Denver Daze

Our granddaughter, Kyla, came to visit us in Colorado for a few weeks (actually, if you would ask her, she would say 3 weeks and 1 day).   One of the things she wanted to do was to go get some Voodoo Doughnuts.  That meant a one hour drive to downtown Denver, but that was sure a lot closer than going to the Voodoo store in Portland, Oregon.

Success!  One box of sugar goodness...mmm, mmm, mmm.

Next stop, was REI.  Kyla had consumed her first doughnut before we even got there even though it was a very short drive between the two businesses.  I caught Don and Kyla busy texting on their phones while sitting on the patio outside REI.  They were so involved that I don't even think they realized I had taken their picture.

Next on the agenda was Union Station, situated north and east of REI and across the fast running and frothy South Platte River.   

It took a bit of coaxing and cajoling to get Don and Kyla to agree to walking on over to Union Station.  It also involved three different people giving us 4 different sets of directions to get there!  Let's just say that the "smart" phones weren't always so smart and wanted to take us backwards at times...

Union Station was built in 1881,and has survived a fire, multiple floods and a decline in rail travel as it took a back seat to automobiles.   It was built for just over $525,000 by the Union Depot and Railroad Company.  In its heydey it serviced 80 trains a day.  By 2010 it was direly in need of a boost, and the Federal Transit Authority authorized $304,000 in loans for renovation.

Now the main terminal is filled with all types of shops, cafes, a bookstore and even a hotel!

A bar and restaurant now occupy the place where people used to stand in line to buy their tickets to far away places such as Chicago or Los Angeles.

Time for Kyla's second sugar rush and she headed for the ice creams at Milkbox Ice Creamery!  So many flavors to choose from.  Which one will she wind up with?

Here they even have adult boozy shakes, complete with your choice of ice cream and liquor.  Don't worry, Heidi, we didn't let Kyla order one of those!

One malted milk ball shake for her and she was a happy camper.  Nothing like a doughnut and a milkshake within an hour's time to keep her going!  Unfortunately, if she can't sleep tonight, we are the ones that will be impacted.  We can't do the S-S-S routine right now.....spoiling.....sugaring....and sending home.

Time to head back to our truck.  At least we walked off some of the calories we consumed.  If we had opted to walk off all of the calories, we would probably have needed to walk half way back to Loveland and that was NOT happening.

We passed through Confluence Park, situated right on the South Platte, which was running extra fast with runoff from snow melt and recent rains.  All in all, it was a great morning!