Colorado Cousins

'O'er the land of the free...'

On the road this morning I looked out the car window to see a big ole' baldie eagle soaring overhead. Seemed kind of magical, mystical, photo op-ish. William and I took as many photos of the grand old bird as possible, until it floated off into the wild blue you-know-what.

We were  bee-lining to the home of our cousins David and Tom. I'd met the pair last September in Sacramento but it was 'first contact' for William and the guys. Soon we were on their doorstep, knocking on the door and shouting, "Cousins Calling"!

The cute neighborhood - looking out from the porch of David & Tom's house

Post meal discussions

It  was wonderful visiting with David and his hubby Tom. Bonus, we met two more cousins - seen below are David's daughter Adele and her son Bret. Adele is my cousin 3 times removed (i.e., my third cousin) and Bret is my cousin, four times removed (i.e., my 4rd cousin). 

Bret and his Mom Adele

Interesting fact: David's the middle name of  David's Aunt Anne was Adele. She was given that name by her father, Cuthbert. Cuthbert gave his daughter the name Adele as a nod to his sister Adele (my grandmother). So when David named his own daughter Adele, he didn't know that he was passing on the name of his Aunt Adele to his daughter. When my family found out there was a namesake for Adele (two Adeles really...) they were absolutely thrilled. 

Adele is a good story teller although William was conking out after a long day's drive

The following morning, David & Tom were off at work, and William, Adele, Bret & I enjoyed a chatty breakfast. Adele told me about the Brit 'Triffle' she's making for the family Thanksgiving dinner. Later that morning, William and I took a little tour around the city of Denver.

Gold Dome of the Denver State Capital

Janus Statue

 

We had our only vegan meal at an interesting restaurant. Side note: we had at one time swore we'd be vegan for the entire cross country trip. What the hell were we thinking?

After breakfast we decided to visit one of those new fangled Cannibis dispensaries we have heard about. It was sooo very cool in a totally 1960s manner. Below is the main room of the dispensary. 

You can see a hip woman in the distant mirror

a few of the fifty b'jillion products offered for sale

I couldn't make heads nor tails of the signage, though I'm sure it was helpful

Yes, those are bath fizzies with pot in them. You can soak yourself spaced. 

I don't like pot much, as I'm lucky enough to need no additional medical help and I despise feeling spacy or buzzy.  And anyway my one vice is food, particularly anything laced with sugar which, ironically, is at least as addictive as cocaine, so I'd be healthier if I gave up sugar for pot (not happening in this lifetime). So, the only thing I bought was a bottle of skin lotion that contained cannabinoids (I probably got that last word all wrong but there you go). I am interested in seeing if the lotion will do anything to help me with my right ankle which my regularly misbehaving body part.

We had a fun visit with our Denver cousins, and we are going to next hit Estes Park so we can see the splendors of Rocky Mountain National Park in winter (whoo hooooo!).