See what I did there? I put crossover in the title. And while it doesn't really make any sense, we did go to both, and crossed streets. And just using the word in my blog post title will make my blog sizzle because it was in the list of tips to "make your blog sizzle." So there you go!
Today we got up early, at 7:30am in order to go to early church so we could head to the Botanic Gardens. People we never even knew attended Foothills Unitarian were there. The world is a different place early in the morning. No, not going to make a habit of it. Those people were nice and everything, but I do like my sleep ;)
Soooo, after attending church, and social hour, and picking up Brian from seeing his friends finish the Horsetooth Half Marathon (and my friend, Deanna, finished it too! but he didn't see her,) and stopping home to make a lunch, we were off to Denver. Arrived at the Gardens around 1pm and only had to walk about 3 blocks after we parked, not bad for a free day. And no parking tickets, which from what my friends have said, is a miracle in Denver. The Gardens were busy, but not terribly so. One of our girls even commented on how it wasn't as busy as she thought it would have been. I would do a free day there again (not at the zoo, mind you, but the Gardens, yes.)
You might think it's too early for flowers to be blooming - but think again! Besides the normal tulips and irises, there were poppies and lilacs and phlox and any number of spring flowers going crazy.
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| Poppies |
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| Lilacs |
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| Brian and Stella (yes, he shaved his head yesterday, sigh) |
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| More Lilacs - can never have enough of these lovelies |
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| Fairies! There were fairies roaming the gardens. And I got some bling from them. Upon seeing the glasses they were holding, I asked if fairies got to drink mead. They said I got sparklies just for knowing what fairies drink :) |
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| Tulips |
When we first arrived, Stella was grouchy. She was too hot, she wanted to leave, being in the shade didn't help, blah, blah, blah. Then Brian took her to see the fish while I found out about a cool project, Project BudBurst. It is a nation-wide program where you monitor cherry trees, of all kinds, and report online what they are doing. Brian thinks it's boring because they don't actually do anything. He is wrong, of course. You get to record when they flower, when the leaves turn colors, when/if the fruits form, etc. You should check it out!
Anyway, Stella was then in a good mood while Sandis became sullen because she was bored, she wanted ice cream, there was nothing to do, nothing to see, blah, blah, blah. We ignored her because she didn't get in a better mood until we left. Seriously, even if it's not your thing, it's not that bad. Yes, the horrors I put my child through, making her look at flowers. Does she realize how often I have to look at kids playing soccer? Not that exciting. And I have to do it all. the. time. Not once every two or three years.
After the Botanic Gardens we headed over to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. We knew it was a free day (yep, there too) but we only really wanted to see the planetarium show, Wildest Weather in the Solar System. Brian dropped me off up front to see if they even had tickets to any of the shows, and lo and behold they did! As it turns out, really no one was in the shows because, well, it's free day and those aren't free. So in a theater that holds ~120, there were maybe 25-30 of us. Perfect! Also while there, we saw the weather scientist do a presentation on how weather is formed in Colorado - and we were in the front row for that.
All in all, a pleasant afternoon of free days. Parking, no problem. Show tickets, no problem. Crowds, minimal.
Still not doing the free day at the zoo ever again.
Brian | April 23, 2012 at 5:21 PM
Bacon would make your blog sizzle. Or at least make dinner sizzle.
StarWars7 | April 23, 2012 at 11:00 PM
sounds like a fabulous day!!!