The Parent's 50th Anniversary Trip to Colorado: Day 5

The day started out very slow as my hips felt like a jolt of lightning had rushed through them. The past few days of hiking have taken a toll on my legs that prefer the flat terrain of West Texas over the hills and mountains of Colorado! With the soreness setting in, I decided to take the day off from running! Not Pam, she looked at her sore legs and mocked them as she pounded out a few miles of the treacherous terrain known as my parents neighborhood!

There was only two major goals for the day. The first was to take my dad out and celebrate Father's Day for lunch, and the second was to get downtown in plenty of time to hangout with Holmes...AKA Tony prior to the Rockies game. Since this was the only two items on the agenda, I had plenty of time to relax and just hangout in the morning.

Pam and the girls had another plan. They wanted to hit the mall and see what damage they could do while they assaulted our bank account. They grabbed Grandma and went into the mall with a vengeance to see what treasures they could come home with.

Meanwhile, back at the homestead my dad and I watched old western reruns. I'm not an old western kind-a-guy, but my dad loves them. In fact, not only did I get the privilege to watch the old time cowboys with him, I also got the pleasure of my dad's play-by-play commentary as he knows each line and story.

After a heavy dose of being on the range with Marshal Dillon, it was time to go get some lunch and celebrate an early Father's Day. We won't be in town come Sunday, so Pam suggested just my dad and I enjoy some time together over some food. I told my dad he could pick anywhere he wanted. He suggested a place called Brewery Bar III. It's a local Mexican joint that claims to have the best green chili in Colorado. That's a claim I don't take lightly as green chili is an important part of Pam and mine's regular diet!



















Papa went for the chili rellenos smothered in green chili with rice and beans and I opted for the #2 which included a smothered burrito with green chili, a taco and a tostado. We waited in eager excitement for our food to come out as we could smell the aroma of green chili that filled the eatery!

Papa's food came out first, and it looked like he could have served a small army off his plate. My food arrived, and it took two big size platters. We dug in and both agreed within several bites that Brewery Bar III was legit and would definitely fit on both of our Top Five list of all-time Mexican food restaurants. On a scale of one-to- five forks, Papa gave it a well-deserved 4.6 while I was a little more generous with a 4.8. If you haven't tried it, and you are in the market for some good food. Go there now and when you speak of me, speak of me well!

We rolled ourselves out of the restaurant and some how made it back home so my dad could sleep off his food coma. I had to get ready to head out to the Rockies game to meet up with Holmes. I decided to take the Light Rail rather than fight traffic and parking downtown. I actually enjoy taking it as the train is rather convenient, and it's always interesting place to people watch.

I got downtown a little faster than Holmes and had time to scope out a good bar for a beer while I waited on him to arrive. I waited through several cold ones until Holmes finally was able to make it. I gave him ample time to catch up and we headed off to the game!

Since the Yankees were in town, they are considered a premium seat. Why? I honestly have no idea since they are a poor-performing team. However, it's not a bad marketing strategy as people came out in droves to watch the game. Holmes worked hard to get us some overly priced rock pile tickets. We found our seats as well as the beer vendor and settled in for a typical Coors Field game that consists of no pitching and lots of runs scored by each team!

It didn't take Holmes long to start to get in his grumpy mode. When Tony gets cranky at a ball game, it means one of two things. Either he is hungry, or he is pouting because we are sitting too far away for him to get a foul ball. I decided it was time to get him a nacho hat and see if we could sneak down to closer seats. Our theory is that if we got caught sneaking into better seats, we would say we knew the coolest Flood and all would be okay. It turns out the nacho hat worked well for Tony, but knowing the coolest Flood got us no closer to the field!

The game went back and forth and we talked about the good old days and decided we were going to make a return trip to spring training for next year with Scott and Brett. Tony also decided we would be crashing at Scott's house to save money!

The game was great and the company was better. We soon headed out on our separate trains to go home. I had a great day 5 and went to sleep wondering what excited adventures day 6 would bring!

The Parent's 50th Anniversary Trip to Colorado: Day 3 & 4

Day 3 started out early with Pam and I joining forces to go for an early morning walk around Lake Estes. The site was breathtaking with the steam rising off the lake and sun coming up and reflecting some amazing colors off the mountains. Everywhere around town there are signs posted warning of the elk being aggressive this time a year because their calves are newly born. Like any proud Texan tourist, Pam and I ignored all the signes until we met an elk on a trail. At first the elk seemed to care less we were in her vicinity. Pam declared that she was precious and wouldn't bother us at all mind if we continued on our journey. We quickly learned the elk was the boss of the trail as she started toward Pam letting her know she really didn't care if we were tourist from Texas.

Since Pam is a world class athlete and has the ability to think swiftly on her feet, she was able to out smart and out maneuver the elk as she quickly hoped a fence to have a barrier between her and the overly agitated creature. The elk kept a close eye on Pam and made sure Pam walked quite a way back home before she was able to climb the fence and rejoin the trail!

After a qucik breakfast with the whole family, it was time to load up in the cars and head to the tram at Mount Prospect. Now, I am no fan of heights, but my newly acquired best friend Teag asked if I would ride the tram with him. I sucked it up and tried to control my total fear of heights so I would not disappoint my five-year old bestie.

We had an amzing time hiking, climbing rocks and going all the way up to the top Mount Prospect. It was a great family adventure had by all the cousins, uncles and aunts.

After a morning of family bonding it was time to meet up with my parents for lunch at a place called Chicago's Best. They serve the normal Chicago fare. Pam, Little D and I ordered an Italian beef sandwich while AK opted to have an Italian sasauge sandwich. The rest of the crew had pizza and hot dogs. The food was good but very slow coming out. The entire family had already been served their lunch and eaten their meals before we received ours. It took both Pam and I asking several times. The manager seemed to have cared ess and offered no apologies and was actualy rude about the tardiness of our meal. Instead of a solid score of four fork out of five and a good review in the Muddled Misadventures. The rudeness of the management dropped down the rating to 2.2 forks

We didn't let the manager ruin our fun and Papa declared he was buying the whole crew an ince cream. Nothings says family love like a good old fashioned ice cream cone. I could barely hold in my excitement as I anticipated my Rocky Road cone!

Papa was right, ice cream does make everything better and I soon forgot all about the mean manager from lunch as Teag and I walked around town enjoying our cones. Teag got smart and claimed he was tired so he could hitch a ride with Papa. Papa loaded Teag up and the two of the continued the tour of town.

We headed back to the hotel for awhile so the kids could go swimming and Pam and I could get in a nap. The nap was short lived as it started to rain. Pam decided we needed to head to the store so we could load up on snacks for the next day. We didn't quite make it as we made a quick detour when we saw a huge rock formation that looks two owls standing by each other.  Locals call it Twin Owls or Two Owls.  Pam noticed a trail and insisted we take a little hike. The problem was we were all wearing flip-flops and sandals with the exception of Little D who was wearing her "Chuckies". Pam was not going to allow the lack of proper foot attire to ruin our fun. She insisted we take the hike because we were from Texas and could handle anything. It didn't take long for us to realize that we might be just a tad bit underdressed as rocks and sticks started to get under our feet. We marched on under Pam's orders and reached our destination. We passed many other hikers who would pass us and stare at our feet. No doubt they looked at us with the thoughts of how incredibly brave and tough we were to hike the trail with sandals! Perhaps they should come to Texas and learn to toughen up rather then hike in boots!

With our bellies growing hungry and our feet torn up from our treacherous hike, we met up with the rest of the family for dinner at a local joint called the Other Side. Uncle Denny was forced to eat at the kids table since he usually fits in better with them with his loud voice and tendency to make a mess while he eats. The food was great and Little D and cousin Tally gave it a highly ranked 4.4 forks out of 5 as they took down their massive kids steaks and mashed potatoes piled as high as the Rockies! Aunt Susan didn't disappoint as she and Uncle Jeffie stuffed themselves with an order of nachos and a Mile High club sandwich. Pam and Auntie Katie shared some nachos while AK and I just had a small  garden salad--we had to do something to to keep all the other customers from staring at he massive amount of food that was on our table!

After dinner Little D, Cousin Garret, Cousin Hildy, Auntie Katie and I all went minature golfing. The place was really cool and run by and incredibly nice old man that went out of the way to make us feel welcome. The golfing was fun, but most of the excitement came at the end when Cousin Garrett and Little D both got a Hole-in-One to win another free round and record their names on the winner board for all of mankind to see!

AK and Pam opted for something a little more adventurous. Pam scored them some tickets to go on a Ghost Tour at the Stanley Hotel. This is the same hotel Stephen King was staying at when he wrote The Shinning. They both loved the tour and had an incredible time being freaked out. Each came back sharing many stories as they enjoyed their tour. AK took a picture of what appears to be a cat walking across a room. While in the room the guide told them their was spirit cats. The strange thing was Pam's allergies went crazy as she is highly allergic to cats and AK felt what seemed to be a cat rubbing up against her legs!

After a very long day of impressing Estes Park by being Texas tourists, lots of hiking, eating, shopping, miniature golfing, being spooked out by the spirit world and more family fun then what should be legally allowed, we declared Day 3 in the books and went to sleep to dream of what lay ahead for Day 4!

Day 4:

Day 4 started out a little later than the other days as we were just plain exhausted and needed our beauty rest. Pam soon made us all get up so we could eat breakfast and catch up with Uncle Jeffy and Aunt Susan for some more hiking and fun. Uncle Denny had to leave early to go to work, while Papa and Grandma and Uncle Tom and Auntie Katie also decided to head back to the plains.

After a quick meal and packing everything up we headed into the Rocky Mountain National Park. Our first stop was an area called the Alluvial Fan. It's an area that was flooded out years ago and made an amazing water fall you can hike up to. Pam and I learned our lesson from the day before and no longer wanted to look the part of the Texas tourists so we opted for good old fashion tennis shoes. They might not have been the hiking boots you see most people wearing, but they worked out just fine!

The hike was awesome and the kids had a great time. There was lots of rocks and a cool river to follow all the up to the waterfall.   Even though my hamstrings are still screaming, it was well worth the trip.

It was soon head back to my parents house. The plan was for us to stop in Thornton and grab a few Godfather's pizzas for dinner. We grew up eating Godfather's, and for some unknown reason, they closed them all in Colorado. In order to make Dion proud in our choice of pizza, we picked some up and headed to my parent's house.

Auntie Katie, Uncle Tom and Cousin Garrett came over for the feast of deep dish deliciousness. Everyone enjoyed treating their taste buds from the long ago flavor they had not tasted in many years. It was Garrett's first time eating the pizza. He enjoyed it so much that he named Godfather's in his top five of favorite pizza's of all time. Garrett said it was a tough call, but he removed Cici's Pizza to make room for Godfather's.

Papa enjoyed the pizza so much he said it even helped ease the pain of watching the Cubs lose to the Nationals.  Family time was awesome, and after the game, my dad shared with me part of my family tree.  That was really cool...and as most family trees....quite confusing! 

The Parent's 50th Anniversary Trip to Colorado: Day 2

Day 2 started out early for Colorado time and late for Texas time. It was nice to sleep in for a little bit and still be up early enough to catch the sun come up and go for a little run. Running a mile in Colorado is like running ten in Midland. The hills in my parents neighborhood would be considered tall mountains in West Texas. Not to mention the high altitude makes my lungs scream for air with each passing breath. Regardless of the horrible hills and the lack of breathable air, I was able to complete my jog and get ready for the day. Pam's jog started off a little ore adventurous as she was greeted by a dead snake on my parent's side walk.

We loaded up both our car, and my parents as we would be heading up to Estes Park for the weekend to celebrate my parent's 50th anniversary with the rest of the family. I drove my dad, and Pam had my mom and the girls in her car. My dad quickly instructed me that there would be no talking as we drove to Loveland to stop for lunch. He decided to pray the rosary on the way. I asked him to throw in a few for me, and off we were to observe total silence as we passed through Denver and headed further north. 

We finally reached Loveland and ate lunch at a place called Runza's. It's a place my parents and sister, Katie's family like to eat at. If you never had a runza it is basically ground beef wraped in a roll and cooked. To me, they are an acquired taste that my taste buds have yet to acquire... so Pam and I opted for a chicken salad. The salad was about what you would expect for a fast food joint. On a scale of one-to-five forks. I gave it a 2.3 for lack of taste. If I was a runza lover, they may have earned extra fork. My brother Jeff and sister in-law along with their crew met us for lunch. Needless to say, we were all excited to see each other.

I got a personal invitation to eat with my nephew Teag. He is five years old and will start first grade in the fall. He picked out our very own table and told me many tales of his adventures in kindergarten. With the meal coming to a close, Teag declared me his best friend. So, I now have that going for me!

AK and Little D did a sprint to give Aunt Susan and Uncle Jeffy a hug. AK was excited that Uncle Jeffy was wearing the shirt she brought him last year. Both AK and Uncle Jeffy have a tendency to over do the ketchup thing!

With our bellies full we all loaded up and headed for the last leg to Estes. The ride was beautiful and my dad was much more talkative since he finished the rosary. He told me several stories of when he was a kid and what his parents were like. We enjoyed the ride and the stories and soon found ourselves pulling into Estes with the rest of the family.

We arrived at the kids park and had a great time going down the giant slide and the bumper boats. All the kids were in hog heaven as they had race-after-race to see who would win. The overall winners time and time again were both Little D and cousin Garrett. The kids also loved the bumper boats and soaking each other. Pam and AK probably lost out on the big water fight as they were drenched after getting off their trusty vessel!

We soon headed to the hotel and check in so the kids could go get in the pool and enjoy some time together. Uncle Jeffy, Pam, Susan and myself took it as an opportunity to sit at the pool to drink a refreshing ice cold beverage!

After the pool we showered up and headed to dinner. Uncle Tom had made reservations and we all headed to Mama Rosa's for dinner. I was able to sit next to my nephew Garrett. He has just finished the fire academy and has landed a position as a volunteer fireman. Garrett just had his first day of work, and he told me all about it. I'm really proud of Garrett, he has worked hard to achieve his goal and reach his dream at such a young age!

Before the food came my dad was really hurting from his kidney stone. He didn't last much longer and I had to take him back to the hotel. He was able to get some pain medicine and relax after awhile. Hopefully his pain won't come back and he can enjoy his trip!

Everyone was exhausted from the travel and the fun. We soon found ourselves back in our own rooms and snoozing for the next day of adventure!

The Parents 50th Anniversary Trip to Colorado: Day 1

Day 1 started off extra early with a quick run before we woke the girls for the long journey north to celebrate my parent's 50 years of wedded bliss. The plan was to head up to Colorado and spend the night at my parents house, and then drive up early Saturday to Estes Park to meet up with the rest of the family for the weekend.

After the quick run and fast showers the girls were awake and loaded up in the car. The trip was going well for the first thirty minutes until out of nowhere a deer decided to play Frogger with our car. Luckily my cat-like reflexes took over, and I was able to swerve out of the way to keep from killing the deer and preserve our newly rented vehicle. 

We decided that we were going to need to stop in Lamesa and regroup with some coffee and a restroom break. Even though I had only been driving for about forty-five minutes, Pam insisted that it was her turn to drive. Perhaps she just wanted to break up the trip, maybe she just felt it was her turn, or perhaps she realized she and the girls had a better chance of survival with her at the wheel after the deer incident. Either way, Pam was at the helm with Little D riding shotgun after claiming she had a small case of car sickness.

This meant that AK and I would be riding in the back of the car for a long time. Since AK gets as bored as I do, it didn't take long for us to start to invent and play some games. The favorite and soon to be a no-doubt classic was the Big Toe War. 

Big Toe War is very similar to having a thumb war.  AK didn't take long to dominate me in the big toe challenge and claiming ruler of the back seat. We soon grew tired of Big Toe War and AK introduced me to the world of Snapchat and all the photo opportunities to be had. My eager little ADHD brain was mesmerized by the magical camera before my eyes. AK quickly turned me into a mouse, a princess and a donkey. But truth be told, my favorite was when AK swapped our faces!

With AK and I having entirely too much fun in the backseat, Pam decided she needed a break from the road and all the ruckus from the back of the car. We stopped to refuel and relieve ourselves at the local Toot-N-Totem in Amarillo.

We were soon back on the road, and I was once again quarterback of the car. I was commenting to Pam how well the hurry-up-offense was going when I noticed the fuzz coming over the hill. It didn't take long for the lights to come on. Luckily Pam was riding shotgun on this leg of the trip, and the trooper walked up to the passenger side window. She put on her charm, and I was let off with a warning!

We continued to aggravate the travel gods as we soon hit road construction the rest of the way through Texas. We even were stopped and had to wait about twenty minutes for a pilot car to come and flag us through the construction. We ended up finally making it out Texas and had no more issues as we passed through the corner of New Mexico and into Colorado.

With the girls complaining of hunger, Pam made the quick decision to pull into the Burger King in Trinidad. Pam picked Burger King because she is trying to catch up to win the Coolest Parent of the Year Award. So whatever the kids want, the kids get! We must have waited a solid twenty-five minutes for our food. Soon people who were in line behind us started to get their food while we still waited. Since the wait was long and there was nothing else to do, Pam decided to declare both of us the King and Queen of the Burger King in Trinidad!

With our newly acquired royalty titles and food in hand we got back in the car and continued the journey north. The girls chowed down on their chicken sandwiches while Pam mowed through her chili cheese dog in record time. The rest of the trip came with no more delays or stops as both girls were just eager to make it to Papa and Grandma's house!

It was good to see them both. Papa discovered the day before he has a kidney stone. Poor guy has been in pain but still going to tough it out for the big trip to Estes on Saturday. We enjoyed relaxing and visiting with them after the long car ride. Grandma decided to make her favorite child his favorite meal. We all enjoyed the amazing Italian beef sandwiches for dinner!

After dinner we relaxed and watched the best team in baseball lose once again to the poorest team in the league. Even though the Cubs lost, it was still nice to get to watch the game with my dad. After a long day of travel and more ahead for tomorrow, it was time to call it a night and prepare for another great day in celebrating my parents anniversary!