Littleton, CO

Saturday, August 4.  Our friend Fred came down from Lone Tree to visit us while we were in the Walmart parking lot at Castle Rock.  We had a great visit and made plans to go to his house on Sunday after we checked in at Chatfield State Park.  Mike took this picture of the sunset we had this evening. 

(Castle Rock sunset)

Sunday, August 5.  We awoke to a beautiful morning in the Walmart parking lot and watched the coming and going of Walmart employees.  Our reservation confirmation said we could check in at noon so we had breakfast and prepared the coach for take-off!  Hmm, how do we get out of the parking lot?  The route out I was going to use was now blocked by a big pickup truck.  The only other option was to try and squeeze through the curb openings and circle around another parking area and then head out.  Whew!  We did it!  That’s one of the issues when you stay in a parking lot, you can’t always depend on having the same empty parking spaces when you are ready to leave. 

We drove over to Chatfield State Park and parked at the High Line Canal trailhead where we had lunch on Saturday.  Since it was only 8:45 in the morning and we can’t check in until noon we took Jenny for a walk.  Mike calculated we walked about 3.5 miles round trip.  Jenny was tired when we got back to the trailhead and took a nap in the shade at the gazebo.  The gazebo is to the left of the port-a-potty. 

(Chatfield, waiting to enter)

We had an early lunch and by 11:45 were ready to go into the park.  A lot of RV’s had already come out and a few had started going in so we figured it would be ok.  We checked in and were set up by 1 PM.  Here is our site, no trees to block the dish!

(Chatfield, site #182)

After showers and drugging the dog we headed to Fred’s house.  It looked like it might rain so we gave Jenny her meds to keep her calm in the coach.  Fred had purchased tickets for the show, “Jersey Boys” for this evening as an anniversary/wedding gift for us.  We treated him to dinner at Pasta Jay’s, one of our favorite places to eat, and then went to the theater.  The show was absolutely incredible!  It is the story of how the Four Seasons came together and how Frankie Valli started with them when he was just 16 years old.  Here is a picture of Fred and Mike in the theater lobby. 

(Fred & Mike at Jersey Boys, I took the picture)

The actors did a great job of singing almost all of the Four Seasons hits.  I can’t think of any songs they missed.  Here is a list of the songs from the show. 

(Jersey Boys music)

During the show it was explained how some of the songs developed from events that took place in one or more of their lives.  It was quite moving and funny, too.  I won’t give away too much, but the song “Oh What A Night!” does have significant meaning to Bob Gaudio, the songwriting member of the group. 

Monday, August 6.  There were threats of storms this afternoon and we wanted to be at the RV with Jenny if they happened so we went to Fred’s house late morning.   He took us downtown again to have lunch at Steuben’s Restaurant which was featured on “Diner’s, Drive-in’s & Dive’s.”   Steuben’s building was once a gas station and garage I believe.  It was busy when we got there at 11:55 so we had to sit outside in the patio area.  Thankfully, they had fans but it was still hot.  The food was delicious, I had an iceberg lettuce wedge with blue cheese dressing and bacon bits, Mike had a Greek salad and we shared an order of chicken wings and Fred had a green chili burger.  It was a wonderful dining experience! 

(Steuben’s restaurant)

On the way into the Denver area on Saturday the interstate passed under a road by the name of “Downing” which made me think of our friend Carol in St. Petersburg.  On the way to Steuben’s on Monday we drove on Downing Street for a while.  I miss you, Carol!!

(Downing Street)

A new museum recently opened in Denver called the History Colorado Museum and is just what it says, a museum of the history of Colorado.  We walked over to it after having lunch at Steuben's.  The museum is very interactive, a great place for kids and adults, too!  It is two floors and takes a while to see all of the exhibits.  You can step into a mine elevator and get the "feel" of being lowered into the ground or you can stand in a pair of ski's and "experience" a ski jump.  These are just a couple of the interactive exhibits.  

After the museum Fred treated us to ice cream at a place near his home and then we had to say our goodbyes.  Thank you, Fred, for making our anniversary one of the best ever!!