Summer Adventure: Coors Factory and River Walk

On Wednesday we spent the day exploring Golden.

In the morning we toured the Coors factory--the largest single-sight brewing company in the nation.

Laci and the kids in front of the brewing kettles.

Here's Tai enjoying a free sample at the end of the Coors tour. Yes, we all got free samples... of soft drinks.

In the afternoon, we walked around downtown Golden. Here is Talynne posing on a butterfly statue on the riverwalk.

On our way back to the car from our down-town adventure, we stopped and waded in the overflowing river.

Summer Adventure: Denver Zoo

Last week, we spent most of the week in the Denver area with Laci's parents. On Monday we spent eight hours at the Denver zoo. We saw a little bit of everything, including some places we hadn't seen before, like a path by the duck pond, where we saw some baby swans. We rode the train, and the caroucel, played in the new kid's wading area, and just enjoyed a great day. We also took tons of picturs as we experimented with our new camera. Here are some of our favories from that day:

Summer Adventure: Buena Vista Day Trip

One of our plans for this summer is to take some day trips to towns in the surrounding area that we either haven't been to, or have spent very little time in. Wednesday, we made our first day trip. We went to Buena Vista. We were away from home for eleven hours, so we'll just look at the highlights from our trip.

For part of the morning, we found a park with a nice playground for the kids to play on. Tai was very excited that she could climb this ladder.

Camden loved the tunnel on the playground.

We went on a walk around a pond in one of the parks, and found this statue. Tai wanted to pose in front of it with her dandelion.

In the afternoon, we went hiking for a few hours. This rock was perfect for the kids to sit in for a picture.

Thom carrying Camden on the hiking trail.

Tai was our little trooper on the hike. She walked almost the entire way on her own, even at the steepest part of the trail.

Tai let her imagination run wild while we were hiking. She hid behind this rock and told us she was hiding from a witch.

Even Camden did a fair amount of walking on the trail!

Near the trail head there was a sculpture of a living room set. We couldn't resist taking a "rest" on it after our hike.

Laci's boss told her about a road where you could drive through some old train tunnels, so on our way home, we took that road. The tunnels were awesome, but it was a little nerve-wracking since they were single-lane tunnels.

Summer Adventure: Heritage Museum and National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum

We're a couple days behind on our adventures now, but we'll catch you up. On Tuesday we went to two more of Leadville's museums. Since we had more time on this day, we tackled the big ones.

Our first stop on Tuesday was the Heritage Museum, which takes you through Leadville's history in two stories worth of exhibits.

Tailynne standing in front of an old-fassioned grand piano. She pointed out to us that there were two "pianos" in this room--you can see the organ next to the piano.

Camden loved the manequine of the soldier from the 10th Mountain Division.

Our favorite exhibit at the Heritage Museum is the Ice Palace exhibit. It has a scale model of the Ice Palace. Every 1/4 inch of the model represents 1 foot of the actual Ice Palace.

Our last stop at the Heritage Museum was the equipment they have on display outside.

After the Heritage Museum, we went to one of the parks for lunch.

After we ate, we let the kids play on the playground for a little while to get some energy out... We played a little, too.

After lunch we went to the National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum. This is the largest of the museums in Leadville, and is in what used to be the high school.

Near the front of the museum was a sculpture of a castle made from a variety of stones and precious metals.

Camden loved looking at all the different rocks in the gallery. They had different stones and gems from all around the world.

There were two mine replications that you could walk through. Here is one of the dummies in the hard rock mine, waiting to be lifted out.

In the Cole Mine replica, there was a donkey pulling a cart full of coal.

Laci and Thom tried their hands at prospecting. It just would have been nice to know that the gloves weren't water proof first. It took a long time to get the stink out.

One of the exhibits showed all of the house-hold conveniences that come as a result of mining. Tailynne loved the potty display.

Summer Adventures: Tabor Museums

There are six museums in Leadville, and each summer, you can buy a passport that will get you one visit to each museum. Since Laci works at one of the museums, she got a complementary passport, so Thom got one, and we are going to visit each of the museums. Today we started with the three that are connected to Leadville's famous Tabor family.

First we stopped at the Historic Tabor Home--where Horrace, and his first wife, Augusta lived.

An old-fassioned fold-out bed.

The cradle of Maxie Tabor, the son of Horrace and Augusta.

Our next stop was the Matchless Mine and Baby Doe Cabin--the dying place of our cat's namesake.

Camden trying on a toy hard hat before we started the tour.

Thom, Tailynne, and Camden looking down the mine shaft.

A replica of Matchless Mine, which was originally used as a parade float.

Baby Doe's bed, inside the cabin. Notice the wall paper. While this is not the orriginal wall paper, Baby Doe did line the walls with newspaper for extra insulation.

Our last stop today was the Tabor Opera House. It was really cool... literally... there's no heating in that building.

Camden fell asleep before we started the tour. He was awake by the end though. We think this one was his favorite.

The ticket booth. Each slot corresponds with a seat in the auditorium.

Tailynne walking down the aisle of the auditorium.

The view from the balcony.

The entry way, looking down from the doors to the theatre.