May 10-31, 2018
We loved our view at our campground in Denver.
Rocks on one side
The hills of Golden on another
Mother’s Day
Mother’s Day was full of love!
Elizabeth and Brett introduced us to a delicious Thai restaurant. That evening Jane’s goddaughter’s husband Peter was playing at a club downtown and Dave, Jane, Elizabeth, and Brett surprised him and goddaughter Gray. Many thanks to Gray’s mother (and Jane’s college roommate) Madhuri for keeping the secret.
Gray, Jane, Madhuri, Dave
Jane and Madhuri
Elizabeth and Jane
Supper with Family
Most of us related through Dave’s father who were in Denver enjoyed supper together.
From left to right: Dave’s sister’s husband Jay, Dave’s step-sister Sally, Jane, Dave, Dave’s sister’s son Chris, Dave and Jane’s daughter Elizabeth, Elizabeth’s husband Brett, Dave’s step-sister Susan’s husband Bob, and Dave’s step-sister Susan.
Molly Brown House Museum
Madhuri joined us another day for a tour of the Molly Brown House Museum.
The 1960 musical The Unsinkable Molly Brown is a fictionalized account of the experiences of Margaret Tobin Brown [who was, incidentally, never called Molly]. The unaltered life of this woman was at least as interesting and much more inspiring.
Margaret Tobin Brown
Margaret and her husband JJ moved to the house in Denver in 1894. Here are some of the things Margaret did:
- Worked to establish Colorado’s first juvenile court system
- Established the Denver Dumb Friends League
- Promoted cultural diversity
- Was a patron of the arts
- Saved the home of poet Eugene Fields from demolition
- Fought for women’s suffrage
- Ran for a seat in the U.S. Senate in 1914
- Worked on relief efforts in France during World War I
She was aboard the Titanic when it sank. She had left Europe to return to the U.S. because her grandson was ill. When she boarded the lifeboat, she carried a good luck charm that she later gave to the captain of the Carpathia, the ship that first rescued survivors. That charm has found its way to the museum.
Margaret raised $10,000 from passengers of the Carpathia to support victims of the Titanic disaster.
This annunciator was used in the Brown house to let servants know where they were needed.
Kitchen
Morrison Hogback Hike
Dave set out one morning to hunt some geocaches on the ridge behind the campground. Before long, he found himself at the point of geological interest on Interstate 70. He got some great photos as well as five caches.
Colorado Capitol
If you’ve been following us, you know we have to visit every capitol we can.
Architect’s drawing of the Colorado capitol. He called it “Corinthian”.
Colorado became a state in 1876 and by 1886 it had settled on Denver for its capital city and broken ground for its capitol building. Construction took 15 years. The outer walls are made of Gunnison granite and are five feet thick. The foundation is sandstone from Fort Collins. The floors are Yule marble from Marble. [It would have been cheaper to import marble from Italy than move it to Denver from the mountains!] The wainscotting is rose onyx from Beulah. The stone is found nowhere else and many people enjoy seeing what images they can find in the patterns.
Rose onyx
The dome was originally copper, but Coloradans were unhappy with the way the copper was weathering. In 1908 Colorado miners donated the 200 ounces of gold required to cover the dome. When the dome was regilded in 2013, 64.5 ounces were required. Maybe the gold leaf was able to be made thinner.
Upon entering the building, we were impressed with the grand staircase.
We love the domes over rotundas and always zoom in on the details in the center.
The star in the center measures two feet across.
Senate Chamber
These balls of rubber bands were on a desk in the bottom row of the picture above.
House Chamber
During renovations years ago, the ceiling was lowered and the walls covered with acoustic tile. The section of wall pictured here shows the original wall treatment and a piece of the acoustic tile.
Here is how the restored architectural details look today.
Supreme Court
The Court moved to its own building and its former chambers are being renovated for use as a committee/hearing room.
The top floor of the capitol houses exhibits about the building and the state.
Here’s is Colorado’s official state tartan. [If you are wondering, as we did, why Colorado needs an official state tartan, rest assured there is a three page resolution that explains it.] The colors are quite deliberate: Blue for the skies, green for the forests, white and lavender for the snow-capped mountain peaks and the state wildflower the columbine, red for the “C” in the state flag and the sandstone from which the state gets its name.
A walkway around the dome has wonderful views of the city.
Escape Room
We decided to tackle an escape room with Elizabeth and Brett. When we arrived for our quest, the gamemaster advised us that the room we had chosen was better suited to groups of six people and that the success rate was only about 30%. We (especially Elizabeth and Brett) put our minds to the puzzles and escaped with 12 minutes to spare!
We enjoyed a walk in the early evening light.
4 Comments
Joette · June 26, 2018 at 8:58 am
Sounds like you had a wonderful month of May!
Madhuri Land · June 26, 2018 at 8:14 pm
When you took the photo from the top of the Capital that has the Cathedral spires in it you captured my apartment building in the background! My windows are mid building on the 10th out of 11 floors. I’ll email you the pic with an arrow pointing to the building. And a picture of those same spires and the Capital from my window. Neat!!
Jon · June 27, 2018 at 6:36 am
Hi Jane and Dave
Susan · June 27, 2018 at 11:27 am
It was great to see the family all together. I probably have been to the capital sometime in my growing up there but do not remember any of it so it was great to see your photos. I am loving learning the history of all the places you have had the opportunity to see.