21 Feb 2006 Tuesday

Helen had to go to work, she’s a teacher.  Dan said it was 6 degrees this morning.   He is currently working construction on a neighbor’s house addition and we went over to check out the construction.  By 9am it had warmed up to about 20 degrees.  It was much colder than it was in Edwards and the wind made it feel much colder.  We had to let Dan get to work and we headed out to Denver.  We gave Don a call and made arrangements with meet up with him.  We met Don at Colbert’s place in Valdosta in January and he had sent an email that he was visiting his parents outside Denver (Littleton, CO).  On our way there, we passed a sign that said “Brewery Tours” and we had to check it out.  Even though it’s only 10 am.  We didn’t realize at first we were heading for Coors Brewery in Golden, Co.  This place is the largest, single location brewery in the world.  This place brews Coors, Killians, Keystone, Zima and many more brands.  They not only brew here, but they also make their own glass bottles and aluminum cans at this location.  We sampled several flavors of  beer and Zima.  (Burp)  We had a quick lunch of cold pizza in the parking lot and continued on. 

We were late getting over to Don’s parent’s house in Littleton.  Really nice folks, we chatted for a few minutes.  Don took us out for a hike in Roxborough State Park, not far away.  The park was closing at 5pm and it was already 4, so we parked outside the gate and just walked in.  We tried to climb up a “hogback ridge” but the thick brush, steep terrain and snow on the ground made it too rough for me.  We came down and walked along the road.  A park ranger stopped us and told us that the park was closing and we had to leave.  So we said goodbye to Don and looked for a place to camp for the night.  We drove south to Pike National Forest and parked at a trailhead.  It was very cold, about 25 degrees, and lots of snow on the ground.  We made a light dinner of soup and jumped in the back of the truck.  Our sleeping bags were warm enough, once we got in them at about 6pm…. and at 19 degrees.