Dogs, Not Drums

After years of listening to Mr. Bruin (aka my dearest husband) wax nostalgic for Denver’s Christmas parade, the Parade of Lights, we finally made it this year! It was chilly, in the 20s, but the wind wasn’t a factor amongst the tall downtown buildings. When we got out of the car, we were doubting our decision to attend. But once we got to 16th Street prior to the parade’s start, we were fine!

Our friends (the Scotties) joined us from Colorado Springs. They’ve lived there most of the 20 years we’ve known each other. And yet they had no idea what the Parade of Lights was! Somehow, I failed to mention Denver in the planning conversations, so they thought they were coming to a mid-size CO town for a little parade. They’d never even been to downtown Denver at night! As we talked, it came out that they had never even been to a real parade! Sure, they’ve seen little parades at festivals, but they’d never been to a parade as the whole event. That’s now in the past, and I can say I’ve been to Denver’s Parade of Lights, too!

In fact, this is the first parade I’ve attended that included the large balloons controlled by teams of people. The balloons were each led by a vehicle with spotlights to make the balloons more visible. We stood near an intersection and each time a balloon came by, the controllers lowered the balloon. At first we thought it might be because of the wind tunnel effect at the break in buildings, as the street lights did not cross the entire street. But it was the lights that were the issue. Various teams approached the lights differently. Most lowered the balloon, which in the case of the penguin meant the balloon appeared to kiss the street! The best was when a flying Rudolph was flown higher so he launched over the top of the traffic lights!

Passed Out Penguin

As you might imagine from the name of the parade, the theme behind all the entries in the parade are Christmas lights. Members of marching bands were each covered in lights! I didn’t get any decent pictures of them though. Something else I found fun about the marching bands was that each one had a theme. One school’s theme was the science of light, another was The Nightmare Before Christmas – each player in that band had a painted face. Instruments were usually decked out in tinsel and lights. Mr. Bruin recalled his days of marching in the parade, where the players had a tiny portion of tinsel and only a few players carried lights. Progress has been made – his descriptions make the parades of 20 years ago sound spartan in comparison to what we saw last night!

Of course, the fantastic parts of the parade were the floats. Here are just two classic Christmas examples: a gingerbread house and the Nutcracker. Our little group was thrilled to see the true Christmas float, a nativity scene!

Denver’s National Western Stock Show was represented in the parade. Horses were expected. But in keeping with the parade theme, there was even a cowboy doing rope tricks with a lighted lasso (click for video).

We shared all the evening’s excitement with 14-month old Kermode Bruin. Last year she couldn’t go because she hadn’t yet received all her puppy vaccinations. This year, she was a trooper! Puppy’s first parade couldn’t have gone better! There was a lovely couple next to us, one of whom had a headband with ears and reindeer antlers. Pet stores carry them but they’re too small for our dogs. These adult headbands were perfect! So the very nice man next to us went into a private party in the building behind us and came back with two headbands for our dogs. They look fantastic! (But that’ll be another blog.)

Kermode was very well behaved. We stood in front of a larger planter on the street, which I would recommend for any parade-attending dog. It protected her from being trampled or stepped on, and gave her something to huddle under when she was unhappy with something passing by. She’s not a fan of marching bands, as it turns out. I covered her ears every time one passed. But there were a couple of other entries that she didn’t like, either, and the commonality was drums. Even I could feel the reverberations of the drums, and she was not a fan of them. Fortunately for her, she contents herself with leaning into her people. A few times, that meant the 95-pound fluffy sweetheart almost pushed me over!

She was intrigued with the horses, but her favorite parade entrants were the groups of dogs! There were samoyeds with lighted backpacks, and she wanted to make a few new friends. The other dog group was mainly border collies, but there were several other dogs represented as well. They were disc dogs – a club of some sort for dogs who adore chasing frisbees! The group was a great representation of owners who work closely with their active dogs and was wonderful to see! Kermode’s never chased a frisbee, but she’d be more interested in playing with the dogs than toys any day!

Overall, it was a wonderful evening, worth the cold toes that came with it. The crowd wasn’t too bad, as nobody we encountered was rude – how often do you experience that in a big city? Even better? The traffic escaping town immediately after the parade wasn’t bad. All in all, I’d say we have a new annual event to attend. And we know that Kermode will behave herself at noisy, crazy events. Bonus!

The hardest part of the evening was knowing where to go. I glanced at the map a few days prior to the event, but didn’t try memorizing anything. Early yesterday evening, before and during the drive to downtown Denver, we tried to pull up the website with a map of the parade route and parking options. Unfortunately, I think everyone else in the area was doing the same. We couldn’t access the site! So for any of you searching for that information from alternate sources (like this post), here are the details.

The parade goes again on Saturday, December 3rd, starting at 6 p.m. The route essentially loops the 16th Street Mall. Quoting from the parade’s website: “the 9NEWS Parade of Lights steps off at the City & County Building at 14th Avenue & Bannock Street, crosses Colfax Avenue, travels west on 14th Street, turns right on Tremont Place and goes three blocks to 17th Street. The parade travels down 17th Street to Arapahoe Street and turns left, making another left turn on 15th Street and continuing on 15th Street up to Glenarm Place. The parade turns right on Glenarm Place and finishes at 14th Street & Glenarm Place.” Saturday’s supposed to be pretty cold, so bundle up and take a thermos of something hot to drink! And don’t forget blankets to sit on, if you don’t want to stand the whole time.

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Bear Creek Lake Park

Bear Creek Lake Park, near Morrison, CO (southwest of Denver) has a lot to offer! There’s a beach, boats for rent (Including kayaks, canoes and paddleboats), fishing (stocked twice monthly during warm months), picnic areas, even horseback riding, and so much more! Day passes are $5 per vehicle. It’s worth a day out!

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National Western Stock Show 2010

The National Western Stock Show is an annual Denver event, held in January. Yep, I’m a little behind in my blogging. Sorry.

I first became vaguely aware of the National Western Stock Show in November. My in-laws were visiting, and we stopped into the Brown Palace Hotel for a cup of tea. The hotel has a few small displays, one of which describes an annual red carpet event – for the winning bull from the annual stock show. I didn’t think any more about the event until it opened in January. On a whim, I decided I wanted to go.

A friend of mine, Mrs. Scottie, has lived in Colorado most of her life. She’d never been to the show, so we went to check it out together. I had a surprisingly good time. Never would I have guessed I’d be able to look at a cow and think it was a pretty animal. These cattle were groomed to a point that makes Westminster Dog Show contestants look downright mangy! It was startling! There were massive bays for cow showers. Clean cows were tied so that they stayed standing instead of lying down, but some of the cows were clearly tired. They simply rested their chins on the railing.

There were lots of vendors selling everything from trailers and furniture to cowboy boots and jewelry. As we wandered throughout the show, we also found the young alpacas, the showing arena for the cattle, and the stadium for show events. Several events were combined due to lack of contestants, so we spent a long time watch people warm up paint horses. After the extended warm-ups, we watched some roping contests – rodeo style….or so we thought. We were confused that some of the cowboys partnered with several contestants. Shortly before we had to wrap up for the day, the announcer explained the difference between a rodeo and the stock show events that, to untrained eyes, look identical. In a rodeo, the rider is graded. In a stock show, the stock – in this case the horse – was graded instead. That makes sense, though I definitely had to have it explained to me.

I had so much fun the first time, I looked through the program and decided I needed to go again. I convinced Mr. Bruin to take the day off work. Stock shows aren’t so out of the ordinary to him. I bet that his grandparents having a ranch has absolutely nothing to do with that!

The second day featured cattle dog trials. When I lived in England’s sheep country, I frequently encountered working dogs responding to whistles – though I always saw them herding sheep, not cattle.

My time in England allowed me to spend a good deal of time hiking across the dales and moors. Footpaths were established over the centuries, and ramblers (hikers) are permitted to use those footpaths, even when they cross private property. One path that I took frequently was through a field with a single highland bull, in all it’s shaggy and muddy glory. I confess that I didn’t always stay precisely on the path – not when the bull was within just a couple feet of the path. Other than those close encounters, I thought highland coos (Scottish pronunciation for cow) were pretty neat – perhaps because there were no highland cattle in all the fields of central Illinois (pronounced ill-in-wah by a friendly Scot!) where I grew up. These cows were exotic! There were more color variations than I knew existed. I used to see reddish ones, and even cream cows in Scotland, but the stock show even included black highland cattle. When we toured the stock area, one of the highland ranchers handed out bits of highland jerky. It was very tasty! I might have to check out that ranch – it’s in Elizabeth, CO, so it’s not far from Denver.

One of the reasons I selected this particular day to return to the stock show is because of two animals on the agenda in the stock yards: bison and yaks. Bison is one of my favorite meats. It’s much leaner than beef. Not far from the bison were Tibetan yaks. Yaks also provide healthy red meat: high in protein, low in fat (billed as 96-98% lean), lower in calories, and provides Omega-3 fatty acids. And here I thought I had to eat fish just to get those Omega-3s! The experimental foodie in me picked up several cuts of yak meat before we headed home for the day!

We didn’t even need to buy lunch, despite some of the tasty-looking bison options near the stock yards. Four chuckwagons supplied free tastings of what I called cowboy tapas: various bean dishes, chili, and cobblers.

The stadium had various draft horse events throughout the day. We watched small carts pulled by donkeys all the way through huge wagons pulled by four related female horses. They were gorgeous! Mt favorite donkey event was the one based on costumes. The winner – for good reason – was this mountain man, complete with his sled dog. Second place was also well done: a man on a donkey with two more pack mules, similar to what was used in CO for the mines in the 1800s.

I am surprised and delighted at how much fun I had at the Stock Show. If you haven’t been, why not?

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French Kissed by a Wolf

One of the reasons I moved back to Colorado is that I love wildlife. I knew there are various wildlife sanctuaries here, and I was looking for a particular one northeast of Denver when I happened on the website for the Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Center.

I knew I had to arrange to go here when I saw the website. I love wolves! My husband really loves wolves – they’re his favorite wild animals. While the center specializes in wolves, it does have other canids: coyotes and foxes. The sanctuary gives one hour tours by advance reservation only. The tour costs $10 per person, and the fees go towards feeding and caring for the animals on site.

The first stop on our tour was for the red foxes, of which there are currently four. These foxes have been rescued from fur farms. I can see why this guy was set up to be a future coat – his fur is beautiful. This little guy and the vixen he was with gave us quite a treat by having a very vocal discussion. They were very chatty! We learned that fox can stink every bit as much as skunks, as the odor was not at all pleasant, but the view made up for that.
Two of the foxes in the enclosure were not red like this one. Instead, they were bred for a genetic mutation that makes them predominantly white. Apparently, that allows the fur coat makers to sell the coats as arctic fox, which fetches a better price. The enclosure was interesting for many reasons. It had a tower for the foxes to climb and perch in and on. It also featured Colorado’s longest covered bridge, perfectly fox-sized, for the creatures to have a great vantage point. Visitors walk under the bridge on their way to the building to register for tours.

The CWWC has several enclosures, with no more than three wolves per enclosure. Timber wolves are the same as gray wolves, and they represent the majority of wolves at the center. There are also arctic wolves and Alaska interior wolves (featured in this picture).

The primary purpose of the tour is education. Wolf-dogs, sometimes called wolf hybrids, are half wolf and half dog. According to the center, 80% of these wolf-dogs are destroyed by the time they are three years old, as most owners cannot handle them. CWWC neuters all its male animals, as surgery on them is easier and has lower risks than surgery on the females. They have had one accidental litter, which surprised even the vet, as the female should have been too young to breed. Sure enough, her two surviving pups had to be raised by humans, as her body needed nutrients, so she stopped lactating.

The standard tour ends with a group howl. The guide starts to howl and asks the tourists to join in. Before long, the wolves and coyotes join the fun. We were between enclosures, so the howl was 360 degree surround sound! The wolves went on and on, and it was incredibly amazing! I was too busy listening and taking video to take any photos of the wolves while they howled. That sound made me wish I lived near the property, though. That’s a wildlife sound I wouldn’t mind hearing frequently! I hope the neighbors feel similarly. This is a great time of year to tour, as there are fewer other visitors and the wolves’ coats are thick and beautiful. In the summer, they will be molting, so they won’t look their best.

Another tour is available for those who wish to interact with the wolves. This was the highlight of our day! We played with Micah (pictured above) and Nakai (one of the “accidental” pups). Micah in particular was very playful! I got the impression that most people go into the enclosure and sit on the logs, allowing the wolves to come to them. We’re not most people.

Maybe it’s because we have a dog that’s bigger than these wolf pups, and very similar to the size of the adults, and maybe it’s because we’ve looked into a lot of wolf behavior while learning to train our dog. When we first walked into the pen, the wolves were close enough to touch, but they weren’t really interacting they way we’d hoped. So I threw my hands on the ground in a simulated play pose, and the energy erupted! Micah ran right up to me. The wolves play a bit rougher than our dog is allowed to, but we adjusted. At least we know how to handle a large canine when it’s excited! I stood up: Micah stood up with me, and went for my face.

That’s when the guide let us know that the wolf wanted to say hi, and to accept us, we had to let him kiss us….wolf style. That means you have to open your mouth so they can lick you the way they do their pack members. I can’t say I enjoyed letting a wolf lick the inside of my mouth, but the wolves were much more interested in us after we each allowed a wolfish French kiss. My cohorts said they felt the wolf’s teeth against their own teeth. I guess I kept my teeth covered with my lips, because I didn’t feel that – but I felt a little bruised around my lips, so maybe their teeth made contact with my skin instead.

We had a great time with the wolves – they were so thrilling! We were warned not to wear fur (real or faux), especially on our boots. Gloves and scarves were disallowed, and down coats were discouraged. Those are all things that the wolves consider chew toys. We all had leather on our hiking boots, which they found most interesting when we laid down with them – they didn’t bite at our boots, but they did sniff thoroughly. One of our friends accompanying us on this adventure wore a leather belt. That became a toy. Good thing he didn’t mind having a few wolf bite marks, making a souvenir belt! Another friend had to be careful with the wrist strap on her camera. Micah thought that should be his.

I would not hesitate to repeat this interactive session! Our whole group was so excited, before and after this experience. We were mentally exhausted that evening and even the next day because the experience was so intense. I would not recommend inflicting young children (especially those who squeal) on the wolves, even for the regular tour. I highly recommend the interactive tour for those who are physically fit and respectful of, though not easily intimidated by wildlife. The one caution I have is to be prepared for political statements by the staff. Naturally, they look at policies from the perspective of wolf lovers. I don’t have a problem with that, but the political angle was strong enough to turn off our group. Had we at least anticipated the outspoken political claptrap, we would have had an even better time.

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Cliff Dwellings in Manitou

Manitou Springs is host to Anasazi cliff dwellings. They haven’t been there for ages, but they have been there for well more than 100 years. You see, in the late 1800s, Colorado didn’t have the infrastructure for tourists to make the journey to Mesa Verde. Mesa Verde, now a national park, has several ruins of cliff communities. Some of these ruins were transported to Manitou so that tourists could see how Anasazi Indians used to live. Considering the lack of infrastructure back then, I think it’s pretty amazing that these ruins were moved all the way to Manitou!

The friend I went with, Mrs. Scottie, is a Colorado Springs native, but had never been to the cliff dwellings. I didn’t remember until we got there that I had been there before. My nephew came out to see me when I lived in Colorado Springs, and we went to see the dwellings during the summer.

Summer entertainment includes some Pueblo Indian dances, performed by a family of Pueblo Indians from, ironically enough, Pueblo. Pueblo Indians are descendants of the Anasazi. The Pueblos moved to the plains and did not have the benefit of cliffs for shelter. Instead, they built earthen houses, usually three stories high. The ground level had no entrances. Instead, wooden ladders were used to access the second story. In case of attack, the ladders could be pulled inside to keep aggressors from gaining entrance into the house. I bet that design had an additional benefit – keeping rodents and other pests out! The Manitou Cliff Dwellings includes an example of a Pueblo house, though it does have main floor entrances. The museum and gift shop are contained inside this structure.

This is a great place to visit with kids. The museum does not advertise that the ruins are transplanted. While this place is quite small compared to Mesa Verde National Park, it’s a lot easier to get to for a one-day outing. On a bright sunny day (which is a frequent occurrence here in Colorado), pictures can be quite beautiful. Just look at the colors of the cliffs set against the pines and brilliant blue sky!

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Gem Sculptures by Vasily Konovalenko

Denver’s Museum of Nature & Science has an exhibit on gems and minerals. The exhibit is laid out a little bit like a mine, with some basic information on mining in Colorado. The exhibit is nice, but I just went through the Smithsonian’s similar display in March. The Smithsonian, while crowded, had far fewer out of control school groups. I don’t know what the Denver chaperones were doing, but very few were actually monitoring their charges. As a result, I didn’t spend much time in that echo chamber of screams.

I did spend a bit more time in the wildlife exhibits, which are very well done. Tucked between South American animals and African wildlife was a small exhibit that turned out to be my favorite exhibit of the museum. It was even better because there were no screaming kids running through it! This exhibit is the Konovalenko Gem Sculptures – gemstone carvings of Russian folk life. The first picture is a close up (courtesy of the Museum’s website) of a man eating a watermelon. The watermelon is ruby. The sculpture includes the rest of the ruby/watermelon sitting in a basin underneath the figure, busted up much the way a real watermelon might be. The natural green exterior, unpolished, is perfect for the rind!

The artist, Vasily Konovalenko, carved several figures depicting typical activities of Russians. The colors come from the raw materials – there’s no paint, just carving. One sculpture included a few metal crafts that were pieces of art in their own right. The figurines are encased such that there are reflections so you can see the detail all the way around each figurine. The exhibit is dark, so photos with a cell phone (I failed to take a real camera) are not the best photos. I’m sharing them anyway.

The figurine that stood out to me as very typical of folklife is this one, where a man offers bread and salt in friendship. I spent a few weeks in Russia and Ukraine many years ago, and everywhere I went, I was greeted with bread and salt. The platter is metal, but everything else is carved from a variety of gemstones.

I wish I’d taken notes on some of the gemstones that were used. There’s one that’s called zebra something-or-other. One of the sculptures appeared to be a Cossack, with striped pants (the type that tuck into tall black boots). Stripes were formed by this zebra stone. This same stone made thinner stripes, perfect in this sculpture of prisoners doing labor. I wish I knew what the door was made from, because it’s certainly not wood! I like the base as it really does look like snow.

When I think of life in Russia, cold certainly comes to mind. Here’s an ice fisherman. Quartz serves as the block of ice. Even the fish on top the ice are sculpted from gems! Another sculpture, one I did not photograph but you can see among these photos, included a wooden bucket. The stone used was petrified wood! Each wooden slat of the bucket was cut separately, then the bucket was assembled. It was very well done! Additional (and better) images can be seen here – it looks like these photos were taken before the items were set on display.

My questions after seeing this exhibit are where did the artist get the raw materials? Who paid for them?How much did they cost? What are these sculptures worth today?

There were two sculptures of someone receiving a spa treatment – a man and a woman. The female version is depicted here. Once again, I really wish I knew what stone was used for the wooden table! The final photo is a scene at hot springs. I really like how the agate was used as the surface of the water, creating layers to achieve the bubbling spring effect. The rest of this write-up are the words taken directly from the Museum to describe the exhibit.

“Russian-born Vasily Konovalenko was 22 when he first sensed the hidden life in stones. Employed as a theater designer and sketching scenery for a new ballet, The Stone Flower, Konovalenko found himself drawn to the world of gems and minerals. With few tools and no teacher, he began to explore the mysteries of stones.

“His challenge was not just to develop the necessary lapidary skills, but to balance artistic creativity with the beauty – and limitations – of carving gemstones. Each gem has inherent hardness and breakage characteristics, requiring great skill and sensitivity to reveal its unique beauty. Using the rich imagery of Russian folklife as themes for his whimsical sculptures. Konovalenko was able to combine many different minerals, from varieties of quartz – agate, jasper, carnelian, amethyst, chrysoprase, and chalcedony – to the more exotic lapis lazuli, turquoise, malachite, sodalite, and jade.

“It has been said that the true artist can bring forth life from his chosen medium, but it is an even greater gift when he can evoke emotions in the viewer. Vasily Konovalenko had such a gift. The Soviet Union recognized his artistic mastery and regarded his works as national treasures.”

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Genghis Khan Museum Display

The Denver Museum of Nature & Science has a special Genghis Khan exhibit, showing through February 7, 2010. It seems to be popular with school groups, but it’s worth going to see even if you’re not actively studying ancient world history!

Most Americans seem to hear the name Genghis Khan and think of a savage brute. This exhibit shows many other aspects of his leadership. I’m very glad that I saw the movie Mongol a few months ago. It gave me an idea of his early history. As a boy, Temüjin (his given name) was arranged to marry a girl when they were 10. Temüjin’s father, the tribal lord, was killed when the boy was still young. The family was left to survive as nomads. Tribes in 13th Century Mongolia followed their leader until the leader was killed. If another tribe killed the leader, the rest of the tribe was usually exterminated as well. As Temüjin became a leader, he adopted a different tactic. He spared the rest of the tribe, and the tribesman accepted him as their new leader. In this way, he was able to grow his empire.

Genghis Khan was a skilled warrior, and led numerous military campaigns from China to Persia. As he conquered peoples, he learned about their cultures. He encouraged his people to follow the religions of their choosing. He encouraged arts and sciences to continue. He adapted from a world of nomads to conquering great walled cities as he expanded his empire. He insisted he be addressed by name as if he were any other man, rather than insisting his name be used reverentially. When he found a society with a written language, he adopted written texts himself. His signature is featured throughout the exhibit – it’s interesting in that it is written vertically, not horizontally.

Unusual in that time, he rewarded people based on merit, rather than on race, bloodlines, or birthrights. He also used diplomatic passports to guarantee merchants safe passage throughout his empire. Marco Polo was one such merchant who benefited from this passport system.

After his death, he left his empire to his third son as overall ruler, but the empire was divided so that four of his sons were rulers. His edict to them was to continue to expand the empire, and they did just that.

Did you know that the largest settlement of Mongolians in the US is in the Denver area? The museum indicates there are many festivals and events celebrating Mongolian culture. I’m going to be on the lookout for those events! At the end of the exhibit, which focuses on modern day life in Mongolia, there’s a description about DNA, and how many thousands of men are likely descendants of Genghis Khan. When I visited northern Sweden and its indigenous Sami people (nomads who herd reindeer), I remember one of them saying his DNA is most closely related to Mongolians than to any other group of people. He’s 100% Sami, and he looked Asian to my ignorant eyes. I never expected to use that tidbit of knowledge again, but I’m very glad I remembered that fact!

The exhibit includes human remains recently found in a cave in Mongolia. The artifacts found with her body indicate she was a noblewoman, and lived shortly after Genghis Khan’s reign. As such, the exhibit as a whole is probably not suited to young children. But it is very interesting, and shows various aspects of the Khan, far beyond the savagery we usually think about. The exhibit does show his warrior side, but it also shows what he was like as a statesman. As a statesman, he seems more sophisticated than I would otherwise credit him.

I’m not usually a fan of either history or museums. I recommend this exhibit! But a word of caution if you choose to go (and I hope you do): the Museum may or may not warn you in advance. The restrooms are not accessible from the exhibit – you have to leave the exhibit to get to them. Once you leave, there is no reentry. Supposedly, this is to keep the exhibit environment climate controlled to preserve the artifacts. I think they could find a simple, low-tech solution to allow people back in, but they choose not to.

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Denver Art Museum

I’m not what one would call a student of art. I don’t even appreciate most of it. The first art museum I ever enjoyed was in Amsterdam, where a pamphlet told me what was so special about each painting. Only then could I appreciate what hung on the walls!

I’ve been able to lack appreciation at the Smithsonian for the past few years, and I wanted to see what you get from an art museum you have to pay to get into. I was glad to see that the Denver Art Museum has a collection of American West and American Indian art. That does seem fitting. It has various other collections that one would expect in a metropolitan museum, from African, Asian, and Oceanic art to modern pieces. There’s currently a very interesting section that is one piece: it’s set up to resemble the inside of a restaurant. Everything is red: the walls, floor, chairs, tables, place settings, wine glasses, even the underside of the stairs near the exhibit are the same shade of red. There are lots of gray foxes all throughout, in a variety of poses. I can’t say that I understand it, but it is unusual and it amused me.

My favorite part is entirely too small of a section, but I am actually trying to be a more serious student of this type: Northwest Coast art. This includes totem poles, masks, and other items that many people ignorantly consider “Eskimo” art. One day, I hope to gather up my books on Northwest Coast art and take another trip to British Columbia and SE Alaska to study some of the art forms. I’m getting better at identifying some of the animals depicted. Of course, a trip to see just the animals would be great, too! (Hint: kermode bears are also called Spirit Bears and are found along the Northwest Coast.)

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Denver Botanic Gardens

The irises are in bloom at the Denver Botanic Gardens!  My long-time CO resident friend (Mrs. Scottie) had never been there and I wanted an opportunity to get out and photograph flowers, so we went to visit this week. It was great! For kids, there are dinosaur statues scattered throughout the gardens. There’s a lot of construction in and around the gardens right now, but that just meant we got to park in nearby neighborhood of old Denver mansions in the historic district. No complaints here!

Japanese Garden

The gardens are well laid out, with a building for tropical plants (without being oppressively hot inside) and a Japanese garden area. It was very soothing. There is a tea house inside this area, which says it’s open in the summer, but I guess mid-June doesn’t count as summer. Ah well, we would have really enjoyed a Japanese tea lunch!

Some of the blooming ground covers looked like they were swaying in a non-existent breeze. That was because of all the bee activity. Bees were everywhere! Normally, I would be really unhappy to be around so many bees.  We quickly realized that the bees were far more interested in all the available flowers and pollen than in bothering the people. I expected to see many people swatting bees away, but that was not the case. People and bees coexisted beautifully!

Rose bud

A wide variety of flowers are currently in bloom, and columbines are everywhere. The iris garden is in its prime, and some of the roses are still doing well. Of all the photos I took, this is my favorite. I really like how the blooms were surrounded by additional buds.

We were amazed at the people who were weeding all the gardens. I would have to go through a long training course to identify the weeds in such a wide variety of flowers! My favorite part of the gardens seems quintessential Colorado – it’s an area of nothing but conifers – bushes, trees, etc. all arranged nicely, showing a wide array of pine varieties. I might have to go back and take notes once I have a garden of my own!

One final note: the Botanic Gardens are host to a summer concert series, with well maintained lawns to picnic on while listening. Information on the gardens and events can be found here.

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