CROSSING THE ROCKIES DIVIDE - DENVER TO THE UTAH BORDER

We woke this morning with the exciting news that Steve and Sarah's little girl was born at just after 4 am. A 23 hour labour --- so Stella Catherine has at last made her appearance. Wonderful news.

Did I say we were tracing summer?

 

Brrrr-----

We left Denver this morning stopping off in the quaint mining town of Georgetown for coffee with snow drifting down. Past Vail and all the ski resorts through snow drifts with the fir tree branches heavily laden and the roofs of houses covered in snow - this in May? It's a great surprise and exquisite. Then through the Glenwood Canyon tracking the fast flowing Colorado River winding deeply through the gorge, where the rocks are layered and stacked like lego and the aspens new lime coloured leaves contrast with the red stones of the mountains. We had a pub lunch in Glenwood at a hotel where Teddy Roosevelt stayed and it is claimed that this is where the teddy originated. Apparently he went out bear hunting and was disappointed that he was unsuccessful so the hotel made him a bear out of material - his young daughter named the bear Teddy.

Home of the teddybears 

Conal cunningly disguised as a true blue Ozzie watching the passing scene in Aspen.

The temperature ranged between 32F - over 60F!
It was too cold to walk up to Doc Holliday's grave but we drove to just below the cemetery on a little kopje - and on through the beautiful valley to a monastery called St Benedict's a peaceful secluded retreat nestling in a wide valley with the backdrop of snow covered mountains. David has been there on a number of occasions.  It is a spiritual place where Thomas Keating wrote and taught and was well known for the Centering Prayer. The monks originally belonged to the order where silence is practised and there are rooms for meditation and accommodation built of stone that blends into the surroundings where people can come for a retreat  - it was a difficult place to leave.
We got to Aspen for tea and can understand why this is the most exclusive ski resort in the States - the town has lovely old buildings and the shops - well Dior, Prada -  says it all. The people walking through the streets all look as if they could be in movies. The ski lift starts right in the village & if one lost control one could easily land up crashing into Dior!

We arrived at our hotel - Redstone Inn - an old Victorian building in a tiny village originally built in 1902 by John Osgood who made his fortune from mining coal in the valley nearby. The road where one turns off to the hotel is lined with the coke kilns. It's been a perfect day driving through the most spectacular scenery.

DENVER - THE MILE HIGH CITY

Dinner at Gilly's apartment

We only just made our flight to Denver and have spent the past few days just hanging out and resting. The weather hasn't been great - overcast & raining. Yesterday we spent the morning in Boulder - it's grown into quite a large town since my first visit. We wandered down a very pretty tree-lined boulevard window shopping and went into the most fantastic homewares store where the sheer volume of beautiful stuff had me gasping. Piles of exquisite French jacquard table clothes with napkins to match and every conceivable thing one could possibly want.

Our next stop - Utah and Louis L'Amour country..... real cowboy territory.

Dwarfed by the giants of the forest

      On Sunday Steve & Sarah took us to Muir Woods to see the giant red woods. It's not far from San Francisco across the Golden Gate Bridge which isn't gold at all but a deep red. We were so lucky with the weather - although cool it was sunny and Muir Woods a sheer joy. The red woods even more awesome than expected and we had a lovely time walking through the filtered sunlight between the giant trees along a little creek. A perfect way to worship on a Sunday morning.

Reaching all the way to heaven

We had lunch in a charming little village called Mill Valley - and then back to the Apple Store where I bought this little Apple Mac - now we're online and it's a joy to have this small light easy to manage computer. Am thrilled to bits!

Monday: Each day we look expectantly at Sarah - her baby is due at the end of this week but could arrive any day and so we are never sure whether we'll wake to find that she's gone to the hospital. Lucky for us we were able to have her with us for the three days and now we keep waiting for news.

On Monday we went to Cafe Trieste in the Italian centre for coffee and then to Telegraph Hill to look for the parrots. Lovely views across the city -

Italian Centre - Steve and Conal (with me in the middle)

Sarah, the bump and me at Telegraph Hill

And then to the Thirsty Bear dodging the rain to have lunch and then to the SFMOMA where we had a marvellous time looking at fabulous modern art. A real treat.

We left for Denver on Tuesday - nearly missing the plane because there was a traffic jam and then had to negotiate the mass of people at the airport so that we had to do a sprint only making it by minutes. 

SAN FRANCISCO

Steve & Sarah were at the airport to meet us - Sarah with a splendid bump. We drove to the Embarcadero and the Fairy Building on the waterfront close to the Bay Bridge where there is a huge farmer's market every Saturday. Lovely way to stretch our legs and wander through lots of organic stalls with lovely fresh produce. After a great cup of coffee from Blue Bottle we bought sandwiches from one of the stalls and sat on a bench for lunch. While taking this photo two young mums with babies in prams asked if we'd like them to take a photo with all of us. They were sisters, one from Jakarta, who met up here. While chatting to the one sister called Heather, Sarah mentioned that she has a friend there called Sarah who was getting married - amazing 'sliding doors moment' when Heather said 'I don't believe it - she's my best friend" - So photos were taken and immediately sent by iphone. Oh the wonder of modern technology!
I love San Francisco - S&S live in the inner city where the houses are mostly terrace houses painted in pastel colours with lovely facades - and pretty gardens. Driving around is rather like being on a roller coaster with steep hills being a challenge to anyone who doesn't have an automatic drive.

FAREWELL - WAVING GOOD BYE

Gwen, Louise, Lorraine, Nicky, Lisa, Gee

Sue & Maria

We've had a flurry of farewell parties - such fun.

Maria organised a farewell lunch for me with all our mates at a Thai restaurant in Mosman - a lovely way to say good bye & catch up.

Also had a lovely send-off at Bennetts - will miss all the Cool Cats and the fun coffee breaks while trying to make an impact on the tsunami of books.

 

Kylie, Jenny, Anush, Louise, Janet, Bo, Kai, Louisa, Bruce, Li, Kylie

Conal's busy making 'padkos' and I still have to finish packing. We leave at 11h30 & so then the fun Next post will be from San Francisco!!!



REDUCED TO TWO SUITCASES

Our lives have now been reduced to two suitcases each for the next year. Quite a challenge and only time will tell whether we've made the right choices.

BOXED UP & ON OUR KNEES

 Apple Movers dropped a bombshell when they phoned on Monday to ask whether we would be prepared to move on Tuesday - a day earlier than planned. So it was fast forward and Conal and I set to packing with a vengeance. Isn't it strange how the stuff left seems directly proportional to what has been packed and one never seems to finish? Thankfully them coming a day early turned out to be the best thing that could have happened as it meant that we could see what still had to be done. Yesterday was a nightmare of immense proportions and we crawled back to Anton & Gee's thankful that we were doing this now while we are still moderately fit. So lovely to be with them on the final few days where we're spoilt and looked after.The cleaners moved in as the van moved off and we've just been back to our stripped bare house to find that there was one cupboard that the movers missed - grrrr....We left flowers for our tenants
and they move in tomorrow.
Now we only have two more sleeps until we leave ---