2014-05 Denver

We went out to Denver the first weekend in May to visit Mariah and attend the Spring Awards Banquet for the Daniels College of Business.

We arrived on Thursday afternoon and once we checked into the hotel, we headed down to the Lower Highlands neighborhood of Denver to have dinner at Linger's, which is where Mariah's boyfriend Adam works.  Linger's is in a building that used to be the O'linger mortuary.  They still have the original neon sign on top of the building, but don't light up the O.  The rooftop dining area has a great view of downtown, and the rooftop bar is an old RV.  Linger's serves street food fare from all over the world, and the best way to enjoy it is by sharing with friends and family.  Adam and crew at Linger's did a great job taking care of us, and the food was delicious.

After dinner we walked downtown and went by the apart she will move into next month.  It is near the new Union Station and just a couple blocks from her office.  

On Friday, we spent a little time touring around Denver and having breakfast at the Denver Biscuit Company.  this is another local eatery that Mariah has found and enjoys going to and bringing friends and family.  In the afternoon, we headed to the Spring Banquet and Awards Ceremony.  As outgoing president of the accounting fraternity, Beta-Alpha-Psi, Mariah presented a recap of the year and gave an inspiring speech to the outgoing seniors and new incoming officers.   She also was awarded the Special Services Award from the Daniels College of Business, and a Student Achievement Award from the Federation of Schools of Accountancy.  We are so very proud of her and her accomplishments.  She is ready for the work world (including her new bag), and so excited to begin her job in September.

On Saturday, we headed up to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park.  While picking up Mariah, we noticed a couple of squirrels climbing up the wall of the town home next to Mariah's.  It turns out they were having fun with a cat who was watching them and wanting to chase them, but the squirrels definitely had the the advantage and seemed to enjoy taunting the cat.

We stopped at a couple of lookouts and hiking areas on the way.  The main road to Estes Park was damaged in flooding last year and has some single lane areas with long waits, so we took the recommended detour.  Since it is still not full summer tourist season, it was not very crowded on the roads, so it was an easy drive.  As we walked around Lily Lake, we noticed a couple of people had strung a tightrope between two large rock areas and were walking across the rope.  They have a lot more skill and guts than any of us, that is for sure.

It was duck race day in Estes Park, so everyone was gathered around the creek that flows through town watching the ducks come in.  We aren't sure how many ducks were released, but the bins they were collecting them were numbered up to at least 1500.  We saw ducks coming in for at least 45 minutes, so they must have been released far enough up stream to get quite spread out.

After wandering through the shops in town and having lunch, we stopped for ice cream.  Of course, the only reason we stopped was because of the name of the ice cream shop :)   After our treat, we headed up to Rocky Mountain National Park.

We stopped at the tourist center and got a couple of recommendations for some sites to see and routes to take for the time we had.  One of the recommendations was to go to Bear Lake.  Since it was at an elevation of about 8000, the snow had not melted and the lake was still frozen over.  The snow pack was at 2' to 3' deep along the trails and the trail signs were barely visible.  It was a warm weekend in Colorado, so even at this elevation it was in the 60's, so we weren't in our normal snow gear.


After our stop at Bear Lake, we dropped down to Sprague Lake and hiked around the lake.  Most of the snow was gone from this area and the ice was off the lake.  The scenery is beautiful in the park with all the snow capped mountains in the background.

As we headed back down out of the park, we stopped and looked at all the elk who were feeding in the meadows.  We then headed back to Denver to drop off Mariah and head back to the hotel.  We got up on Sunday morning and headed to the airport to catch our flight back to Minnesota.  It was a great weekend to share with Mariah and celebrate her accomplishments in school and anticipate the next step for her.  Congratulations Mariah!

2014-04 Venice, Murano and Burano

On our last full day in Italy, we headed up to Venice.  Rather than a tour, we took the first train in the morning and left on the last train in the evening to maximize our time.  The main train station is right on the grand canal, so as soon as we got out of the station, we got a view of all the buildings built right on the waters edge, and boats criss-crossing everywhere.  We purchased our water ferry cards so that we could get on the ferries that go from island to island.  We got on the ferry to go to Murano, which is known for it's glass works.  The glass works were originally on the island of Venice, but due to concerns about fires, they were outlawed in Venice and moved to Murano.

We went into a glass blowing factory and watched one of the glass blowers create a multi-color vase in about 5 minutes.  He had a crew of about 4 others that would help him with the glass blowing process, from monitoring the furnace to helping to shape the product and add small glass flowers around the perimeter.  It was very interesting to watch.  Throughout the island there are glass shops selling everything from small bottle stoppers to multi-thousand euro sculptures.  Many galleries had glass sculptures outside their entrances to help entice you to come in.  After watching the glass blowing and stopping in a few shops, we ate lunch along one of the canals going through the island. 


We then headed for Burano.  I was checking the schedule for the ferries and did not see anything that was headed to Burano, but the schedule board had many ferries going there.  I finally figured out the schedule that they had given me in Venice only had the ferries that were coming or going to Venice, sot he Murano to Burano information was not on there.  Suffice to say, we figured it out and boarded the correct ferry.

The island of Burano is known for its lace and fabric.  Along with this, the houses are all brightly colored and painted different colors.  We also stopped at a small shop that made small glass objects from animals to fruits and flowers.  We watched him make a few small items and bought a couple of things.  While I was watching him, I heard a small engine and when I stepped outside, I got a whiff of one of my favorite smells--freshly cut spring grass.  Since we still had snow on the ground back home, I just wanted to stand and take it in for a while.

As we walked around, we saw another leaning tower in the distance.  This was the tower of the Chiesa di San Martino.  It is not nearly as famous as the leaning tower of Pisa, but looks to lean just as much, and its not surprising considering it is built just a few feet above sea level.  I convinced Kara she should give this one a push too.

One of the interesting things is how people just live their normal life with all the tourist walking through their town all the time.  Bird cages hung out form the windows, laundry was hung out windows.  Besides the bright colors, there is a lot of artistic flair on the houses, from the doorbells to the doors themselves and the shutters.  Even the boats are colorfully painted.  The canals are very narrow and takes a lot finesse to work them through the canals, especially if you have to turn them around to get out. 

We headed back to the ferry terminal to depart for Venice.  We landed on the north side and headed to the south side and Plaza San Marco.  One of our first stops was for a refreshing spritz.  A spritz is Prosecco wine, bitters, and mineral water.  The best part for LeAnn was the delicious olives that came with them.

Since Venice is defined by its canals, the streets seem like a haphazard collection of short segments that come together and merge, dead end into a cross street, or curve around and follow the water.  Getting from point A to point B can be challenging and take a lot longer than expected.

We eventually made it to Plaza San Marco and were amazed by the spectacular mosaics, golden ornamentation and beautiful marble.  Many different kinds and colors of marble were used on the church.







 We headed back toward the train station and took a side trek to find a spiral staircase that Ray had seen as a virtual geocache.  Without the GPS to follow, I doubt we would have found this, but it was worth looking for and finding.

Along the smaller canals, there were gondolas parked at most of the crossings hoping to get some customers.  Some of the canals were barely any wider than the gondolas

We crossed the Grand Canal at Ponte Rialto, which is one of the major bridges and is lined with souvenir shops leading up to the bridge and also going over it.  Being up relatively high on over the canal made for some nice views of the canal.  It would be very easy to get turned around on the island as you go from one side to the other.  We did make one last stop for gelato on the way back to the train station.  We had dinner at a nearby cafe and then got on our train to head back to Florence and get ready to leave the next morning.

We had a great time in Venice and throughout Italy.  It was so much fun having Kara show us around and give us all her insight she had gained in her first 2 months here.