Welcome back to our cross-country adventure! If you missed the first leg of the journey, you can read about it in Thought I’d Skip Gardening This Spring.

With our sights set on Colorado, we left Iowa and trekked across Nebraska. We stayed at a couple of Nebraska campgrounds along the way, gaining another hour as we entered Mountain Time. The plan was to stay with my father’s brother Donald for a few days, just outside of Denver, while our van was being serviced in Boulder. My Dad was finishing up a visit with them and was flying out the day we arrived. Before taking him to the airport mid-afternoon, they went golfing and out to lunch. We didn’t want to arrive to an empty house, so we stopped at Barr Lake State Park in Brighton, Colorado, for an early afternoon walk/run.

We spent close to four hours at Barr Lake. So many birds, so little time! Identifying them can be a challenge, but I did see a Western Kingbird and a Bullock’s Oriole for the first time. Actually, several of them.

We arrived at Donald and Valois’s in Centennial, Colorado, just before supper and spent a good deal of time and effort unloading all the essentials from our van in preparation for its service appointment. My cousin Diane and her husband, Pat, came by toting a bounty of leftovers from the weekend family feast for my father’s visit. We were well fed!

In the morning, we drove to Boulder to drop off the van at Titan Vans. Besides some maintenance services, we also asked them to remove a bench seat they’d installed in the original build. We hardly ever used it and wanted the precious storage space. (Anyone want a barely used seat?) We picked up a traffic-cone-orange Kia Kona at Enterprise Rental and stuffed it with more essentials from the van. Moving out of our van when we’re traveling is like packing for the trip all over again. It was hard to know what to leave behind.

Anyway, in our down-sized vehicle, we headed for the Bobolink Trailhead in Boulder for a run/walk.

The most notable part of our visit to the Bobolink Trailhead was when Mark found an obstacle in his path while on his run. A cow! Sorry, no photos.

After a stop at Whole Foods to pick up some lunch, we drove back toward Denver, stopping at Denver Botanic Gardens to meet up with cousins Donna and Barbara. The Gardens were Donna’s idea and what a perfect, sunny afternoon we had! When a brief shower did pass by, we ducked into the Tropical Conservatory full of exotic plants and a treehouse.

Here’s a small sampling of the multitude of gorgeous flowers we saw…

Well, maybe a few more…

After the Botanic Gardens, the four of us had dinner at a local Mexican restaurant. At dinner, Donna told us about a couple of young Great Horned Owls that lived in a tree along a walking path near her house. So, of course, we had to follow her home. First, we got a tour of her own home gardens, which were beautiful! Then, we took a walk in search of owls… And we found them! (Along with our first sighting of a Spotted Towhee.)

The following day was a quiet one. We planned to take a bike ride along a nearby trail, but my bike brakes weren’t cooperating. So, Mark biked while I took a nice walk around the neighborhood. The afternoon was spent preparing to get back on the road the next morning. Later, we met up with Mary and Ruth, friends who’d moved to Colorado from Massachusetts several years ago, for dinner in Denver. It was good to see them.

In the morning, cousin Michael and his wife, Lori, stopped by for coffee and a brief visit. And before we knew it, it was time to say goodbye. Donald and Valois had been the best hosts. We really enjoyed all their stories and the family history discussions. I’m sure they were ready for some alone time after all their company.

In Boulder, we picked up our van with it’s newly configured space, unpacked our rental car, and then drove back to Centennial to pick up our bikes and anything else that didn’t fit in the Kona. We said our final goodbyes and headed west to Utah.

Until next time, Colorado!