Editor’s note: Mark Bradford is contributing occasional posts from his diary on traveling the country with his wife Wendy while they rent out their Mishawaka home for six months.
Day 71 of our 190 day sojourn
Monday, September 4, 2023 — Littleton, Colorado
I found it hard to believe.
Today, because 6 a.m. in Littleton is 8 a.m. in South Bend and we are still on EDT body-wise, Wendy and I found ourselves walking up Red Rocks Amphitheater just after sunrise. I figured we would be the only ones there. Our goal for the day was to get to know the Denver area but I certainly was not thinking we would start at 6 a.m.
But there we were, climbing more steps up another mountain but this time, about 200 other folks beat us to it. For those of you who do not know about the Red Rocks Amphitheater, it is a performance center built into the middle of a mountain that features such great artists this month as Sting and the Steve Miller Band, as well as artists whose names I am not familiar with.
We walked (well, I struggled a little bit) to the top of the venue and watched as the early morning sun brought out the Red in the Red Rocks. As we lingered, more and more folks showed up and it became a community event, one that is repeated every weekend, apparently. The seating of the venue has multi levels, with a combination of cement and wooden seats and plenty of leg room.
As we sat there, we noticed people using the place as an exercise center, some were walking back and forth across each of the approximately 100 rows, others were climbing up the rooms, others were doing yoga. After a while, Wendy got up (I followed with some reluctance) and we walked the length of all the rows trying to get our “steps” in.
It was a good way to start the day. Later we had breakfast in the Red Rocks Grille, which featured the heads of moose, wildcats, and buffalo sticking out of the wall. I had seen that before, of course, but this huge moose head was only a few feet from our table. Moose are HUGE.
Then we scouted out the “urban basement” where we will be staying from September 14-24 before we head home for our 3rd grandchild’s birth. I had very low expectations for the basement, but it looks like it will be a great place to stay. It is also walking distance to a breakfast/coffee place, something that has eluded me so far on our trips.
We also went to Golden, Colorado where, having been rebuffed on our Coors Brewery Tour, we found a really nice sidewalk bar, the oldest bar in Colorado theoretically and one that Buffalo Bill supposedly drank at and we, of course shared a Coors Beer and some snack-ish food.
So, our first day in Denver was a success. Our condo is fantastic and since we have learned how to make everything operate, it is a great way to start phase three of our sojourn.