Friday, September 4, 2015

West Is Best!

Well, West really is Best. So far, since moving from North Carolina, we've had Jon's parents come stay for 2 weeks in June, and 2 weeks in July. Then we got to visit Boise for 2 weeks earlier this summer, and now this week, my parents came to visit for 5 days! Wow! Moving closer to be near family has really paid off.
My parents flew in from Boise around 10 a.m. last Saturday morning, so once we'd taken my Dad on the "grand tour" of the new house, we headed about 45 minutes northwest to Dinosaur Ridge, a national fossil area and natural landmark. 
First we had a little picnic lunch at one of their outdoor picnic tables. Well, everyone except Zach and Leah who found the kids' sand pit with pretend fossils to dig for!
Then we headed out on their dinosaur train up to Dinosaur Ridge, where we learned about Colorado's fascinating geological history! Wow! It's been the location of all sorts of prehistoric creatures-- from dinosaurs like Triceratops, Stegosaurus, and the mighty T-Rex, to saber toothed tigers and woolly mammoths. The Denver area lies right on a fault line so it saw TONS of action way back when the earth was formed. You get to walk right up to the over 300 preserved dinosaur tracks right in the mountain wall.
Look at all those dinosaur footprints right behind Zach-O! Pretty cool they've lasted 65 million years, huh? As the Rockies began to form millions of years ago, and the earth was pushed up, all of these dinosaur and plant fossils that were hidden underneath began to be exposed.
There are also some dinosaur fossils left in the rock that you can touch-- like this dinosaur bone Zach and Leah are feeling. I think they said it was part of a Stegosaurus--and in fact, this location in Colorado is where the first stegosaurus in the world was discovered.
Cross-section of a dinosaur bone fossil--most likely the limb of a Stegosaurus or Apatosaurus. Our tour guide said that as increased development and construction occurs around Colorado they're finding more and more fossils in people's very own backyards!
A preserved footprint of where a dinosaur stepped into a river bed long ago and left his imprint, called an "innie." That's a pretty big footprint! 
After our tour, we headed over to Red Rocks nearby to check out the outdoor amphitheater and scenic byway. Such a pretty part of Colorado!
That night we took Grandma and Grandpa to "Crave," a unique little local place in Castle Rock, where Jon's office is. My friend had recommended it when we first moved here, so I was anxious to try their crazy burgers and famous milkshakes!
Holy moly! This place was fantastic! I'm so glad we got there early-- by the time we'd finished dinner there was a HUGE line out the door of people waiting to get in. Our little Punky Brewster look-alike was sure happy to be at dinner with Grandma and Grandpa!
Jon and I split the s'mores milkshake which had tons of chocolate, roasted marshmallows, and graham crackers. So yummy! 
With Labor Day right around the corner, we were so happy they could come visit one more time before summer is over!
I got the "Love Stinks" burger which won "Denver's Best Burger" in 2014, and had garlic cream cheese, candied bacon, and roasted red peppers. It's honestly probably one of the best burgers I've ever had! Jon got "The Popper," which had cream cheese-stuffed jalapeno poppers, chipotle mayo, and avocado. We will definitely be going back! 
Sunday morning we took Grandma and Grandpa to church in our new ward, and speaking of which, we both just got our new callings. Jon's the Scout Master, and I'm the new Gospel Doctrine teacher. Oh boy! I think we're both dying a little bit. We had a yummy BBQ shish-kabob dinner, and the kids had rootbeer floats for dessert. Yum! 
Cheese!
We decided once it had cooled down enough Sunday evening, to take a walk along the nature trail in back of our house. We got a beautiful sunset, and then had a little campfire out back to roast s'mores before bed. Lucy's face cracks me up! The kids love hearing Grandpa Tom Tom's campfire stories, and this time didn't disappoint. The finale was when he jumped over the still-burning fire pit! Whoa! That guy is crazy. 
Monday morning we dropped the kids off to school, then headed out to Castle Rock to shop at the great Outlet Mall. Before we headed shopping, we took Grandpa on a little tour of downtown Castle Rock, and then decided to get lunch at Manna-- a restaurant at the Castle Rock Hospital.
A Hospital?!? It sounds kind of crazy-- but they had great reviews online and we'd heard they have really good food! Their menu boasts they use only organic, fresh, sustainable foods, so we decided to give it a try. The menu was great-- definitely more fru-fru and foodie than my Dad is used to, but my mom and I loved it. We both got the bagel sandwich, which had honey smoked salmon, heirloom tomatoes, avocado cream cheese, and bacon. YUM!
That night I talked my parents into babysitting for us so Jon and I could get a night out on the town! It had been awhile! And it was awesome. First we headed to the Denver Botanic Gardens in downtown Denver, which was having a "free-day" open to the public.
We've been spoiled by all of the amazing botanical gardens and plantations we've seen throughout our travels (Longwood in PA, Butchart Gardens in Canada, Magnolia Plantation in SC), but this Chihuly glass sculpture was sure unique and beautiful!
We wandered the grounds for a little while, exploring all of the beautiful gardens! It's amazing they can get so many different varieties of flowers and plants to grow at this elevation and climate.



They boast having one of the rare "Corpse Flowers," which only blooms every 7-10 years, and only stays open for about 48 hours. While blooming, it's said to emit an odor similar to that of a decomposing mammal. We'd just missed it blooming by about 2 days. Darn!
It started getting dark around 8 p.m., so although we were both relishing the peace and quiet, we decided we'd better get dinner! We decided to try "Biju's Little Curry Shop," which is a fast-food Indian concept restaurant. It had been featured on "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives" and had really good online reviews.
It's kind of like an Indian "Cafe Rio"-- you assemble your own curry bowl, picking which kind of rice, lentils, meat, sauce, veggies, toppings, etc. that you want. I got the chicken coconut khurma bowl and Jon got the masala beef bowl.
 Really fresh, really different, and yummy! The mango lassi was amazing. We had a hotel reward for a free night's stay, so we took advantage of that and stayed the night in downtown Denver!
While my parents were busy getting the kids ready and off to school, we stopped at a local diner called "The Breakfast Queen" for a leisurely brekkie. 
Jon got some amazing orange ricotta crepes, and I got a croissant egg sandwich. Yum! I think going out to breakfast makes my list of "Favorite Things," because we hardly ever do it.
We spent the rest of the day running errands, getting one of the best pedicures EVER, taking care of dental work, and making freezer jam with fresh raspberries. It was a busy day!
Wednesday was my parents' last day in Colorado, and they wanted to see a little bit of downtown Denver before they left. We decided to check out the Molly Brown mansion in the historic district to feed my mom and I's history obsession.
There's a great tour inside the house which tells all about the life and history of the "Unsinkable Molly Brown," from her marriage to a lowly Denver silver miner, their rags to riches story, her trip on the Titanic, and the political and economical influence she had on early Denver. She was quite a woman! We loved it! 
The Church of the Immaculate Conception right around the corner that she helped fund in 1911.
The Denver state capitol building built in 1894.
Coors Field where the Colorado Rockies play baseball. And now we finally know why their mascot is a dinosaur! Ha ha.
A Denver "Pot Shop" which Colorado is now famous for. You can pretty much find them on any corner downtown.
Using my trusty phone to find us another foodie hole-in-the-wall place for lunch, we decided on Biker Jim's Gourmet Dogs. Their menu boasts crazy sausages made with duck meat, rattle snake and pheasant, elk, buffalo, you name it, they have it. 
I admit, I was a little skeptical at first, but it was sooooo good! Being a sausage-snob from my time living in Europe, it had exactly what I like about a nice hot dog. Thick casing, lots of spices, and tons of flavor!
I got the "Bat Dog" which was a smoked bacon brat with avocado puree, tomato cream cheese, caramelized onions, and bacon bits. It was featured on the show "The Best Thing I Ever Ate," and was totally worth every calorie-laden bite!!
My adventurous parents eating at Biker Jim's! My dad got the German veal sausage topped with chili. We loved it and will definitely try it again.
I had to have my parents try a VooDoo Donut for dessert, so while I circled the block they ran in and picked their donuts.
Talk about a quirky place with some killer donies!
That evening although we were all still stuffed, we decided it'd be easiest for everyone to meet up for dinner (my dad was in Englewood golfing) so I could get my parents to the airport on time. We chose Maggiano's simply for its chocolate cake. If you've never tried it, you are TOTALLY missing out. Zach is obsessed-- and this is his "cake face" when the waiter brings it out. First of all it's HUGE-- enough to share with everyone, and has an amazing caramel sauce with it. Enough said.
We had SO much fun with them over the 5 days they were here! It was just enough time to do some really fun things, but it also left enough to do with them the next time they come back. Thanks for coming to visit and helping us officially wind down summer!