Updates from Denver

I couldn't believe that I haven't posted a blog updates since Sept 15th but life has been busy between Genealogy society stuff and travels. Anyway....I keep promising myself to do better and then slip up..... I'm in Denver visiting Darryl for 10 days.

Denver: I lived here 1972-1980 before heading west and eventually to Oregon. I absolutely cannot believe how much the area has grown since I left here!  The metro population in 1980 was 1,429,000 and nowit is 2,814,330. Then there was one freeway that ran east to west and one that ran north to south - bisecting near downtown. Now, in addition to the same freeways, there is a multi-lane freeway that circles 3 sides of the city. They are all packed with traffic. I couldn't believe how much traffic was on the outside freeway that I came in last Saturday morning - it was slow and go for miles with no apparent reason. I will say thought, that in spite of the population grown, the city had done a good job clearing up the polution that used to hang over the valley.

The drive out was fun!  I stopped to look at fields of sunflowers, the Monument Rocks out in the middle of nowhere in Kansas and finally the Van Gogh painting in Goodland. I have never taken black and white pictures with my cell phone but accidently did at the Rocks and really like this one.

Hotel: I'm staying at a hotel on the south edge of Littleton which is not far from where Darryl's house is. Here is the view from my hotel window.

There is nothing from miles and miles on south and west. Below is the picture I took this morning when we went for a walk.

The hotel is the little building on the left. It actually is a very large hotel...

Sunday: On Sunday I went to church with Darryl which was quite interesting and then we went to lunch with Ann and Lester - a couple from church. Everyone was very nice but curious. Many of the people in the Bible Study group made a point of coming up to use so Darryl would have to introduce me. Only 1 lady asked my last name and did a big double take when she heard it was the same as Darryl's. I'm sure there is a lot of speculation going on....  The pastor is young but very nice. He knew I was from Sarcoxie and goes through there on his way to visit his grandparents in Cassville. They probably know some of my dad's family that was from that area. After lunch, we visited the Hudson Gardens which is very much like the Overland Park Aboretum at home. Below is a picture from the gardens.

Yesterday we drove up into the mountains. When I decided on the dates to come out here, I hoped that I would get to see some fall color. However, I lucked out and am here when the aspen are in full color. The colors are beautiful!  The traffic up in the mountains was really heavy. Even parking at lots in the mountains was hard to find. At least we went on Monday instead of on Sat-Sun when traffic was at a peak. I have texted or posted a lot of fall color pictures on Facebook but here is one that didn't make it yesterday.

This was after we went over Kenosha Pass and dropped down into a valley. You can see that the mountains in the background are above timberline. I just like this with the stream, split rail fence and the background.  

Later....