Birthday Trip to Golden

This year, to celebrate my mother's birthday, we decided to travel to Golden, Colorado to take in the holiday melodrama and musical review, From Rags to Riches, presented by The Heritage Square Players. This Victorian-style melodrama was written in 1908 by Charles Alonzo Taylor and adapted by T.J Mullin, with original music and lyrics by Johnson and Estey. And after two act play the actors come out for a Christmas Musical/Comedy Revue.


It was a fabulous show! We did not partake of the buffet dinner that is offered before the show. Instead we went for early supper at the Lonestar Steakhouse and had a great meal and a little b-day singalong with the staff.

Prior to our evening out we had driven to Golden by way of String. This hidden-away-in-a-shopping-center knitting store is small but stuffed floor to ceiling with an incredible array and selection of yarn and fiber. It has a lovely gather-to-knit table with stools, a back room with another table they must use for classes and filled with more yarn. It was fun to see another store and how they have it set up for knitters. On this Saturday morning it was already filled with knitters, men ,women and kids, sharing their ideas and projects and love for knitting. The other great thing was it is near Tattered Cover, my favorite book store. All my favorite vices in one stop.

Then we headed north and found where our hotel was located. Could not check in yet, so we decided that a visit to National Center for Atomospheric Research (NCAR) was in order. It sits on a hill against the backdrop of the Flatirons just south of Boulder. Below are my partners-in-crime for this trip and a close up of eagle carving they are standing next to. It was beautiful.




















It has two floors of displays about all things weather and climate, a couple videos to watch, a gift shop and my favorite thing, a tornado machine. It was really cool.




Behind the building is a weather trail that was getting good use on Saturday, more so than the inside sightseeing. And the view is fabulous, out across the plains with Boulder to the north (left) the plains of Denver to the east (center) and down the Flatirons to the Red Rocks of Morrison (right).

On the way back to the hotel in Lakewood I took the scenic route through downtown Golden, which looks like a great walking shopping experience, the Coors/Molson factory and to the Recycled Lamb yarn shop, another fun yarn stop. Again lots of yarn choices and a place to sit and knit. At least here I found a pair of #7, 10" needles to finish a scarf I have been working on with super long straights that was making me crazy.


The next morning we headed home by way of a stop at the Butterfly Pavillion. It is located in Westminster, just east of the fabulous and overly large, Flatiron Crossing mall. We had a great time seeing all the creeping critters (Mom hates spiders so she mostly stayed away from those terrariums)
















and then the flying ones. The butterly avairy was amazing. We even timed right (luck) and were there for the butterfly release and informational talk. It was very interesting.

I will finish here with butterfly pictures. Now that I have reviewed my photos I can tell you that b-flys are difficult to photog. Here are the best of the group. Enjoy these pics and your life!









































And I was not the only one fascinated by the fluttering bugs.