On the Road Again 2014: Coast to Coast Almost: The Mile High City

Tuesday

July 28, 2014

Today we are going to tour Denver, CO by bus. We have two tours booked. One in the morning to see the country and surrounding areas of Denver and the afternoon ride will take us through the town of Denver.

Denver is a beautiful city. George booked our motel in an older area of Denver not realizing it was slipping into decay It's just like any city, parts of it grows and dies. We were in a nice motel but the surrounding area was a little questionable. There were homeless people, people lying on the sidewalk passed out or whatever, bars everywhere. OK, it opened the eyes of this Baptist girl that all IS NOT OK in USA. There are lots of hurting and searching people in this country. Many looking for happiness in the wrong places. I not saying all of Denver was like this however.

We rode all through the city and surrounding area and let me tell you there are a lot of healthy people there too. We saw people riding bikes everywhere, running, jogging, etc. Denver is blessed with many parks and they are well used. Hiking/walking/biking trails thread their way throughout the parks and people were out and about. We rode by the state capitol building and it had lush grounds too. People were lolling in the grass and enjoying the beautiful weather. On the other side of the capitol building we were greeted by a huge protest between Jews and Palestinians of Denver I guess. Both sides had flags and were yelling back and forth across the police barricade.

The dome of the capitol is covered in gold. In the past few years it has been regilted. Guide said that 72 ounces of gold was given to the state and it was sent to Italy to be pounded down and made into gold leaf. The end result was enough gold leaf to cover a football field.

We visited Wild Bill Cody's grave. LOL George was telling some friends the story we had heard about his burial and the fight for his body after his death between Denver and Cody. There was an older lady there picking up coins off his grave and she promptly set the story straight that his body is interred in Denver and that all the info one is given in Cody is just for the benefit of storytelling by tour guides. LOL She did not appreciate hearing George's story. :)

We did visit Red Rock Canyon and the amphitheater there. It was beautiful. Signs told visitors that they were setting up for a concert that night. We walked out and looked down over the seating area and it was full of people. Not sitting, however, but exercising. They were running, jumping skipping, walking up and down the bleachers. Some would step up on, do a pushup and a jumping jack, step up one more, etc., there were groups of five or more skipping in unison up the bleachers together, one group was doing a relay, a football team was there doing laps Whew! Who knew that you could use a facility like this for exercise. When we left, we saw a couple preparing for a wedding there.

We ended our day around 5 o'clock, got in the van and headed east. We spent the night in Colby, KS. It was a long and full day.

The farther east we come the sweeter home sounds.