My husband K was out the door at 7:30 for ClarinetFest activities. I was officially up at 8. The temperature was 62° and I looked out the window to a sunny, clear day. I also looked out to a wonderful view of the Rockies. Just gorgeous!
I ate breakfast in a leisurely fashion, which was nice. Then, I got myself ready for the morning's outing.
It was 9:58, with 24681 on the odometer, when I left the hotel parking lot. I'd put the destination into Google Maps, but I had not taken a look at what it looked like in a photo. So, I missed it and had to do a U-turn, before I successfully parked at the Denver Museum of Miniatures, Dolls & Toys at 10:32 (24698).
In my defense, I had not really imagined it would be in a repurposed building in a line of strip shopping centers. The other time I'd visited the museum, it had been housed in an old arts and crafts-style house. The owner, who was manning the cash register/ desk, said that the costs of maintaining the old building had gotten too high. Here, they had a work room, a lower level with kids' activities, and were fundraising to put in an elevator to make an upper level handicapped accessible.
We chatted a while about miniatures, clubs, etc., before I realized I really needed to get my $4 senior rate's worth out of the museum and I started to systematically visit every display.
Photos were not allowed the last time, but that was not the case now. These first two photos show how a miniature can be rather classy, while second shows how it can tell a bit of a story.
Sometimes, they recreate an actual place and others, a place that could be.
They had a whole town built by master miniature artisan Bill Lankford that was very difficult to photograph due to its glass case. But, it was a lot of fun to study it and find all the items in a scavenger hunt he'd made. I've never taken one of his rather expensive classes, but I love the detail he puts into his work.
The museum does have dolls, as the name promised, including an original Barbie.
Miniatures are not always houses or individual rooms as seen above. Sometimes, folks find unique ways of displaying their treasures like this old rifle case. Putting Southwestern items in here seemed inspired.
Germany has long been associated with miniatures.
Some folks go really big.
Back in the day, miniatures were used to teach kids. Boys were taught to keep a shop and girls to organize a house, specifically a kitchen.
This one had just so many great details, down to a lit dollhouse in the attic and a broken egg on the kitchen floor.
Some miniatures are just works of art by skilled artisans.
This version of Dumbledore's office just blew me away.
After I'd thoroughly studied all of the displays, I headed for the shop. I chose several magazines, a classic Renwal mantel clock, a couple of odds and ends and an incredibly detailed 1/144 scale artist's display room. I don't usually buy finished rooms, but this was too good to pass up.
I left at 1:19 and ran into quite a bit of traffic, especially on I-25. I got back to the hotel at 1:53 (24720) and parked in the lot across the road from the hotel. On my way to the room, I picked up a 20 oz. Diet Coke in the gift shop for a whopping $4.75. I wasn't spending any other money on lunch, though. I had the soda with an almond butter bar, because dinner would be early.
Today was K's birthday and I'd convinced him to forgo the late afternoon and evening activities to go out. We headed out at 4:06, taking umbrellas due to the forecast.
At 4:31 (24729), we parked behind Tocabe, An American Indian Eatery at 3536 W. 44th Street. Our daughter and daughter-in-law had eaten here, when they were in town for the latter's master's degree graduation, and raved about it.
You may notice the three hands on the transom. I found this: The three hands from our logo represent the three villages of the Osage: Pawhuska, Hominy, and Grayhorse. So, that's cool.
It's a counter-serve restaurant, where you build your own meal, much like Chipotle. We ordered a Shredded Bison Indian Taco ($150 with cheese, black beans, lettuce, corn mix, pumpkin, sunflower and cranberries. Our second entree was Ground Beef Stuffed Fry Bread ($11.25) with corn, cheese, hominy, chili beans, lettuce, and elderberry vinaigrette. 2 Diet Dr. Pepper were $2.99 each with free refills. We added a tip of $4.83. The food was absolutely fantastic and the kids behind the counter were super friendly.
I liked the decor, especially the wall of candles.
Since it was his birthday, I insisted that we also split a dessert. The family loves fry bread. So, we got fry bread and wojapi sauce ($7). Wojapi is a Native American fruit sauce. Man, it was good!!
K was driving, which gave me the chance to take these dramatic photos south of Monument on I-25.
Look at that cloud eating the mountain. We saw this from Garden of the Gods Road.
K and I had planned to go to Garden of the Gods on our Colorado trip 11 years ago. Unfortunately, fires in a nearby canyon closed the road and chased off to Aspen a day early. My daughter J and I did come here on our western road trip in 2019 and it was amazing. We'd been here at sunset and the photos, including of Pikes Peak, were fantastic. Even though the clouds threatened the sunset photos I'd hoped for, at least he'd get to see the park.
Strictly speaking, he had been here before, as will come up soon. His family made a cross-country trip when he was a teenager and this was one of their stops.
As you drive down Garden of the Gods Road, you do begin to see the rock formations in the distance. It's really pretty impressive.
By the time we were at this point, it was after 7 pm and the visitors center was closed. The park itself doesn't close until 10 pm. No doubt, this is to accommodate sunset viewing and stargazing.
So, we just followed the road until we reached the first big parking lot at 7:04 (24801). Here, we got out and went down the paved trail. In spite of the weather, there were a number of people here.
I just love these formations! Look at the keyhole way up there in the last picture. How long before weathering makes it disappear?
On our way down the trail, we saw some wildlife. There were all these birds flying around. I think this is a black-billed magpie, the unofficial mascot of the park.
Where the ground flattened out, there was the circle seen below. It was here that K made his most lasting memory of the park, because this is where the chuckwagon that the Jaycees had back in the day. K's dad was a Jaycee and K thinks that that is probably how they got tickets.
We walked around a bit, appreciating the scenery, taking selfies, making use of the one restroom that I knew existed here, etc. It was interesting how different the two sides were in color.
At 7:32, we we back in the car, but we stopped two minutes later for these dramatic rocks and the view down the road. This was not a big parking lot, but rather a few spaces along the shoulder.
We were back on the road again at 7:40. Just before we stopped again at pullout 8 at 7:45 (24802), we saw this deer. I think it is a mule deer.
At this stop, besides the great rock formations, there was a vista over Manitou Springs toward cloud-shrouded Pikes Peak.
For the life of me, I could not find the great rock formations where J and I had taken our sunset photos. I couldn't even find Balancing Rock.
We were back on the road at 7:50 and then pulled into the High Point Parking Lot 9, which was the first pullout after Juniper Way cut off. The view here was really breathtaking.
At 8, we pushed on. Google Maps was having trouble getting a signal and we actually wound up exiting the park at Manitou Springs. We did not want to do that and found our way to the Trading Post at 8:12 (24807). It was getting close to their closing time. So, we roamed around quickly. I got stickers and a postcard and we both took advantage of the restrooms.
At 8:26, we left and made our way back to Ridge Road. The roads in the main part of the park are one-way. So, we knew we'd eventually get back to the spot we entered the park. I did manage to get one last photo at 8:35.
There was rain, sometimes heavy on the way back. We made no other stops and parked in the lot across the road from the Westin at 9:59 (24891).
The phone said that I walked 4,282 steps for 1.5 miles today. I was in the car a lot.
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