Days 6 and 7 - Denver, DAM, and Celestial Seasonings

Week 1 of Oliver and the Gnome Adventure Show (thanks Sami!) is drawing to a close, and what fun it's been! Still here in lovely Littleton, pestering a very patient host with my late night arrivals, and enjoying my time with two of the most adorable puppies around. So what have I been up to for the past few days?

On Friday night I met up with my most handsome "fiance" Rocky, who generously treated me to a night on the town and indulged me in hours of conversation catching up on all kinds of life stories since we last saw each other in December. We met on the 16th Street Mall, which happens to be where we first met each other...5? 6? years ago when he first visited Denver. We made a stop at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory for a dark chocolate and sea salt covered jalapeno (it was delicious!), then headed over to Maggiano's for dinner before driving uptown to go dancing and meet up with some of his friends - we had so much fun that we even went back the next night ;)

Saturday I spent the morning at the Denver Art Museum because it was free admission day, where I met up with an MHC buddy, Mary, and her mom. We happily wandered around and chatted about Peace Corps (she was in Malawi) and life in Denver for a few hours, enjoying the sounds of the drumming and dancing from the Native American festival that was going on outside in front of the main library.

After Caitlin finished her shift at work, we went up to Boulder to the Celestial Seasoning's tea factory (on Sleepytime Drive) to go on the free tour! (and spend some time in their not-so-free gift shop, of course). We weren't allowed to take photos in the factory, but we did enjoy seeing all the stacks of herbs and tea, and the eye-tingling experience of the Mint Room is one you really should come see in person. We left with several boxes of tea and even some tea-flavored chocolate.

No photos from today, but T and I went to the Castle Rock art show and wandered around happily for several hours before grabbing lunch and now I've spent the afternoon chatting with friends and eating western-slope Colorado peaches :)

 You know you're in Denver when...

 The art museum, looking towards the library

Rocky and Gnome and the HUGE creme brulee

 Yum!

 Inside the art museum atrium

 You could even contribute to the ongoing fabric exhibit by crocheting part of a coral reef

 Ink and silk thread bubbles

 This is made of knit mylar, how cool is that?

 Up close bubbles

 The African art was all of a single room, and admittedly after being at the Festima mask festival in Dedougou, the masks they had in the museum seemed very tame

 The Japanese armor had a mustache!

 Caitlin and Gnome with the Sleepytime Bear :)

Hairnets for the factory tour