Christmas Dinner With The Circle

Saturday the full Circle got together for our annual Christmas dinner. The six of us have been doing this for about five or six years now and it’s something we look forward to. Prior to the dinner itself we normally gather at one of our houses and exchange gifts. This year we gathered at K and Too Tall – Two Timing’s home. They provided atmosphere, hors d’oeuvres, and champagne….can’t have a Christmas get together without a little bubbly.

The gifts rely more on imagination than dollars spent and we usually have a fine old time in exchanging them. Some of the gifts are practical and some just plain silly. One year Too Tall gifted the guys with coonskin caps and playing on that theme this year I gifted the guys with some Rasta hats I found while on our cruise last month. I’m not sure when we will wear them but I’m working on a theme camp out for this summer.

Among other things the ladies of the group usually exchange Christmas tree ornaments. It’s fun looking at our tree and seeing these ornaments that represent some really good times.

For the past three years I have been giving everyone a calendar for the following year. Each month of the calendar contains a picture of The Circle or some of us on one of our past adventures. I have enjoyed doing it and I think the rest of the group looks forward to getting it. I never tell them which pictures I am going to use so everyone is anxious to make sure I haven’t used a particularly silly image of them. 

This year’s dinner was had at La Dolce Vita Restaurant in the small community of Castle Pines which is just a little north of Castle Rock, CO. It was a very nice restaurant and it’s hard to go wrong with Italian food. As we were dining a very talented young lady wandered around the restaurant singing to the different groups of diners. For our table she sang a wonderful rendition of Patsy Cline’s “Crazy” that was written by Willie Nelson in 1961…..I thought it fit the group pretty well!

Dessert, coffee and after dinner drinks completed the evening. It was another great get together and we’re already searching for that next Circle adventure.

Thanks for visiting.

Mojitos To Mountains

“Ten days on the road and I’m gonna’ make it home tonight…” I can hear the lyrics in my mind but for the life of me I can’t remember the title of the song? Even Google didn’t help with this one. Anyway, it was ten days on the road and we did make it home. We had a great time and it was good for The Bride and her mother Ladder Lady to spend quality time together.

Disembarkation in San Juan on Sunday was a little dicey because our “servants”, our “employees”…the ICE…Immigration & Customs Enforcement decided to send a total of three….count em’ 3…officers to screen about 3,000 passengers that were trying to get to their land hotels or flights back to the mainland. In the end they pretty much let everyone through by just flashing an ID card of some type and not inspecting any baggage….Feel safe now America?

Fortunately I had built in time at both the beginning and the end of the trip. After disembarkation we went to the fabulous resort hotel, El San Juan for a night of de-pressurization before making the last leg of the journey. I had stayed at the El San Juan on business, many years ago and always fantasized that it would be great to show this place to The Bride. It took about 20 years but I did make the fantasy come true.  The ladies were suitably impressed and even commented that they would have considered spending ten days there rather than on the cruise. Little did they know that it was about three times more expensive per day that to “cruise”.

The trip back was “payback” and the only way to survive is to put yourself into a catatonic state…which I did for the day of waiting, lines, and inconsiderate people. We arrived home at about 8 pm on Monday evening. Just in time to watch the Bronco’s lose the Monday night football game…..just more payback for having a great 10 days.

The remaining part of this week will be filled with all the inglorious details of coming home…laundry, restocking the fridge, paying bills, etc. Fortunately, the weather is not a total shock, with temps in the 60’s for a few more days until colder weather sets in.

Now I have to reset my mental latitude and get back to thinking of the new trailer, getting a fifth wheel hitch, doing all the small details so that in about 30 days I can start on the next adventure.

Thanks for visiting.

62, And On The Dole

Happy Birthday to me! Yesterday I achieved the venerable age of 62 and I am now a consumer rather than a producer of our nations resources. In a couple of weeks I will start receiving a retirement pension from the company I worked for for 35 years. In September I will begin receiving a Social Security check as well.

All in all, I feel terrific and have no major infirmities. For this I am grateful. I wish the best for our country and the young people in the workforce today. I hope both succeed beyond their wildest dreams because without their success, my future will not be secure.

Today would have been my Dad’s 91st birthday. He died last August and not a day goes by that I don’t think of him and wish that I could ask him just one more question. The picture of he and I, above, was taken last June. It’s one of my favorites of the two of us together. We’re both smiling because I had just smuggled in a little white wine into his apartment so that we could have a sip or two together.

The day after tomorrow would have been my paternal grandfather’s 110th birthday. As you can see July is a busy month in my family. My grandfather has been gone for 45 years now but I would give anything to be able to talk with him again.

Finally, my paternal grandmother would have been 111 years old on July 10th. Neither my Dad nor I ever had the opportunity to know her but I would have loved to have had that privilege.

I had an absolutely wonderful birthday in California visiting my daughter CaJenn and her husband CaJon which I’ll tell you about in the next post.

Thanks for visiting.

The Bride is now The Graduate!!

Today at about 1pm local time The Bride passed a final exam for the last college course she is required to take for her degree. I can't tell you how proud I am of her!

If you've been following this blog you realize that The Bride and I are not young pups. I just retired from a business career and The Bride is a few years behind me. Knowing that, you might be thinking, Huh?

The Bride didn't go to college right out of high school. As a matter of fact she didn't start taking college courses until a little over 15 years ago. When we were living in Savannah, GA in the late 1980's and early 1990's she decided that she wanted to get a college degree. That's easy enough to say, but at the time she had two small children and a husband (me) who had a job that required me to be out of town at least 30% of the time. She was determined however.

She attend Armstrong State College in Savannah for about two quarters full time. All the rest of her "matriculation" has been through night courses in the different places we lived during my business career. When we moved to the Denver area she was lucky enough to get a job with an employer that encouraged her....and helped her financially, to get a degree.

For the past few years she had been relentless in pursuing this goal. I can't seem to remember a time in the last few years when she wasn't either in class at night or working on homework, research or papers during the weekend.

With all that crammed into the everyday work and home life she managed to do all of this with a grade point average that is stratospheric compared to what I managed to eke out 40 years ago!

To make this accomplishment even more impressive, her degree will come from Regis University. This is not your typical "get your degree in your spare time" deal. This is a real, well respected, tough, Jesuit college. On top of that her degree is not a BS (and I don't mean Bachelor of Science, I mean "Bull S&%$" like Political Science) degree, she has a degree in Accounting.

Before anyone gets upset about my Political Science remark, I have authority to say that because that's what my degree of 40 years ago is.

This day belongs to The Bride. I could never have done what she accomplished. I am in awe of her determination and desire. Three cheers for The Bride.

The Graduate part of the title of this post is a reference to the 1967 movie starring Dustin Hoffman and Ann Bancroft. A really terrific movie even today.....and if The Bride is The Graduate in gender reversal, she can have that affair......with me.....now that she has the time.

Thanks for visiting.

Double Doins'

This week is a double congratulations week. First of all on this day 31 years ago I said "I Do" for my one and only time, to my one and only Bride. Happy Anniversary to both of us. The way I see it we're about half way through our adventure in life and as the old saying goes...The best is yet to come.

Speaking of adventures, 27 years ago tomorrow, an adventure entered our lives in the form of The Emmer. Both The Bride and I earned our parent stripes over the last 27 years but it was worth it and we have a wonderful caring daughter that we enjoy every single day.

On top of all of this good news it seems as if our #1 daughter, CaJen will be able to spend at least part of this coming long weekend with us. She will be coming out from the left coast on business and will squeeze in a couple of weekend days with us.

The only bad thing that's happened this week is that I had to cancel a planned short fishing trip to the mountains. I was going to leave on Sunday and return yesterday....just in time for my anniversary. (Didn't really want to try missing that, even for fishing!)

Anyway, Saturday I went to the lot to get my RV and start loading it. When I got to my space......it was empty.....no RV! Not only was there no RV but since it was Saturday the office was closed and all the phone lines went to an answering machine. I drove around the lot about 10 times making sure it wasn't moved to another spot but it plain wasn't there.

After about 15 minutes of sheer panic I finally reasoned that since they had just completed the repair on the window, the RV was probably locked up in one of the service bays. I had to wait till Monday however, to find out if my logic was correct. It was, but that didn't help my trip.

I was really looking forward to this trip because I just bought a float tube (aka bellyboat) to fish with. The picture to the right is just like what I bought. It deflates and folds up into a very small and light package so it's perfect to take along in the RV.

Maybe after the long weekend when the crush of people leaves the mountains, I'll sneak up for a couple of days.

Thanks for visiting.

Happy Birthday Father & Son

As mentioned in my last post, today is my 61st birthday. Happy Birthday to me. Tomorrow is my father's 90th birthday. Happy Birthday to you Dad. The picture above was taken about 12 years ago.

My family has packed a lot of birthdays into the month of July. My father's mother's birthday was July 10, mine July 12, my Dad's July 13 and my Dad's father July 14. Must be something special about November too...hmmm.

For those whippersnappers out there I thought it might be instructive to show you what the cost of living was 1947 when I was born.

How Much things cost in 1947

Average Cost of new house $6,600.00.
Average wages per year $2,850.00 .
Cost of a gallon of Gas 15 cents .
Average Cost of a new car $1,300.00.
Loaf of Bread 13 cents .
United States Postage Stamp 3 cents.
Mens Sweater $8.50 .
Bulova Mens Watch $52.50.

A number of notable events happened in 1947 including the following:

The CIA was established.
Jackie Robinson became the first black to play in Major League Baseball.
The Polaroid Land camera was demonstrated (Remember film kids?)
The U.S. Air Force was created as a separate branch of the armed services.
The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered.
Princess Elizabeth married the Duke of Edinburgh at Westminster Abbey, London.
A UFO reportedly crashed at Roswell, NM
Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in the Bell X-1 jet.
Howdy Doody premiered on television (One of my favorites!)

What about 1918? If you look at history only two thing of import transpired. World War I was raging across Europe and a great man was born into abject poverty in Newark, NJ. This child born in 1918 struggled, fought and clawed his way through life. In compensation for the lack of worldly things this child was born to, God endowed him with character and love. That's the only way he could have survived. This child became a self made man. Not in wealth but in all the really important things of life. Love, family and friends. He fathered four other lives, raised them, loved them, educated them and provided a rock solid moral compass for them. Tomorrow this man will be 90 years old. Today and forever this man will be my Father.

Happy Birthday Dad!!!!

Thanks for visiting.

A Cappella Fireworks

Huh??

If you get past the first hurdle and know what a cappella means, does that mean fireworks alone? No, I don't think so....

A nice little semi Circle event was held last night that included a concert by The Nylons and a fireworks show at a nice little venue close by called Hudson Gardens. Too Tall - Two Timing and K. are away in Breckenridge, Co so the semi Circle consisted of The Bride and me, his-self, Guitar and Pic-E. Some of Guitar's relatives were in town for a wedding and they accompanied us as well.

The Nylons is a four person a cappella group. That means singing but no band. If you want to talk about musical talent try listening to one person or a group singing for over an hour and a half with no band, no background music, no nothing except their own voices.

Ah yes, back to the 50's and the 60's groups like The Belmonts, The Starlights, The Persuasions, The Platters.... Great music with great voices.

The Nylons did themselves proud. This Canadian group was not used to the altitude and their type of singing requires huge lung power so they really worked hard to belt out the 20 or so songs they performed. One of their signature songs is a cover of The Tokens 1961 hit version of The Lion Sleeps Tonight. It certainly was one of my favorites. They not only sang the song but provided all of the background jungle noise of birds and animals. If you didn't know they were actually doing it you would have sworn that it was electronic background recordings.

They also sang Up On The Roof, originally recorded by The Drifters and taught me something about the song. I had no idea that it was co-written by Carole King? I wouldn't have guessed that in a million years. I was so skeptical that I googled it this morning...did I think they didn't know what they were talking about? I don't know I just wanted 2nd party verification. I got it and I am now a more informed individual.

Anyway it was a great outdoor concert on a very pleasant July 3rd evening and what could be more appropriate than after the concert to enjoy a fireworks show.

This is a pretty small venue so we were up close an personal to the fireworks. By the end of the display everyone smelled like gunpowder and we had to brush the dust off our shoulders.

Today I plan to chill and not go out if I don't have to...It's a retired guy thing. Why go out among the heathen hordes if I don't have to. The Bride and The Emmer, on the other hand are going to a Rockies baseball game this evening. They will take the light rail train downtown in late afternoon, get something to eat and then go to the ball field. This is one of The Emmer's favorite things so she will have a memorable 4th as well. There will be a fireworks display at the field after the game. If I walk about a block to the green area between a couple developments, I'll be able to see not only that display but several others in the area all at the same time!

I don't do politics on this blog but I would like my readers to consider the meaning of the 4th of July. In these times when everything seems to be going to hell in a handbasket consider the history of this great nation. We have been in much more terrible circumstances in the past....many times in the past. This nation has the unique gift of unparalleled freedom. That's our trump card. That's why we will endure. Things may change. Things may never be the same. Things will most likely be better once we work our way through the current challenges. Like Mark Twain the reports of our demise are premature.

Thanks for visiting.

To The Fathers in My Life

Happy Father's Day.

Only "The Colonel" remains but all are remembered fondly.

My dad "The Colonel" and his father.


















My mother's dad.


















The Brides dad and her grandfather.



















Mothers may have given us civilization but fathers provided with food, shelter and a mans love.

Thank you one and all.

Thanks for visiting.

Do You Know The Way to San Jose? W Day Minus 10

It's starting to get awfully close. #1 daughter, CaJenn, will be getting married a week from Saturday. That's her in the picture above and her husband to be. I have not chosen a moniker for him just yet....Hmm, any suggestions CaJenn??

Both sides of the family are excited and are looking forward to the event. These are two fine young people and we know they will be very happy together.

The Bride and I and The Emmer and The Brides mother "S" will be flying from Denver to San Jose next Thursday. The wedding itself will be in Monterey, CA but San Jose was as close as we could get with a direct flight. From there we will meet up with The Bride's brother and family and drive to Monterey.

I've been pretty successful in putting everything related to the wedding out of my mind and letting the ladies of both families do all the heavy lifting. I can't put it out of my mind any longer and I'm now counting days and having good wishes along with everyone else.

I'm sure there will be many stories to relate about the event in....eleven days!

Thanks for visiting.

I Am A Dunce

I am a dunce. I am an unknowing lout. I am all of this and worse today......Gladly!

In my last post I told you that the repair crew was coming for the third time in 5 days to attempt to repair my KitchenAid built in oven. I couldn't follow the logic of their repair plan as the last 3 times this issue seemed to be the thermostat. I did say however that it would be fine with me if I was wrong and would gladly profess that I was an unknowing lout if only the oven would work the way it was supposed to.

This trip they replaced the main circuit board in the oven. This means that they have replaced every electric part in the oven, except the heating elements themselves. They couldn't stick around the three and a half hours it takes to run through the self cleaning cycle to see if the repair worked, so I started it the minute they walked out the door. I had zero expectations....that's not correct. I had every expectation that the oven would once again self destruct. Wrong! Wonderfully wrong.

For the first time since we paid a lot of money for this oven, almost one year ago, it actually worked the way it was supposed to.....and didn't leave me without an oven for at least a week. I'm totally and wonderfully happy right now but I also have a nagging fear that the fix is only temporary.

Just to be sure that this was not a fluke, a string of one, an improbable chance of fate, I think I will run it through the cycle every other day for a week. I hope I'm not disappointed. If I'm not, I'll also have the cleanest oven on the planet!

Thanks for visiting.

Happy Birthday #1

I've gotta tell ya that winter time is a busy celebration time in my family. Not only do we have the standard Christmas and New Year's holidays, but there are also numerous birthdays and anniversaries. It was just a few days ago that I was wishing my brother #4, a Happy Birthday. The time between Christmas and New Year's is also my oldest brother's wedding anniversary and my parents anniversary.

Tomorrow is my oldest brother's birthday. I won't say exactly how old he is other than to say of the four boys in my family, he is the only one that cannot be considered a "baby boomer" and next year Medicare will likely become part of his world.

Geesh, most people consider us baby boomers to be a bit on the old side....and he's too old to be called a baby boomer! He was even born DURING WW II!

On this blog he has the moniker of #1. I need to be perfectly clear that this moniker is not intended to mean that he is 1st in anything other than chronological order. He certainly is not #1 in terms of good looks as I have occupied that family position just about all of my life.

Strangely enough during his teen years, he gave me a run for my money in the looks department. While most teens are gawky and just about bustin' out of their bodies with ugly, he entered his James Dean phase. He was actually a good looking teen....but as we all know that phase only lasts 7 years.

Somehow I guess his hormones got reversed and when he was supposed to be ugly, he wasn't but both before and after that time....well I'll be discrete and not hit below the belt with an ugly stick.

I think now that he is entering the old f**t part of his life he is mellowing out somewhat. Some even suggest that he might be able to make an end life career of impersonating an old movie star???

What do you think?

Happy Birthday brother!

Thanks for visiting.

Lucky Beans

Every year K and Too Tall-Two Timing hold a "Lucky Beans" party on New Year's Day and yesterday was that day. The name is a bit of a misnomer as the main dish served at the affair is actually black eyed peas. I guess Lucky Peas just doesn't have the same ring as Lucky Beans. It is a Southern tradition to eat black eyed peas on New Year's Day for good luck and this way we could not only fulfill the tradition but all get together as well.

The Bride and I have been attending this party for about four years now and we always look forward to it. The members of The Circle have all been busy with family during the holiday season and this party gives us the opportunity to get together and compare notes on holiday "doins". There are also other friends that attend and all of us always have a good time.

This year we may have started another tradition....the champagne cork shoot. K and Too Tall's home backs up to an open space and from their back deck it's quite a ways to the next row of homes. Too Tall told us that he and K on occasion have tried to see how far they could get a champagne cork to fly off of their deck......Just so happens that I brought a bottle of champagne to the party!

We decided to see if my unshaken bottle's cork was up to their standards? I was torn between shaking the bottle for more distance or not shaking it for more champagne afterwards. I opted for the latter. I managed to get about 100 feet out of this first attempt...and unfortunately we only had one bottle so that was it for this year.

After toasting to the new year, I went to the back yard and found the cork in the snow and marked the spot with a driveway reflector. Hopefully, Too Tall will leave this marker in place and next year we can see if someone else can "best" my initial shot.

Black eyed peas and a host of other goodies were next and the entire group had a great time for the next couple of hours. I made sure I ate lots of black eyed peas because I want to be absolutely sure that I have good luck in this coming year......and besides they are mmmmmm good!

As I write this we are in the second day of 2008. It's my hope that the year will bring nothing but good things for The Circle and our families.......I ate an awful lot of black eyed peas.

Thanks for visiting.

'Twas The Day Before Christmas

The last couple of days have been non-stop action. My oldest daughter, CaJenn, flew in on Saturday afternoon from the left coast. She flew Frontier and actually arrived 15 minutes ahead of schedule! Strange as it may seem she said the San Francisco airport was not crowded at all, at the Frontier terminal. She arrived the prescriptive 90 minutes in advance and made it through security in about 10 minutes....Let's hope her luck continues on the return trip.

The good news is that the his-self family is now complete for the holidays. The bad news is that The Emmer has come down with a nasty cold and is not at all in the holiday spirit. We're hoping she can shake it pretty soon with a combination of medication and rest.

The weather has been hit or miss the last few days with a light snowy day coming every three or four days. The forecast is for a few snow showers on Christmas morning and then clearing. Sunday morning the sky was just magnificent. I woke up at about 7am looked out the window and then hustled for my camera. CaJenn leaves to return for the left coast on Thursday and right now it looks like we will get a couple of inches of new snow during that day!

Since The Emmer is under the weather I have taken up the slack as principle Molly Dog walker. Molly Dog is a "mostly" Australian Cattle Dog and walks with a vengeance. It's more like she is taking me for a walk than the other way around. Oh well, this will be good exercise for the newly retired guy!

Last night we went out to dinner at a very nice restaurant in the small town of Sedalia, CO. Gabriel's is located in an old 1889 mansion that was originally built for one of the founding fathers of this little town.

For a small town, Sedalia has got it all. Not only is Gabriel's a fantastic restaurant but it sits right across the street from the famous Bud's Bar. We even considered playing a joke on CaJenn and going into Bud's like that was where we were going to eat dinner before we took her across the street. Unfortunately, Bud's is closed all this week so that ruined that idea. Our dinner party only consisted of The Bride, CaJenn and myself. The Emmer just didn't feel up to eating out. You know The Emmer is not feeling well when she turns down an opportunity to dine out. Dining out is one of her biggest pleasures.

I guess today is the lull before the storm. The Bride has to work today and I'm doing last minute chores to get ready for tomorrows festivities.

I want to wish all of my readers a Merry Christmas! May your every wish come true during this season.

Thanks for visiting.

Happy Birthday K and BRRRRRR

Saturday afternoon The Bride and I left the Spanish Market and Rendezvous and headed back to the Dory Hill campground for another night of festivities. Not only was this the very first "Circle The Wagons" outing but it was also K's birthday so a celebration was definitely in order!

We got to the campground right around 4 pm. The campground is at 9200' elevation and with a little cloud cover that came in late in the day it was starting to get a little chilly. Time for a fire! There's nothing like a campfire for a little camp ambiance and to foster fellowship.

I'm not sure what the womenfolk talked about but us guys were into subjects like grey water tank capacities, battery life and all sorts of other trailer related subjects. The dogs, Rocket, Woodrow (in the picture) and Katie just made themselves at home.

After conversation and libations it was time to start the feast. This night it was steak on the grill, expertly cooked by Guitar, crab stuffed mushrooms, potatoes and green beans. A very nice bottle or two of red wine made everything even more special.

With dinner finished it was time to honor K with birthday gifts. Pic-E's birthday was a couple of weeks ago so we honored her as well. The festivities went on for some time and we moved out of doors again to huddle around the fire as we burned the last of the wood we brought. Dang, it was getting downright chilly so we decided to call it a night.

Sometime during the night I woke to what seemed like someone trying to move the trailer somewhere? After a couple of seconds I realized that the wind was howling like a banshee and Bivouac was doing an imitation of my old fishing boat.....rocking, and not so gently, back and forth. The Bride woke up too. This was not a quickly passing event and it kept up and kept up. I managed to go back to sleep although I would wake up every now and again as a particularly strong gust hit the trailer.

Finally early Sunday morning things quieted down and then the heat started coming on in the trailer. I got up at about 7 am (late for me), started the coffee and opened the blinds. The picture to the left shows what greeted me....22 degrees! It was COLD!

Not only was it cold but the outside, city water line was frozen so I had to unhook that and go to the onboard water system.

When I went outside to unhook the city water I noticed that all of the tents that were in the campground the night before were gone. They must have had their tents blown over in the wind and just packed up and left.

We weren't in any hurry and once the sun got up, it started to warm up nicely. We had a group breakfast in Too Tall-Two Timing's and K's trailer....no pictures...and got the rigs ready to roll back to the Denver area. A final "uncircle" ceremony and everyone was on the road.

So the first Circle the Wagons event is history. I'm hoping that there will be many more to follow. I can certainly see doing this again in the future....hopefully the near future. I could see Taos, Albuquerque, or Santa Fe before this coming winter is done.

What do you think Guitar? How 'bout it Too Tall?

Thanks for visiting.

Anonymous Unmasked

This past Saturday, The Bride, The Emmer and myself had a very nice dinner in a very nice restaurant as a special celebration. When the bill came we were informed that the cocktails and wine we had with dinner had been paid for by an "anonymous well-wisher".

The Bride and I struggled in trying to figure out who this "anonymous well-wisher" might be? Everyone we could think of that might do something like that would NOT be bashful about letting us know who it was from. Heck, most of them would have walked into the place with a bottle and plunked it down on the table and joined us in a toast.....Everyone that could have that is.

As it turns out we just came out and asked our older daughter CA-Jenn, who as the moniker hints, lives on the left coast. She fessed up immediately....in fact she said that she told the restaurant to let us know it was her!?

So, apparently this high class restaurant does food extremely well but can't take notes worth a cheeseburger. The mistake actually gave us some fun in trying to figure out who the donor was so all's well that ends well!

CA-Jenn, your Mom and I thank you. May your upcoming marriage be equally as successful as ours has been!

Thanks for visiting.

Plain Cars and Trains

A play on words of the title to an older Steve Martin comedy. Can you name it? Fortunately, this weekend’s events were not as catastrophic as those detailed in the film I’m referencing. As a matter of fact they were quite pleasant.

Plain Cars, is a reference to the fact that on Saturday we bought a very plain car to replace the plain car lost in an accident a couple of weeks ago. The accident totaled our 1995 Ford Contour and The Emmer was comfortable with that car.

I don’t think The Emmer will even notice a difference in the old and “new” old, plain car. The “new”, old, plain car is a 1996 Ford Contour. It’s the same model, same color and really spooky, even has the same smell as the old, “old”, plain car! Other things that we thought were unique to the old, “old”, plain car we have discovered to be design defects in this particular Ford model. For one, the automatic gas door lever next to the driver’s seat on the old, “old”, plain car never did work right and most of the time you had to open the trunk and use the supplemental handle there to get the fuel door open…..”New”, old, plain car, same thing. The back passenger door on the old “old”, plain car used to squeak like a tank when opened and no amount of WD-40 or oil could fix it….”New”, old, plain car, same thing. Several other things are exactly the same too, but you get the idea. It also looks like I’ll have to do some mechanical work to this vehicle. Hopefully not too much, but before I can even start that I’ll have to deal with licensing and emissions inspections. I’m guessing in about another week it will be time again for The Emmer to take up the “driving life”.

So that takes care of the Plain Cars part but where does the Trains part come in you ask? Well, this is a bit convoluted, but stay with me because you’ll even learn something about Denver history in all of this.

This weekend we celebrated The Emmer’s 26th birthday which is on Tuesday and we also celebrated The Bride’s and my 30th wedding anniversary which is tomorrow. Our celebratory dinner was at one of Denver’s finest restaurants, Restaurant Kevin Taylor. This great restaurant is located in the Hotel Teatro, which is itself, a great destination. The Hotel Teatro occupies an historic 1911 building in downtown Denver that at one time was the headquarters of the…Denver Tramway Company. Tramway, streetcars, trains…get it? In the picture at the top, the hotel/restaurant is located in the tall office building in the background.

Dinner at Restaurant Kevin Taylor was anything but plain. This restaurant has been a fixture in Denver’s fine dining scene for years. It’s listed as a “Four Diamond” destination by Mobile Travel Guide, one of “50 Best Restaurant Hotels” by Travel and Leisure and got the “Award of Excellence” from Wine Spectator magazine. What the Coney Island Hotdog Stand in Bailey Co is to hotdogs, this restaurant is to fine dining in Denver!

One of The Emmer’s favorite things is dining out and she was just beside herself this night due to sensory overload…and there was plenty to overload about. We all decided to do the four course meal option which was a prix fixe dinner that included any choice of appetizer, salad or soup, main course and desert on the menu.

We all chose different things for each of the courses and all tasted each other’s choice. For the main course The Emmer had wild boar, The Bride had Colorado lamb and I had venison. None of us were disappointed in any of our choices…..except perhaps with the wine.

The wine list was intimidating! There were pages and pages and pages of choices. Several selections were priced at $1800, yes that is one thousand eight hundred DOLLARS, for a bottle of wine! Being the son of depression parents I was a bit more reasonable in my choice of wine….If I only knew!….

After a very, very nice dinner the waiter brought the bill with the comment that cocktails and wine for the meal had been taken care of by an anonymous well wisher! Thoughts of that $1800 bottle of wine flashed through my mind!!

So, publicly for all the blogosphere to know…Anonymous, whoever you are, The Bride and I thank you for your part in a memorable evening! You can breathe a sigh of relief that I am the son of depression parents!

Thanks for visiting.