Denver and Bailey, Colorado

I arrived in Denver with the intent of spending some time with my brother, Jim, also known as “Charming Little Brother.”  I arrived early afternoon after leaving Grand Junction early since Jim had told me to be careful about the weather.  The drive was picturesque, but it was nice to get to a city after being in fairly out of the way places.  I’ve become a fan of Priceline, and had fun playing “how low can you go” in getting my first night at the Grand Hyatt for less than half of the published price.  I already had a reservation for the next two nights at a Hampton Inn nearer to Jim’s apartment. 

We were going to play golf the next day in the mid-afternoon, but when we got to Fox Hollow, it was starting to rain lightly, and we decided to bag it until the next morning.  GOOD decision.  The next morning the weather was great. 

In the meantime, Jim took me to the Morrison Inn in Morrison for the afternoon, and we had a terrific lunch of Mexican food.    It’s a really cute little town, and we did some driving beyond the town to see the sights.  Jim goes into the hills frequently and knows these areas very well.

The golf the next morning was fun.  We played with a young couple, both of whom were pretty good, but the guy, John, was hitting from the championship tees, and making par on almost every hole.  Jim hadn’t played in about a year, and his style is, shall we say, “home grown.”  But he is a natural athlete, and by the 8^th hole, he was starting to hit the ball pretty consistently, both straight and solid.  It was really fun, and gave us a chance to laugh a bit with each other, since we don’t really see each other that often. 

When I left Denver, I drove to Bailey, Colorado, which is up in the hills, at about 7800 feet.  I got to see Heather, Daun, and the kids, Devlin and Kaelin.  I had a great time with both kids my first evening there, but I especially ended up having some fun with Devlin, age 4 ½ , the next day.  Heather was starting a new job as the county WIC educator, so Devlin and I had the day together.  We played games in the morning and watched some silly cartoon, then we went to a special lunch at the Coney Island hotdog place, just outside of the small town of Bailey.  The hotdogs were, well, adequate in quality, while being absolutely delicious in the impact of the fun with Devlin.  He was really more into the fries, but we were eating outside, and there was some music playing over the sound system (oldies but goodies,) and when I started lightly singing, he got real interested, and started swaying to the music.  We started dancing while sitting, and had a great time.  Then we went to the Pine Creek Open Space, about 12 miles away, and went on a nature walk around the lake.  When it started to sprinkle, we went under a huge fir tree, and he did experiments on what one could throw in the river that would float or sink (rocks sink, pine cones and sticks float-who’da thunk it).  It cleared up in about 10 minutes, and we continued around the lake. 

Heather was a great cook, making a fantastic chicken dish in the crock pot with some Mexican overtones.  We all read books with the kids, and being with them was truly a warm family event.  I also went outside with the kids and we did some chipping with a couple of golf balls.  Kaelin has some real interest in golf, and of course, Devlin has interest in anything Kaelin does.  I have visited them 3 times now, and each time is always a real treat.  I left early on the 21^st to drive to Santa Fe, after hugs all around.