weekend

Labor Day Fun in Colorado Springs

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What an amazing Labor Day weekend in Colorado Springs. It was our last Parent’s Weekend at the Air Force Academy so we spent time both in Colorado Springs as well as Denver. After all, there’s no reason to stick around C-Springs anymore!

We flew in on Thursday and spent the day not with our cadet, but looking at homes to rent for her graduation in May. We have a whole slew of people coming out and renting hotel rooms is slightly more cost prohibitive then renting a whole house. After that fun, we spent the day exploring Manitou Springs. I’m surprised we’ve never been there before. It is a quaint little town with lots of shops to explore.

Friday is the usual stuff-a parade, walk around campus, squadron tailgating. So we dutifully did it all. This time, though, we were able to reconnect with one of hubby’s AF friends who is teaching there.

Once we were done with the on-campus stuff, we headed off for some great desserts at Boonzaaijer‘s. Let me tell you, if you can make it there, do! Madeleine had introduced me to the place back in February and we were able to bring hubby this time. It looks and smells delicious. I had a slice of cake while my cohorts had the mountain peaks.

For dinner, we left the Netherlands and headed to Germany. We stopped at Edelweiss for some good food. (I’m here to tell you know that this trip was a food fest.) The portions were HUGE and the beer was good too. It was surprising how big the restaurant actually was since there is also a beer garden.

On Saturday, we continued the food fest with a stop at a popcorn shop named City Pop. My daughter and hubby go nuts for popcorn so we had to taste their wares and then decide what to buy.

We walked the city after that. The 16th Street Mall is a happening area as is Larimer Square. That place is so lovely and many people were out in the middle of the street taking pics. I didn’t follow suit but I should have. We hiked down to my favorite bookstore over there, The Tattered Cover and hunkered down for a while. When we were ready to go again, we retreated back to Larimer Sq. for some dinner.

On Sunday, we reconvened the walking and eating. The Taste of Colorado was happening so we strolled around there for awhile. In our wanderings afterwards, we found a beautiful bridge and a park. The bridge is called the Millennium Bridge and it looks like a ship’s mast. We had walked so much that we took the elevator back up to the top of the stairs. That wasn’t fun. The elevator went up a foot, and went back down. Then it started up again. I don’t know about anyone else, but I was picturing Tower of Terror. We only went up two stories but you understand.

We found a place called the Denver Milk Market. It is a cafeteria style place with lots of food options.

I got ice cream to calm my nerves.

Monday was our final day with Madeleine. We hit EscapeWorks Denver and tried to solve the riddles to make it into the speakeasy. The clues were difficult for us. It was only us three and I felt like we needed a few more people. Jared, our host, helped us a ton. Madeleine and I laughed at how bad we were. We failed but had fun.

All in all, I’d say it was a great Labor Day. We didn’t work but we ate and played. What more can you ask for?

An “Ordinary, Average, Every Day….” Weekend

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It was an “ordinary, average, every day, sane, psycho supergoddess” kind of weekend.

The weekdays are usually the same-plug away at the job and keep counting down the days until it’s Friday. This week was no different. So when the weekend comes, we usually like to do something different.

As you may know, we had a lot of different: our A/C conked out which left A LOT to be desired. It wasn’t too bad on Friday and Saturday because we had zero humidity and the temps were in the 80s. But come Sunday, the humidity jumped sky-high. That was miserable trying to sleep. Even with the fan on overhead, the air was stifling.

But Saturday was still a good day. Alain and I hit our usual winery here in Northern Virginia. We have two we really like: Quattro Goombas  and Stone Tower Winery which we where we found ourselves. We had both brought books to read. And why not? A book and a glass of wine is a great way to spend the day! There was even a wedding going on so we were able to people-watch. The bad part was trying to find a seat in the shade. That didn’t happen so we wandered inside.

We spent a few great hours sipping Chardonnay and reading. I love to read but when I’m not at home, I get antsy. I chalk it up to the fact that I can’t take off my shoes and kick my feet up on the couch. That’s why we didn’t stay too long.

We headed home and decided to go to the pool. There weren’t too many people either so we found great chaise lounges, plopped our towels down and jumped into the water. OK, we didn’t actually jump, we slowly lowered ourselves in. The water was wonderfully warm. After a while, we hopped out and lay out on the chairs.

That just reminded me that I’d much rather be in the Caribbean on a cruise ship. I asked hubby when we were taking our anniversary trip and I got a non-committal answer.

For now, I’ll keep heading to the pool, closing my eyes and imagining that I’m there. Let’s see how long that lasts….