Denver Departure

With heavy hearts, and many tears from Ty, we leave the Denver Rubenstein's to continue on our adventure.  It was a week full of Luigi U and baseball, both in the backyard and on the wii....loudly cheering for each other all the while(my favorite part).  It's was a rare treat for the cousins to have 4 days of uninterrupted time together and they enjoyed every second of it.  Many thanks to Todd and Whit for being such gracious hosts and for allowing us to ramshackle their lovely home and go through ridiculous amounts of toilet paper!!  Wednesday was a lazy day topped off with an unforgettable James Taylor concert at Red Rocks.  It's a magical place to see a concert and I highly recommend it!!!  I had wanted to go there since 1985 when I saw the U2 Sunday Bloody Sunday video that was filmed there.  The contrast of the red rocks against the blue skies and eventually the black night sky was mystical. The music of James Taylor at Red Rocks was for Paul almost a religious experience. It brought me to tears. Yesterday we spent the afternoon with my sister Jules' good friend Jenn.  I now call her my friend as well and I'm grateful for the connection to my sister.  We both agree that Jules would love the fact that we keep in touch.  My admiration for Jules grows even now as I get to know the amazing women that she surrounded herself with.  Jenn led us as we hiked up St.Mary's Glacier, outside of Idaho Springs, CO, giving the kids hiking tips all the while(exactly like Jules would have done).  Paul will post the pics later so that you can see how beautiful it was.  Amy, I kept thinking that you would have loved it!  Today we once again took forever to get on the road.  I can't say that I was excited to get back in to the cramped quarters of the rv.  However I can say that I'm excited to head west.  We were fortunate enough to spend even more time with some of Jules fabulous friends. Chris and her husband John gave us great insights to the life that Jules lived in CO Springs.  It was so much fun to swap travel stories with them and with Chris' well traveled parents. In the few years that Jules lived there, Chris and John were her good friends and were a huge help to her when she was very ill, especially with her beloved dogs Stella and Oprah.   After a tour of the rv, given by Libby, we were on the road once again.  This time we're off to Great Sand Dunes National Park.