to see him and say hi and he was there again :) He asked if we were off to lunch and said he had pork ribs that we could eat for lunch. We were shocked and bless him he said, 'come on!'. We didn't need much persuading!
When we got to his room, we sat down and he gave us the most delicious pork ribs I've ever had. BBQ sauce, warm tortillas, rice. WOW!
He then pointed out a picture his son made 30 years ago out of leather. It was amazing and so intricate.
After a good chat and good food we headed down to play pool. Earlier today I'd put on my new gym clothes I'd bought in San Francisco to go in the gym they've got...but after going in I was dragged back by the pool competition and went up against Julio! :) And hey he was really good, I did win both games but honestly it was extra close. Closer than mine and Nat's matches hehe ;)
We'll be honest, we did not leave the building ALL DAY! Oh my days, we were turning to a resident!
But we had a super fun day and spent the night chatting with Nora, Julio and also watched Mrs Doubtfire which was pretty interesting as we saw the house a couple of weeks ago!
Day Six
Today we got picked up by Mary and Lance in the normal car, as we were off into the Colorado Mountains. To be exact we were going up to 14,260 ft to the top of Mount Evans. It of course would be chillier up there so that's why the Jeep (with no doors!) wasn't the best choice. We got picked up after Mary had finished work therefore the first thing to do was to grab some lunch. They took us to a great Mexican place, as the other one a few days ago wasn't any good we were told this place wouldn't disappoint! We ordered from the vast menu and were shocked at how much food was presented in front of us!
It was yummy, very cheesy but delicious never the less!
So if you are in the Denver area, head to El Tapatio for some lovely Mexican food!
Then we were on our way. Not soon after setting off we were told that this house pointed out to us. It featured in some James Bond films and has that 'bond' look to it definitely! It was literally on top of a huge hill so the view would be fab but fab the price wouldn't be.
Then it was a while, maybe 40 minutes, until we arrived close to where we were going. There were lovely lakes on either sides, giant (not that big after recently visiting Michigan, crikey Michigan lakes are massive!). But these little lakes were so pretty and I loved the reflection when the clouds clear.
We then came across Mount Goliath, on our way towards the heights of Mount Evans. There was a little visitor centre which had some examples of the trees from the local area. This area is extremely special due to the trees nearby being extremely old. By extremely old, I mean thousands of years old!
It was really interesting as they are really old however aren't that thick. Normally size of the trunk means age however the age of these are so deceiving. Beautiful trees true and each and every one will hold such a story!
After having a great look at these trees and the visitor centre, we headed up 4000 more feet to the top of the mountain. As we rose, we reached the highest tree point. These is the point at which 99.9% of trees are unable to grow and survive due to the conditions and nutrient availability. We came across some gorgeous scenery, we had reached the snow levels on the peaks which was weird. Snow in July?!?! It was really chilly so we didn't spend as long we would have all liked but it was lovely just looking out the window.
Before long we were there, at the top!! We then were shocked to see a herd of mountain sheep, however they kind of looked like goats too. Lance said that this is the only place they are present other than the Himalayas which was really good to know :) Very lucky! Plus he said that of all the times he's come up here he had never seen them so close to people.
They were also shredding their coats, so it kind of looked like a farmer who needed to go to Specsavers had had a go with the clippers!
We couldn't believe we were looking at this view though...absolutely amazing!
It then started raining, and then sleeking, so as it got really bad I ran back over to the car. When I got back, maybe 10 meters away, I was knackered! I was so out of breath it was quite scary and then of course it clicked that the reason was the excessive altitude we were at! 14000 feet is pretty high! I jumped from a plane 1000 feet higher!
There was this sign which made it clear that these heights can cause sickness, but thankfully none of this came up.
On our way down we spotted some more sheep (goats maybe...) and stopped to have a look. They were standing on some steep rocks and were totally comfortable. Of course this is where they live and have adapted but looked pretty tentative when I saw one slip but saved themselves.
This one was quite funny looking, their coats really did look interesting!
Lakes again :)
Crazy people on the road too, how can you cycle up that. Seriously envious of the ability of the mass of cyclists heading up to the top! What a place to do it too!
As we got down we got to the gift shop. We asked to be tourists and to go in, they said sure!
They had some hilarious things in there, one of these was this toilet roll holder. I loved it! Too big for the backpack though sadly...
Really high up there...on that rock!
On the way back to Denver, we went to sneak in another highlight to see. Red Rocks. This is basically similar to Garden of the Gods (colour of the rock) but its a natural amphitheatre that has formed in the rock by itself and is known for its unbelievable acoustics. All the amazing artists play there, it is quite a special venue. But sadly we couldn't go in due to their being a show on that night. It was such a shame but we so appreciated Mary and Lance taking the time to take us there anywho! :) Thank you!! It was quite sad as we got dropped off back at Nora's due to this being the last time we'd see them this trip! ...until next time! hehe.
The night time was spent packing the ridiculous amounts of souvenirs we've got in our backpacks. More than you can ever imagine! Truly! I now have a licence plate (hear more about that in the Niagara Falls blog!)
Day Seven
Today was so exciting yet so sad also. Later today Laurie, a good friend we made on Feejee Experience was coming to pick us up. We were so excited to see her and her son Brodie, and also to meet the rest of her family, including the two with 4 legs, a tail and an amazingly cute face! But of course that mean't saying 'bye for now' to Nora. We have had such an amazing time with Nora, her family and just spending quality time with someone we are so close to even though there is are thousands of miles between us. She is truly part of the family <3
Laurie was coming at 1ish so we spent the morning finishing off our packing and saying our goodbyes to the residents and friends we'd made during our stay. We (think) we made some friends whilst there, other than Nat who won Bingo twice! We said our goodbyes to Julio, Victoria and numerous others. Even as we were half way in Laurie's car we saw a lady we'd met waving and shouting bye from her balcony! Bless her!
It was then that time, the goodbyes... It was truly awful as Nora got so upset which made us all a mess. We love her to bits and can't wait to see her again!! <3
Now to Boulder, Denver was absolutely brilliant and so lovely to see Nora, now time to catch up with Laurie and her lovely family!
Rach xxx
P.S Thanks to the anonymous wireless network that had no password so we had internet, we appreciated the wifi very much! :D
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