Nanna's visit

 

On Tuesday we decided to go into the Botanic Gardens, in Denver. We had not been there, and I figured that it would be something that Phil and the boys wouldn't mind missing out on, and that Gaye might enjoy.  They are rated pretty highly, as far as Botanical Gardens go, apparently, and I thought they were pretty nice too!  Quinn was happy to be in some of my photos, as we toured through the Herb Garden, the Birds and Bees Walk (and it did have heaps of bees!) and the Monet Pool.  These are some of my artistic shots of pretty flowers, and lily pads.

 

Next we went through the Oak Grove, the Japanese Garden, and then to the Bonsai exhibition. 

 It was all very pretty, and we had a lovely day to wander around the gardens.  We had lunch there, and finished up over at the Children's Garden, which was really cool.  It is separate to the Botanical Gardens, on the roof top of the car park, and mimics the terrain across the state, walking up an incline which is meant to take you up a 14,000 footer, with animals, climbing bits and an old mine.

Phil and I had been trying to get to a concert at Red Rocks, but missed out.  While I was searching online, I found that the Stereophonics were playing at a venue in Denver.  We managed to get to it, and it was really good fun.  The Bluebird Theatre was a great venue - small enough to be able to see lots, but big enough to hold around 500 people.  They were more heavy rock than I remembered, but we went for a drink before the concert, and it felt very civilised, to go out on our own.

Later in the week, Phil and his mum visited the Garden of the Gods, and had lunch in Colorado Springs. 

They had a gorgeous Spring day, and had a nice time looking around.  Gaye was due to leave on her tour on Thursday, but with the Government shut down, we were not sure if they were going to leave or not.  Their tour did leave, and although they knew that there was no certainty around seeing the National Parks, they were going to have a revised itinerary.  That was before we had snow on Friday in Castle Rock, and there was 3 to 6 foot of snow forecast in Wyoming, which was the first stop on Gaye's tour.  Unfortunately, the tour returned to Denver on Saturday, and she made arrangements to go home early.  We were really pleased that she had come to stay with us in Castle Rock, and fortunately we did a fair bit of sight seeing around Denver and where we live, as the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, and other sights that were on her tour schedule were just not meant to be.