Last month we went to Denver for about two weeks. Here are some of the random pictures we took of our everyday explorations & adventures.

These pictures are from our drive there. In the past, we have not had a good time stopping in Green River. If we can avoid it and make it all the way to Grand Junction, we will. But, with kids, sometimes you just need to stop and eat and walk around, like, n-o-w. There are very few restaurants in Green River, even fewer if you don’t like fast food chains, especially ones located in truck stops. Thanks to Yelp we found a pleasant eatery (Tamarisk Restaurant) with great burgers and views overlooking the Green River. The restaurant is next to a sweet motel that looks like the same caring couple has kept it clean and running since the 60’s. Everything is vintage, the good kind. The garden with water features and tall, shady trees overlooks the Green River, too. This will be a go-to stop from now on.

 

We love driving through the beautiful Glenwood Canyon.

Our absolute favorite place to stop, Betty Ford Botanical Gardens and Park. I love the smell of pine.

 

A little tradition of ours is to yell all the way through each tunnel in as few breaths as possible. Cara caught on quite well this time. In this long tunnel, Rob and I can’t do it under three breaths.

We decided to be smart this time and ordered a pizza delivery for 10 minutes after we arrived at the hotel. By the time we get to Denver at 9pm the last thing the kids want to do is sit in a restaurant. This was so convenient that I think we’ll do this on all our long drives.

 

One night we visited one of the Tattered Cover Bookshop locations. There was a lightning storm outside so we sat and read books for over an hour, enjoying every minute.

 

We love Kadzooks Toy Shop (even though they just moved to a smaller location). Since we invaded the small store and let the kids play for over an hour and also we were running out of things to do in the hotel room (blow dryer wars, making forts out of cushions, gluing all kinds of things) so we splurged and let each kid pick a toy. Nate got a small erector set. Madeleine got a real-working kitchen mixer (which they played with TONS and made HUGE messes every day. Poor cleaning lady…). Caroline got pots and pans to use with Madeleine’s mixer.

 

We fed leftover breadsticks to eager ducks.

 

Many nights ended up at some park. It was nice to not feel rushed and just hang out.

We also swam almost every day. On our last night we let the kids stay up late and swim in the lit-up pool.

We did a few other notable things that will require their own posts, namely Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Denver Botanic Gardens, and the Denver Aquarium.