June 29, 2013 The 11th Annual Blues from the Top!

Today is a day we've had planned even before we left Florida!We are going to a Blues Festival in Winter Park,Colorado. We try to hit at least one Blues Festival during our travels! Most Blues Festivals start around noon & the last act is around 10:00pm due to city noise ordinances. This Blues Festival starts at 10:00am & the last act is 5:30pm! Maybe Winter Park has a difference noise ordinance??? Or maybe it's due to the mountainous roads? Anyhow......no lingering over breakfast today. We have to get a move on. Winter Park is a neighboring town to Idaho Springs, but you have to factor in mountain miles vs regular miles!!!

And Otis....oh no, he's not going with us! We arranged when we arrived here at Cottonwood RV Park, the owner said she would give Otis a potty break while we're at the festival. My question is, will she let Otis potty on the "SACRED" grass, cause she doesn't look like the type to climb the mountain!?! This is one time I wish Otis could talk so he could tell me where she walked him!?! "See ya later Otis, we won't be that late & Dad will most likely bring you a McDouble"....... And we're off!!!

& then we get there!!! This is the first Blues Festival we've ever been to that they provided chairs!?! We have our own chairs,& they've got a lot of BLUES miles on them!

The day started out real iffy, weather wise! We'd barely staked out of spot when dark clouds started rolling in. Rainy weather can really give a Blues fan "the Blues"! The first act, a young kid barely out of High School, Austin Young band, played their set in rain drops.Then.....happy day, the sun came out!

There were 7 different acts, we enjoyed them all!

We had our favorites tho! 

Albert Castigila is from Ft Lauderdale,Florida we've seen him perform at several festivals!

          "Mud" Morganfield, a Chicago Bluesman, is the eldest son of the infamous BLUES singer, 

                                                               Muddy Waters!

We had never seen "Mud" perform before, tho we had seen his younger brother "Big Bill Morganfield" I was glad we got the chance to see "Mud" perform, he sounds a LOT like his famous father!

The last act performing was the act I was waiting for! Ronnie Baker Brooks.We've seen him quite a few times, along with his father, Lonnie Brooks.

He also has a younger brother, 

                                Wayne Baker Brooks he performs with, but not this festival???

In between each act, they had a side stage set up with students through the school program, Keeping The Blues Alive performing. These kids were really good!!! One girl, now 18 had been performing through the program since she was 11 years old! In fact the very first act today, Austin Young, he started out in the school program. So who knows, maybe one of these days some of the young kids that performed on the side stage will graduate to the main stage as future Blues performers???

Didn't I tell you Lennie would get his dog a McDonalds treat!?! We learned that every McDonalds dollar menu Doesn't have the same items for $1.00??? When we ordered Otis' McDouble & the voice said $1.51 We were shocked!!! Lennie told the girl at the window, that their McDonalds won the prize! Our dog has had a McDouble in 49 states, & this was the most expensive one!!!!

Okay Otis, here you go!

Now tell me.....where did that lady take you potty today!?!

June 28, 2013 Downtown Denver

Today's routine starts out just like everyday!!! But instead of jumping on a scenic byway to view some of Colorado's beautiful scenery, we're going to ride into Denver & see some concrete & steel so to speak, as we take a tour of Denver! Even tho we're going into the "city", the drive in, still shows us some awesome scenery!

We get into Denver, Lennie already has our agenda planned! First stop, if we can ever find a parking space, is the U.S. Mint. There's no parking spaces to be found, we finally find a lot with an all day price. That works! We chose a lot within walking distance to what we want to see today. Let me say one thing...it's hot out today!!! We start out walking in the direction of the U.S.Mint. More than 50 million coins are made here daily.And the FREE tours show every step in turning a dull metal slug into a shiny new coin. As we approach the Mint, we don't see any tour lines? This is not a good sign! Sure enough we get to the TOUR door & see a sign that reads:NO TOURS ON FRIDAYS   I feel Otis is at home laughing at us! While he's sucking up the A/C in the RV, we're out walking the HOT streets of Denver & our very first point of interest is closed to tours on Fridays!?! Oh well, moving on!

We walk through Civic Center Park heading toward Colorado's state Capital building. But first I want a picture of the Civic building, as long as we're here, why not, it was an impressive looking building!

Straight through the park is the Capital building.

It's visibly noticeable that the Capital building is under construction!

The Colorado State Capital building is modeled after Washington, D.C's capital building. This impressive building was completed in 1908 & offers FREE tours on weekdays. We learned on the tour that the dome is in the process of being recovered with 200 ounces of gold leaf. It should be done by this time next year, so our Tour guide told us.The 13th step on the west side of the building is exactly 5,280 ft above sea level-one mile high, thus the name,Denver,The Mile High City.

But......we learned on the tour, that this fact was not so!?!  It's actually the 15th step, so a plaque was added to the step!

We got inside the Capital building 15 minutes short of a tour about to start! This was great, we just waited & pretty soon our tour began. There was probably 10 or so in our group. Our Tour Guide was a college student & had been leading tours for about a year. After the tour she told us we were free to walk about the Capital building. I was surprised how lax they were!?!

It was real warm inside the Capital building, so I didn't want to spend any extra time in there!

Can you tell all the chairs have plastic covering them? They're brand new chairs! A lot of remodeling was going on! That chandelier weighs a ton & a half.. Our Tour guide said about the size of a small elephant!

This picture was taken out the front door of the capital building, it shows the Civic building in the background. NO ONE was allowed to enter or exit the door that the Governor uses!!! At the end of the tour, those who wanted to, were invited to go up 4 more flights of stairs(we'd already WALKED up 3 flights of stairs to see the House & Senate) to a museum. I saw a few history buffs raise their hands, our Tour Guide escorted them to the stairs, then they were on their own! It was already too warm in a building with no A/C, 4 more flights of stairs.....I don't think so!?! We walked up those 3 flights of stairs with our Tour Guide, but once the tour was over & we were on our own, we took the elevator all the way down!An interesting thing we learned while on tour, underneath the Capital building there were 16 different tunnels leading to other buildings. More than most of the tunnels are now shut down.

Did I mention it's hot out? 104 degrees to be exact!!! We're now heading to 16th Street Mall, to look around, but mainly to eat! The 16th Street Mall is a mile long pedestrian promenade in the heart of downtown Denver. It has every store imaginable, & the center is all street vendors.

they had  FREE shuttle buses too!

Did I say it was hot outside!?! Guess where we went for lunch!?!                 PIZZA!!!!!         (Our waitress took this picture!)

Trust me we DID NOT eat this whole pizza! It turned into 2 meals!!!

With our bellies full, time to hit the streets again & walk off some of that pizza! But it's almost too hot out to do any walking. We must find some way to cool down!!! AAH! Here it is, Pinks Frozen Yogurt Shop!

This may look dangerously delicious, but it was all Fat-Free!

Yummy!!!!

Cooled off, but now we have to go back out & face the heat! That's okay, we're going back to the RV & the mountains! Driving back from Denver, the closer we get to Idaho Springs the temperature keeps dropping. It is 16 degrees cooler!Supposedly that 104 degrees temp was not a record breaker for Denver, but it was suppose to be the last hot day before "normal" temps returned? I didn't care we weren't going back to Denver, not this trip anyhow!?!

When we reach Idaho Springs, we stop at Otis' favorite McDonalds (the 24 hour one!) so Lennie can get the spoiled dog his promised McDouble!!!! I hide the McDouble in my camera bag, but you can't fool Otis when it comes to a McDouble!?!

                 

           Here you go you spoiled dog! 

Today with the heat, I would have traded place with Otis. That is till it came to the choice of PIZZA vs a McDouble!?!

June 27, 2013 Coors Brewery

Every morning may start out the same, breakfast,dishes,shower,Otis walked, but then that's when it can sometimes change!!! Today we are going to Golden, Colorado & Otis is NOT going with us!  Surprise to me, this was one of those mornings when Otis act like he didn't want to go along with us!?!                            Fine with me.....see ya later Otis!

We start our drive to Golden, we always think it's going to be a straight drive, but it never is! The scenery is soooo beautiful we just HAVE to stop for pictures!

                                                                 one more!

one more?????

Somebody needs to take the camera away from me! There's soooo many pictures to take but......we're "Tourists" today!                   We're going to Golden to tour the Coors Brewery.

Coors Brewery, the worlds largest brewing site still uses the same Rocky Mountain spring water that Adolph Coors discovered in 1873. FREE Tours show every step in the brewing process & ends with free samples for those over 21.

                    All aboard the Coors bus & it'll take you to the front door of the brewery!

Issued an audio set, it's a self guided tour with 12 stations of interest to listen to. You can go at your own pace. Some people didn't even listen to the history of Adolph (Kors) Coors, & the brewery, they went straight to the tasting room!?!

Maybe they'd been there before?

                 It's a FREE tour, what's to stop people from going everyday if they wanted to?

This is station #8 where you can get a sample if you want, they punch your armband, you're not getting any more than what's allowed!

Station 12 where they pass out the taste of your choice. You're allowed 3 tastes, not sample size either, a regular glass size. Colorado's elevation already has my head messed up, the last thing I needed was 3 beers, or any beer!

       But I did want to try what was called, Blue Moon, they even put an orange slice in the glass!

They don't rush you at the Brewery, like I said you can go at your own pace.We weren't going to do the 3 beer sample, so it was time to move on! You're not going to believe what we did next!!!! We drove back to our RV, had a late lunch, then got the spoiled dog so he could join us on our scenic drive! Lennie is always telling me, "Don't spoil the dog Wen"   I don't have a chance to spoil him!!?!

After picking up Otis, we drive to what is called the Lariat Loop, a scenic 40 mile stretch in the Rocky Mountain foothills.                       The mountain views are awesome!

                                                & we could see the whole city below us!

High atop  Lookout Mountain is the Buffalo Bill Museum & grave. Buffalo Bill, an iconic Old West figure was a Pony Express rider,Army Scout,buffalo hunter, & showman!

H-m-m-m-m, I wonder where 

                                                          Annie Oakley is  buried????

We're going to take Otis to a park, let him walk off some of his energy before heading back to the RV! But even walking around the lake didn't wear Otis out!

Nice park tho!

Check out the ducks!

Wonder why they choose to sit atop the dam!?!

This was a nice day, glad Otis could share part of it with us, tomorrow Otis is NOT going with, he doesn't fit into tomorrow's tourist scene!

June 26, 2013 Red Rocks Amphitheatre

This morning starts off like all our mornings! Our usual breakfast routine & Otis has to take a walk to the top of the mountain!!! No plans for this morning but tonight......!?!

So that laundry I should have done on the day before we left Mountain Dale....it now  has to be done. Cottonwood RV Park doesn't have laundry facilities, we have to go into town! In a way I was looking forward to going into town because on our drive through town I could see it was a cute,quaint town, a historic town I'm sure. Lennie told me I was going to go to the laundry by myself. I'm not crazy about driving in strange towns(out of my comfort zone) but I was thinking I could poke around in the shops while the laundry is washing/drying!?! For some reason as I got the laundry all gathered up, Len loaded it in the car  then announced, "Otis & I are going with you!" Why I wondered? Maybe he feared my capabilities of driving outside my comfort zone!?! We use to have a washer/dryer in our RV but we took it out to have more storage space!?! I hate doing laundry on the road! I do it almost every day at home so it doesn't build up! So let's get there & get it over with! Lennie & Otis wait outside the laundry while I get the machines loaded & running. It's really not a big job, or a big deal, just a job I rather not do!!! Once it done, we head back Len carries in the laundry & I put it away. Yay, the job is done for another week!

We have lunch & just relax, I'm working on a scarf. We have a big night planned!!! Poor Otis....he's definitely staying home tonight!

We have heard so much about Red Rocks Park & Amphitheatre & tonight we are going there! Not to see a concert, it's a Tuesday night, no concert, but there is a movie, in fact a real classic is playing tonight!?!  Concerts are what Red Rocks is really known for. Big name acts & not so big names all want to perform on the Red Rocks stage. It took 300 million years to create Denver's most scenic attraction & once you step inside this internationally known amphitheatre, you'll understand why Mother Nature took the time!!! The amphitheatre seats 10,000 people! On our way to Cottonwood RV Park, the radio station we had on was advertising the movie that was going to be playing at Red Rocks.You can go to Red Rocks & tour the grounds or just take pictures, we can't believe our luck, & we're anxious to get there & see this classic movie at such a great place!?!

We get to Red Rocks & before we even reach the amphitheatre we can realize how massive it is! The ticket box opens at 5:30pm but we bought our tickets at the King Sooper grocery store after being warned the movie would be a sell out! We proceed to the amphitheatre. The amphitheatre is "Natural" rock, this

is some of the scenery we see as we walk down WAY TOO MANY steps !

more scenery!

Finally the ushers let us in! We are really early for the movie. We saw people tailgating out in the parking lot, & those who weren't tailgating were "picnicking" at there seats!When we first sat down there was probably about 50 people!

Much to our surprise, besides the movie, they had 2 musical groups & a comedienne appearing. They had to have some kind of entertainment while we waited for it to get dark enough to show the movie!!!! Both groups we had never heard of, they were from Denver. The first group was okay, they played 3 songs & were somewhat Bluesy.

The next group, they too played 3 songs, but don't ask me what type of music it was, all I know it wasn't my type of music!!!

Then the comedienne came out. His name is Josh Blue. He has cerebral palsy, & his condition was the brunt of most of his jokes, & in spite of that....he was funny!I guess people weren't laughing at him, but with him!?!

                                    The seats are definitely filling up!

& it's finally dark enough to show the movie!

         & just what was that GREAT classic we were all waiting for?????

The Blues Brothers-On a Mission from God!!!

This is such an old movie, I can't even count how many times Len & I have seen it before, not to mention we have the DVD!?! People just cheered throughout the movie like it was the first time they were watching it!?! It was great!!! It was close to midnight when we left! The Super Moon was out there big as life!

Lennie had told his "spoiled" dog that he'd bring him a McDoubles on our way back home. This late at night I feared Lennie was going to have to break his promise to Otis! But luck would have it, the McDonalds in Idaho Springs is open 24 hours! Otis wasn't the only one getting a treat, this time we each got a sandwich!!

                          Our sandwich eaten & straight to be for all of us!