I'm actually writing about this on Saturday - the day was so busy yesterday that I literally fell into bed at night and fell right asleep, and didn't even think about writing about the day.
We started the day in Estes Park, mailing the postcards that we'd been writing all week. Then we walked around some more on the main streets, checking out the little stores, looking at the river that runs through town, and shopping a little bit. Lauren and I spent some time in a Nepalese shop, looking at beautiful clothing, but Lauren couldn't find the skirt she wanted in her size. We bought some hand-carved animal beads there for Lauren and I bought a Buddha necklace. Then we had pizza at a little pizza shop where all of the bricks inside had been written on - people's autographs carved/drawn on them. We got some treats at a candy store, too - chocolate covered strawberries, handmade caramels, and chocolate-cherry fudge! Lauren also bought a turquoise pendant at the Science & Nature store (which I could have spent HOURS in, exploring all of their stones/gems/geodes).
After that, we went to Fun City on the edge of the main area. They had a go-kart track, and that's the first thing we did - it was one of my favorite things that we did on vacation. They had 2-people karts, and single carts, so Stuart and Lauren drove together. They had clearly outlawed bumping other karts, however, so we were well-behaved. Lauren and Stuart went down the enormous slide, too, but I opted out of that.
After Fun City, we decided to head for Denver. The 1 1/2 hour drive seemed like nothing, compared to all the driving we've been doing lately! We headed for the Denver Zoo, since it's ranked really highly in the list of U.S. zoos. We got there about 4, and they closed at 6. I thought we wouldn't have enough time to take it all in, but it wasn't such a great experience for us. It was HOT, so that took some of the fun out of it. And the employees were preparing for some sort of special event being held at the zoo that night, so no zookeepers were around, and, worst of all, no employees were around to run the carousel (crushing disappointment for Lauren). So, we did some looking around and then headed on out.
Our next stop, and the best part of the day, was Casa Bonitas! I didn't really know what to expect, but it was really fun. We got seated in the room where the magic show was held, and we got there about 5 minutes before the show started - perfect! The show was great - Lauren said, "That guy could be a professional comedian!" And they had amazing sopapillas for dessert - to cover with honey and eat hot - yum... Then we went to watch the cliff divers. We got to see him dive a couple of times, and he swam up to the side of the pool and gave all of the kids high-fives. We walked around the restaurant, went through Black Bart's Hideout, and then got to see a 2nd cliff diver show, with a bad pirate and a good guy and a princess in a red dress. They had a sign on our table that said they can hold 900 people at a time in Casa Bonitas, and they were PACKED - it's hard to wrap my brain around that!
We headed for our hotel after dinner - it was around 9:15 by the time we got there. Lauren and I went swimming for a little bit in their outside pool, then cleaned up and went to bed (in the king bed in our suite - it was a really nice hotel room!)
And then today is Saturday, July 3rd, and we are actually home as I write this. We left Denver this morning at 9:15, and we got home about 6:15 this evening.
We had an amazing vacation, and I'm so glad that we got the chance to build these memories with Lauren. I'm thinking that our next vacation needs to involve less driving, or at least driving in a more comfortable seat - maybe an RV. But I just can't beat the idea of going to explore some of the nation's most historical sites with my family!
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