It Took Me Five Days to Turn 47

Even while we were celebrating his in September, Dwayne was already planning my November birthday. Somehow, I had to figure out how and when to leave our world for 4-5 days, including the kids. I knew that whatever he was planning was going to be worth it, but that did nothing to mitigate the intense planning to leave my beloveds during a school week with all their schedules, work, and chores. And that’s to say nothing about the cats, one who has recently doubled down on his “behavior disorder” by peeing all over the house, which began … wait for it … when we were gone for a weekend.

But, again, Dwayne doesn’t bluff about his surprises. I wrote up 15 pages of sub plans for the entire team, and followed him out to the car on my birthday morning, after making sure kids all got to the bus on time.

It wasn’t until the pilot came on the intercom that I found out we were flying into Salt Lake City.

It amused me to land in SLC and have my picture taken in front of a large liquor display. We didn’t spend long here before driving south, four hours to Moab, road tripping with a good audible book and lovely scenery.

When we got to Moab and checked into our hotel, we were directed to the lobby to check into….

….our Rocky Mountaineering scenic train ride to Denver! Finally, the surprise was revealed, and it unfolded with perfect timing over the next few days.

Moab is a charming, very walkable town that we could have spent more time exploring. We had dinner, bought me meds and a deck of cards, and dashed over to Arches National Park in the morning before catching the train Thursday afternoon.

Our lovely car–the tall windows were custom built for this company.

The train was refurbished specifically for going over the Rockies, with windows going up high. We had access to a lounge car, as well, and drinks were inclusive. Such beautiful scenery! I wanted to read my (new Sherry Thomas) novel, stare out the window, and chat with fellow travelers/non-abstainers simultaneously, which obviously, is not actually possible, and the only disappointing thing about this trip.

Thursday night put us in Glenwood Springs, CO, a charming town with world’s largest hot spring swimming pool, which was slightly chilly after first dipping into the 104 degree, ahem, health spa. Ooh, Mama like. We’d love to return someday to enjoy the gondola rides and other attractions with the kids.

The next morning, we had breakfast back on board the train before a full day of climbing up and through the Rockies. I had always wanted to visit Colorado, and this more than whetted my appetite! I finally got to see a herd of tall, skinny cows to satisfy my 2020 bucket list, and there were plenty of regal bald eagles. The sky was blue, blue, blue, and Dwayne’s wariness about November weather on a scenic trip waned.

Look! Tall, skinny cows! Finally.

Moab about 400 miles behind us, we stepped into Denver Friday evening. Dwayne had booked the hotel for two nights, so we could explore this new-to-us city all day Saturday. First, we found an open urgent care clinic, and finally got inhalers and antibiotics so I could fight my November-allergies-cum-bronchitis.

I woke up feeling great on Saturday, and we set off with money, water, our deck of cards, and fully juiced phones, ready for adventure! Denver is very walkable, and we meandered from Rally Hotel, to the capitol, on to the Unsinkable Molly Brown’s house and museum. That was quite a distance, so we downloaded the Lime app, and took scooters around for a look at the museum and capitol hill district. We walked further away from downtown to another park and finally got ourselves into Denver Botanical Gardens.

February is probably the only worse month to visit gardens than November, but we both still loved it. The “bones” (or hardscapes and design) of the gardens were attractive on their own. We were coming off a mid-60’s day with clear blue skies, and the Christmas lights were already adding to the festivities. I also downloaded the garden’s augmented reality app, so we had some extra visual interest. Some year, I I would love to visit in December to see the Christkindlmarkt in action and revisit the Botanical Gardens bedecked and bedazzled.

By the time the gardens closed, it was dark and Dwayne and I went scooter hunting, happy to find an alternative to walking another 5 miles back the Brazilian restaurant we had our eye on. But later even stuffed cheesebreads and fried bananas, we felt pretty good about the ten miles we logged on foot that day. As Dwayne said, I’m not sure we could have done a Dwayne and Denise Day in Denver any better, even with a real plan!