Sometimes, you just gotta get away from nature and spend a weekend in the city, right? It’s kind of backwards to how most people think: they live in the city and get away to the country on the weekend. But when your life is all about forests and trees and campgrounds and the open road, a few days in the center of civilization can be quite the vacation.

First, I had to find a temporary home for Breeze. She spent the weekend at an RV storage facility southwest of Denver, where she was kept company by Airstreams, Winnebagos, Casitas, and all kinds of rigs. I did empty out the fridge this time, since I wouldn’t be around to keep an eye on it or the battery.
Then it was off to the Denver airport to pick up my friend, who had agreed several months ago to meet me for a girls weekend. It was finally here, and we celebrated with a good Italian dinner and red wine.

This was the view from the rental apartment we used for the weekend. It was close to the city center, but given the 90F temps and my friend getting used to going from sea level to 5,280 feet in the space of a plane flight, we used a lot of Uber drivers to get around.
We did drive ourselves to Cherry Creek Mall, which defines upscale shopping in Denver. It starts with the parking garage, where the lights indicate open spaces (green), ADA spaces (blue) and unavailable spaces (red). I have never seen this anywhere else, and it’s amazing how accurate it is!

The most incredible store was a furniture place, where I was mesmerized by the chandeliers going up four stories in an atrium.

And then there was the actual furniture. Honestly, I would be afraid to put a real baby into any of these cribs because at the first bit of drool, I’d be dying.

The next day, we ventured out to a crafts fair, which had some gorgeous jewelry (bought 2 pair of earrings and that was being fairly restrained, considering the things on offer). This sign, though, was my favorite.

When the heat got the better of us, we retreated to the air-conditioned Museum of Art, where the exhibits were quite good and gave me a lot to think about on the topic of creativity.

Here’s my friend, thoughtfully staring at a display of 1950s era living room furniture.

All too soon, the rental apartment was vacated, my friend flew home, and I picked up a very hot Breeze and decamped to a state park south of Denver.

But I wasn’t quite done with Denver: my nephew, Bob, invited me to a Rockies game vs. the LA Dodgers (which, if you thought I was a Dodgers fan because I grew up in LA, you apparently forgot I suffered through the worst of the Red Sox when I lived in Boston…).

I gotta admit, the sunset from the stadium was fantastic. Until then, though, the sun was a bit brutal, so he bought me a hat 🙂

One of the perks of my Denver-area campground was watching two balloons launch one morning. They didn’t seem to go far but this one got high enough to make a good photo for me. Thanks, dudes.
I have nothing but love for my time I spent in Denver,
and appreciation, and gratitude.
Brock Osweiler