Last Day in Denver

I’m not going to lie to you - a big part of me was hoping to spend our last day in Denver snuggled up in the hotel room, reading, writing, organizing the photos on my computer… but Sarah convinced me we that we needed to get out. She spent a nice hour or so napping and then wiggling around on a blanket with her toys (not quite rolling over yet, but she can get to her side and then pinwheel around), but then she was done. So I searched the map for a destination or two within walking distance, strapped her to my chest in the soft carrier, and shrugged into a backpack filled with diapers and other provisions before we headed out the door.

The walk was a bit longer than I’d hoped, but it wasn’t too bad; the air was nice and crisp, and Sarah loves nothing better than being in that front carrier… We arrived at the Molly Brown House just in time for a tour of the famed Coloradan who survived the sinking of the Titanic (you probably know her as Unsinkable). The tour guide was a phenomenal speaker and just nearly convinced me to fork over 18 bucks at the gift shop for a Molly Brown biography, she made the woman sound so intriguing. (Did you know she ran for the Senate three times before women even had the right to vote??)

After the Brown House, it was high time for lunch, so I found an edgy-looking sub shop (reminded me of my dearly beloved Thundercloud Subs in Austin) where I could sit in a booth with Sarah napping on the seat beside me. Not bad, if I do say so myself.

Then we hit one more sight before heading back to the hotel - the Kirkland Museum, which houses the continent’s largest collection of decorative arts on view (spanning the years 1880 to 1980). Before you start moaning and groaning in expectation of another discourse on art, I’ll just tell you it was a really fun museum - more akin to an antique mall or flea market, both in the quantity and type of objects on display - and I enjoyed visiting with the animated docent giving our tour as well as the kind curator, Hugh Grant, who explained that he always disappoints flight attendants when they see he isn't the Hugh Grant - and who later hunted me down to return the burp cloth we’d dropped in one of the rooms.

(Moaners and groaners, feel free to scroll past the next few pictures.)

These are works by Vance Kirkland himself:

The dress on the left was inspired by
the Kirkland painting above it.

In addition to Kirkland's stuff, there was all manner of other objects and furniture - including Eames and Frank Lloyd Wright and a billion others. Like I said, it was just one step away from an antique mall... but with really cool furniture...

And paintings everywhere - including all the walls in both stairwells. 

The museum has 3,300 items on display. Not bad for a building roughly the size of a large, two-story home...

Later that evening, as you may already know, we visited the Tattered Cover Bookstore. It really was fun, after all, and I guess I'm over hating bookstores now.... especially when I get to visit them with this somewhat rude but also studly guy. (And the sleeping beauty.)

What's that? You want another picture of Sarah? Well, if you insist...