Peckish Travels

Bob and I started house sit #111 last evening with a quick walk through with the owners before they headed off to St. Louis (wedding!) and then Mexico (honeymoon!). We’re excited to be able to care for their great apartment and fun cat, Wilma, during this exciting time for them.

We are residing in the Logan Square neighborhood, which is northwest of downtown Chicago. We have already checked out their local branch library, the 606 pedestrian trail, and a nearby market. There seems to be lots of other eating/ drinking options around as well.

Wilma, the cat, is one-year old and loves to play. She’s quite friendly and curious about things.

It has not been a terribly exciting day, as Beth spent at least two hours at the dentist today having a crown put on a tooth that chipped the other night. However, we’re thankful she was able to get an appointment and hopefully no more tooth drama for awhile.

We started off today with a workout in the hotel gym, with Bob biking (per hip orthopedic specialist suggestion) and Beth running before taking advantage of the hotel breakfast and heading out.

First stop was Union Plaza (a six-acre urban park) to get a pic of Bob with a big head sculpture. It was a 20 minute walk and the plaza area was beautiful with green grass and connections to a great hike/bike trail system that runs quite a ways.

The second stop was the Nebraska State Capitol. We timed our arrival to hit the 10am (free) tour. The building is billed as the US’s first modern capitol, as it was built from 1922-32. The prior two buildings on the site lasted a total of 50 years between them. It was an informative tour of a colorful and interesting building.

The guided part of the tour ended on the second floor with a visit to the one legislative chamber, but she encouraged us to visit the State Law Library on the 3rd level and to go to the 14th level to see the Memorial Chamber and for views of the surrounding area. Up we went.

The third stop was the Sunken Gardens which began in the 1930s as a Depression-era project. Beth walked there from the capitol, and Bob took the short walk to the hotel to get the car for our next stops. The gardens were small but very colorful.

We took the car to our fourth stop, the Haymarket area (yesterday, we hit this area but just on the south side). We wanted to check this area out more and to get a pic of Bob with two more Big Head Sculptures and to go to an international licorice shop that we had seen advertised.

The final tourist stop was Pioneers Park Nature Center. The park seemed to be set up for a big cross-country event. We had our snack lunch there before stopping at a market to pick up tonight’s dinner.

Yesterday, Saturday, we finished our house sit in Denver. We had a seven-hour drive to Lincoln, Nebraska. We usually don’t like to drive more than five to six hours but made an exception as we had not been to Lincoln and were hoping to watch Nebraska play volleyball. We didn’t make the match but got checked into our Lincoln Marriott Cornhusker Hotel with all the fans coming in for the football game. The place was hopping but check-in was easy. Yesterday afternoon and evening we watched a few football games that we were interested in (not Nebraska) and just grabbed dinner from the hotel restaurant downstairs, called Miller Time Pub and Grill.

At the hotel, we have access to the Concierge Lounge, so we picked up some free breakfast there this morning. Shortly thereafter, we set out to see some sites. First, a couple Big Head Sculptures for Bob.

After the big head photos, we continued our walk around the University of Nebraska campus. It’s very walkable, but we were surprised at the lack of campus maps posted.

Beth had found what looked online to be a nice food market, so we walked there after our campus tour. It was a great store with a good mix of fresh produce, shelf stable foods, and prepared ready-to-go meals at good prices. On our way from the university area we walked a bit more in the downtown area and also got to the edge of Lincoln’s historic Haymarket District, which has retail and restaurants in restored older buildings.

After we got back to the hotel, Beth worked out in the fitness center while Bob watched his Steelers play (won over Cincinnati in overtime!)

Tonight, we’ll likely check out the social hour in the Concierge Lounge and then have dinner in our room with what we picked up at the market.

Before I talk about our day, I wanted to share another photo of Coco. She’s a sweetie. She likes resting/sleeping, walking (or just rolling in the grass), and eating and treats. She’s definitely easy care and goes into her crate when we leave, but also expresses her pleasure when we return. This morning she was cuddling with Bob, so I had to get a photo.

For our outing today, we took the W line of Denver’s light rail to Union Station to check out the LoDo (lower downtown) section of Denver. We drove to a garage to park and then did a short walk to the station, where we had a short wait for the train.

The interesting thing about Denver’s Union Station is that there are 2 sections to it. The part we arrived at is just a light rail stop. You can then walk a few blocks to the main terminal, either above ground or underground by the bus stops. From where we arrived, we initially approached the back of the main terminal before walking through the building and then out the front.

Our homeowners have season tickets for the Colorado Rockies baseball team. They were kind enough to leave us tickets for today’s afternoon game at Coors Field. We decided this last minute not to go to the game, which was going to be quite warm, but we still wanted to check out the field a little bit. Since we were there within 2 hours of game time, we were able to get in, and everyone was very nice — even taking us right to an elevator when they saw Bob limping. It’s a beautiful stadium.

The LoDo neighborhood also has a number of old buildings that have been renovated for new purposes as well as just lots of retail and restaurants.

Today, Bob and I got our art fix by visiting Denver’s Golden Triangle Creative District. This district is located just south of downtown and contains four art museums, a women’s history museum, a state history center, the main public library, a counterterrorism education learning lab, and opens into the Civic Center Park which lies between the very attractive City and County Building and the state capitol.

The museum we had tickets for was the Kirkland Museum of Fine and Decorative Art. This is a great small museum which has three areas of focus — 1) international decorative art from a range of periods (Art Deco, modern, postmodern, Bauhaus, arts and crafts), 2) Colorado and regional art, and 3) Vance Kirkland, the artist for whom the museum was named. Everything is displayed in a salon style, as if you are getting to peruse various individual’s homes. We highly recommend a visit.

Bob and I loved so many of the pieces in the museum, and I took way too many photos. But I’ve just picked a few that were especially fun or interesting.

Vance Kirkland (1900-1981) was an artist but also the founding director and professor of art at the Denver School of Art. He created about 1,200 paintings in his lifetime, spanning 5 Art periods — Designed Realism, Surrealism, Hard Edge Abstraction, Abstract Expressionism, and The Dot Paintings. Two examples of his work are below.

Finally, one of the draws was the Frank Lloyd Wright exhibit of some of his interior pieces from his buildings. They also showed a clip of his interview with Mike Wallace (smoking throughout), and we got to sit in Wright-designed chairs while we watched.

Today, we thought we’d take a non-medical journey to Boulder to take in a few sites. Though not common in this active area, we found a few things to do with the 3 good hips between us. Bob is still waiting for the steroid to take effect, which will could be another week or so yet.

We started (and we weren’t alone) at Boulder Falls. While not the most spectacular, they are easily accessible, and they feed Boulder Creek which runs down the mountain and all the way through Boulder. We saw lots of people hiking along and tubing on the creek on our way to the falls.

We then drove back into Boulder only to head out past the massive Chautauqua Park and up Flagstaff Mountain to take in Boulder from above. We stopped at Panoramic Point, part of the way up, and then continued onto the top. We saw trail markers along the way, so this is likely something you could do by foot as well.

Finally, we drove into Boulder proper to brave the Pearl Street Mall, a pedestrian- only shopping and dining area.

Last night after dinner, we decided to chill on the upper terrace here while watching tv and taking in the view. While we have shared pics before, the view looks a little different during each time of day.

Today, was quiet, but I did get out for a walk into the Berkeley neighborhood to visit a Little Free Library to exchange a book. The closest one I found online was about 50 minutes from the house, but it was a beautiful day and I wanted to walk. I left Bob home to do his hip strengthening excercises.

I ended up finding a closer free library on the way which had a great selection of books. I exchanged “Methland,” a non-fiction book about the severe problem that meth use/addiction has caused in rural America with a focus on Oelwein, Iowa, for “Songs in Ordinary Time,” an Oprah’s Book Club pick. However, I continued on with the walk to see more of the area and see what the other library had to offer.

After my book stop, I popped into a Sprouts grocery to restock on a few items and then headed back to Sloan’s Lake to take some more photos of the lake. While walking around the lake, I found a board that told the story of the lake’s formation. Turns out that in 1861, Mr. Thomas Sloan, a farmer, dug a hole for a well on the north end of his farm. His digging hit an underground spring and by the time the water flowing from the spring slowed, a 200 acre lake had appeared. The locals initially called it “Sloan’s Leak,” but it became and remains a popular recreational area.

Bob and I have started venturing out a bit on his newly shot leg. Yesterday, we opted for the free 30-minute tour of the Hammond’s Candy factory that has been operating in Denver for over 100 years. It was an interesting tour where we saw a 15-minute film on the history of the company, run by the Hammond family until the early 2000s.

We then got to watch the factory workers as they poured out hot candy (over 300 degrees), added coloring and flavor, and then pulled and shaped it into canes. Along with candy canes and hard candy, they make chocolates, caramels, popcorn, trail mix, and other goodies. So, while the tour was free, we dropped some money on goodies for us and gifts.

Today we decided to do something more typically Denver and drove out to Red Rocks Visitors Center and then to Buffalo Bill’s grave on Lookout Mountain.

From Red Rocks we intended to go right to Lookout Mountain viewpoint near Buffalo Bill’s grave, but ended up stopping first at the Lookout Mountain Nature Preserve and Boettcher Mansion, which serves as an event space.

Bob’s vacation from his wife is over, as I flew into Denver on Tuesday night to join him for a house sit in the West Colfax area of Denver. It has a great dog, Coco, and home. Bob cared for both once before, for a friend from high school and her husband, when I was with my sister in Rockford.

Bob arrived a few days before I did. He takes Coco for her morning walks down near Sloan Lake and gets a great view of the Rockies. I ran on the 2.5 mile trail around the lake this morning, and it is very popular with runners, walkers (both with and without canine companions).

The other issue that has been occupying our minds is the state of Bob’s left hip. He has been having pain that’s gotten progressively worse. He had it checked in Kansas City and Austin but wasn’t sure either had provided a correct diagnosis. Luckily, his cousin in Colorado Springs connected him to a friend that works at the Sports Medicine and Performance Center at the University of Colorado in Boulder, and he had a very thorough assessment there this afternoon.

He has moderate to severe arthritis in his left hip that will need to be operated on late this year or early next year. In the meantime, he got a steroid shot that should help with the pain for a few months and get him back to walking and biking

As today was my last chance to get a good hike in, I perused my handy Eastern Pima County Trails brochure to see where I might go. There is such an abundance of options here, part of the reason I love this place, but I finally decided to head to the Tortolita Mountain Park, about a 30 minute drive northwest from where I’m staying. The park seemed to offer a number of trails, and it isn’t one that Bob and I have done before, so it would be new.

I got to the trailhead a little before 8 am, which is an early hike for me. The trailhead has a large parking area, and there were a fair amount of cars there when I got there. I saw a number of people early on but no one after I got more into the mountains. I combined a few trails, mostly the Wild Burro and Wild Mustang, but also the Upper Javelina as well, and ended up hiking for close to 3.5 hours.

The entire route was well signed except for the squiggly orange part between the orange route (Wild Mustang) and the red route (Upper Javelina), but the trail was obvious, so that didn’t create any issues. I caught myself briefly going off route twice when I began the Wild Mustang trail but managed to figure that out.

I saw two examples of “wildlife” while I was out, and despite the trail names, burros, mustangs, and javelinas were not among them. One was a small, skinny snake, which was a bit disconcerting, but apparently so was I, as he slithered away pretty quickly. No complaints from me. See below for the other one.

On to the scenery, first the man-made kind.

Now, the natural surroundings. As always, I loved the cacti, but the rock formations were pretty cool also.

So, it was probably in the mid-70s when I ran this morning about 5:15. It was likely in the low 80s when I got to the trail. It didn’t stay there, as I saw this on the trail on the way back. Definitely heading into a little bit cooler climes, when I join Bob in Denver on Tuesday.