2025 DENVER

We visited Denver for a long weekend to attend our good friend Roland's mom's celebration of life.  You might recall the quilt/blanket I made last year, this was for their family.  She passed not long after the New Year and scheduled the service for March so that their very large family could attend and be together.

We traveled to be able to spend the full days before and after the service to explore any parts of Denver that we had not seen before and then some.  The last time we were together in Denver was during the pandemic (we decided to meet up there with the kids since we had not seen them for the holidays), March of 2021:

This time more things were open, so Barry & I headed downtown to check out their art museums.  First stop was a selfie in front of the Capital...

...and then we happened to spot the latest hotel downtown designed by Studio Gang, Populus.  We learned about Studio Gang when we visited Chicago last fall.  Amazing architecture, and very cool hotel!

When approaching the Denver Art Museum we did not realize the extent of the campus.  This is what you see from the corner.  The prominent 7 story building is the original building designed by Italian Architect, Gio Ponti.  

I thought it was quite a "brutalist" structure! ...but when you round the corner you get a view of the additional buildings and expansions, and a block away is their latest addition, the Kirkland Museum, which includes the studio of Vance Kirkland which was physically moved over to this location as part of the permanent exhibit! 

 

Despite having just missed a special exhibition on the Maurice Sendak, we were really impressed by the collection of this museum, and especially the way it was curated.  Here are just a few images of what we saw:

I especially loved the exhibit on the textiles floor from artist Nancy Hemenway Barton.  

On Saturday we celebrated the life of Erlinda Galang.  Roland's sister Noemi ("Norm") planned a beautiful service.  It was nice to be able to see Roland's immediate family members again, and also to put some faces to names of relatives we have heard of since Viv, Roland, Barry and I spend a lot of time together sharing family stories.

Later that evening they had a Happy hour get together - Roland's dad is one funny guy!

I can't believe we did not go to Red Rocks here in Denver on our last trip.  We suspect it might have been closed due to the pandemic.  The Visitor's Center was closed due to construction, but the amphitheater itself and trails are open year round.  All sorts of folks go there to exercise and sight see.  If my toe and knee were not so messed up, we would have gone on one of the many hikes around the area.  We ended up doing a short 1.5 miles around the perimeter and to the Trading Post (gift store).  Beautiful scenery and amazing natural wonder!

Next we got lunch in Golden, which was also pretty much shut down during the pandemic.  Its a cute "western" town similar to many of the small towns we have driven through on our many road trips. 

Coors is headquartered there.  We missed making reservations for a tour, but caught a shuttle to their gift store to take a look around.

We ended our day in Boulder...I've said to Barry many times that this is a city I would not mind moving to 😬...except not any closer to the kids, so no reason to...we had a fun time, and a fun set of wheels to explore in!