Colorado – 1998
On Thursday, April 23rd, Connie’s fiftieth birthday, we went to Colorado to celebrate. We had an early morning flight and landed in Denver a little after ten that morning. We quickly got our luggage and rental car and headed to Boulder for the next couple of days. We checked into the Marriot Courtyard shortly after noon and spend the time just driving around getting familiar with the area.
That evening we went to Steak and Ale for a celebration dinner. I remember it was enjoyable because we told the waitress, and they made a big deal of it and brought us a free cake for dessert to celebrate. I do remember we had to drive quite a way back toward Denver to get to Steak and Ale.
The next morning, we took off to Estes Park, which was about an hour away. because there was still snow on the ground and we could not et to all the places we wanted to. We spent several hours there and got out and took pictures but so far, I have not been able to find those pictures. I remember we took some back roads to get back to Boulder. We stop at Celestial Tea. It is where they make the tea. We spent more than an hour there, sampling several kinds of teas, and they gave several different kinds of tea bags to take with us. It was a fun experience. We return to the hotel and decide to try a new place for dinner. It was new for Connie, but I had been to a place like this on a business trip. It was a chain called “Ruby Tuesday”. That evening we drove back toward Denver but not as far as it was to Steak and Ale the previous night. It turned out this became one of Connie’s favorite. There were none near us in Texas, until they open one up nearby, sometime after 2010. The main thing, they had the best salad bar, she had ever seen.
On Saturday morning the 25th, we got up a little bit late because we were going to drive to Colorado Springs for the next couple of days. Since the University of Colorado was in Boulder, there were a lot of neat places. That morning around nine we found this wonderful little bakery with tables outside. It was not too cold that morning, so we got a delicious bakery item (not sure what), a cup of coffee, and sat outside and just enjoyed the scenery and the beautiful day.
Since Boulder to Colorado Springs was only about an hour and a half drive, we decided to go west for a drive. Since we always liked to drive and see different things, we took some backroads from Boulder and ended up about 25 miles west of Denver. I have no idea what backroads we took but we were both amazed by the stunning beauty of the drive. We then headed west on I-70. I know we did not go all the way to Vail but at least to Breckenridge. We stop at several places before deciding to head back toward Denver and then turn south to Colorado Springs. Even with all that driving, we were able to check-in at the Embassy Suites by about three-thirty.
I am not sure about the place we ate that evening, but it was like a Ponderosa or Bonanza. After dinner it turned very cold, so we did a little bit of driving around to see some of Colorado Springs and turned in early for the evening. The good thing about staying at the Embassy Suite was they cooked you free breakfast in the morning. We thoroughly enjoyed our that morning. It was cold and there was a fresh blanketing of snow on the ground. We had found a Catholic church not too far from where we were staying and head there for their mass at ten that morning.
The drive to the church was only about fifteen minutes but it was amazing as we went through a few neighborhoods to get to it. We saw deer in several of the neighborhoods, some were eating, and some were just wandering. We looked after leaving mass but did not see any on the way back to the hotel. We decided to do a quick lunch at head over to see if we could take the train up to Pikes Peaks. They were given discounts for the train ride, because of the snow they could only make it a little more than halfway. They got a lot more snow in the mountains. I do remember us
making it past a home where the forest ranger lived. They only charged us $11 each for the train ride which at that time was a good deal.
That evening we went to the United States Air Force Academy, I thoroughly enjoyed it maybe because I had been in the USAF. We spent some time walking around and I remember the chapel was a beautiful building. We had to wait to go in as they were having their evening service while we were there.
Monday was a lovely day as we slept late and after breakfast, we checked out of the hotel and went to spend time at the Garden of the Gods. Our plane was not until three or four in the afternoon, so we had some time to spend there and enjoy the Garden. I know we bought over $77 of stuff while we were there but for the life of me, I cannot remember what it was. We also bought about $35 worth of t-shirts from Rocky Mountain Tops. I know they were really good t-shirt because one of them Connie would still wear every now and then up until she passed
We headed back to Denver around noon as we had an afternoon flight back to Dallas. I think it left about three. I do know we stop at Dickey BBQ for lunch on the way to the airport. We were both surprised to find Dickey BBQ in Colorado.
Colorado was Connie’s favorite vacation place. I do believe if I had not had RA and the cold did not bother me so much, we would have lived there at some point in our lives. I know Connie really wanted to, but she knew it would be too hard on me. This is just another example of the sacrificial love she always showed me.
Connie was fascinated about how they built the roads through the Rocky Mountains. She ordered and read a couple of books about it and even found some videos. I wish now I had paid as much attention to the building of those rads as she did.