Day 10

We woke early, packed our car and headed to the Denver airport with no incidents. We said good bye to our car.



















Our flight was a bit bumpy, but otherwise uneventful.



We finally arrived in Manhattan.



Back where we started at Newark airport.
The end of a great trip.

Day 9

Had a good sleep in and made it to the Concierge Lounge for an amazing breakfast. We have never had "Concierge" status before and this little exclusive lounge is too groovy for words.



After breakfast we checked in with the weather 98degrees. Yikes! Luckily our destination was within walking distance - the Denver Art Museum.

On the way we discovered two things - 1. It was PRIDE day in Denver and there was a big parade and outdoor celebratioin. 2. It was Denver Comi-con which Emma was itching to attend.

The art museum was fabulous. Lots of great interactive elements, good, comfy seating areas, beautiful exhibition spaces and a wide variety of work. Emma and Lydia even got to sit in the belly of a whale.

















































We were there to see WOMEN OF ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM. Thank you to Mary Gaylord for pointing this out to us - and as she said "About time!!". As we walked through the exhibit and watched the video, we kept expecting to see Mary Gaylord in the mix. She certainly belonged there. Anyway - it was a great show.

After 2.5 hours we walked down the 16th Street walking mall. It was hotter than hell so we weren't feeling very adventurous. This is a nice idea, but two things we noticed - 1. The stores for the most part were very uninteresting and 2. There are a lot of homeless in Denver. Our destination was Rockmount Ranch Wear - this is a store that has been around since 1946 and a classic. The prices weren't from 1946 unfortunately, so we didn't go on the western buying spree we had hoped for.
































































We also visited the famous Tattered Cover Bookstore and Union Station.

At this point we were beat and we hurried back to the hotel Concierge Lounge for their 5pm Cocktail hour. We have gotten used to Cocktail hour.



Then we headed to the famous Larimer Square Historic District for dinner. This was a great part of town with lots of restaurants, banners, festive lights and architecture to rival Albany, NY.



















We ate at the Euclid Cafe and celebrated father's day in style.



















Then we went home to figure out how to get all our stuff back home for an early flight the next morning.  A beautiful sunset was a lovely good bye.

Day 8

Terry spends a few minutes communing with the sheep dogs before leaving The Hideout.

Emma says goodbye to the mountains from our breakfast table.














We exit our home away from home.
















We drove up into the Big Horns one last time on our way back to Denver.
















We stopped to visit Smoky the Bear and see Shell Falls.




















These are the falls. They are very powerful and have created a beautiful canyon.


















We are feeling rather like cow pokes now and show our best cow poke faces for a final farewell to the Shell Canyon and The Hideout.

Along our ride through the mountains we are lucky enough to see a moose mom and her child - though it was hard to get a good photo.









We love the variety to stores and signage along the way. We kept stopping for photo ops.















And the western food choices are interesting as well.
























The Sinclair Dino is a relic and the Sinclair logo is a classic!










Then we are in the prarie - the loooong flat prarie.






















Until we hit DENVER and a bit of culture shock - people, cars, and HEAT. We arrive at our city hotel and collapse after our 7 hour drive. We did manage to go out for a good Denver dinner at The Rock Bottom. A good home brew beer and a hearty dinner revived us a bit.

Day 7

On Friday morning we went on a half-day ride in the area around the ranch to Trapper Creek Canyon. We rode through the fields and along Trapper Creek. The creek provided trees and greenery not found in the general area. The creek had flooded on Monday - our first day - so we were surveying the damage to see how far we could get into the canyon.

On our way we passed the Trapper Ranch where the ranch owners live. They are from Brussels. The wife named Maurin, practices natural horsemanship. I don't know how natural it is for a horse to stand on a can - but I guess that is part of the skill set.











Our destination was a rock formation covered in inscriptions found slong the canyon wall. Most of them were Native American carvings that were several hundred years old, showing a variety of figures and animals of symbolic importance.

There was also a carving of a skull dating back around 3,000 years. 

This one is a turtle.
























































And, of course, there was some hundred-year-old graffiti.

We climbed out of the canyon - which required some scary foot work - for the horses that is.







We then headed out and back to the road.

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Tom's dogs were tired and hot









In the afternoon we drove up into the Big Horn mountains and went on a short hike to see some views of the snowy peaks. We went up to 9200 feet where the air was cool and pleasant. Got to see some vistas of snowy peaks and pretend we were in The Sound of Music.












































































That night the ranch had their farewell barbecue. We ate ors d'oeuvres while the head wrangler played the bagpipes in the background.

As part of the barbecue they served us unusual sausages: bison, pheasant, rattlesnake, and venison.

We were happy to have last dinner there with our good friends from England, Debbie and Terry.

The wranglers also joined us for dinner. Here we have Head Wrangler Tom along with Daniel and Jeff.

Lydia gets a surprise. One of the guests - Roberta (from NJ) - had a skirt that Lydia coveted and at the dinner she gave it to Lydia. She was thrilled. Here they are together. Lydia wearing her new skirt!

Tom's son Shamos entertained us with some guitar playing and singing. Emma, Lydia and wrangler Kara also entertained us with YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE.

During the dinner a strong gust of wind came through, bringing some really neat clouds with it.

After dinner we packed to leave.