Thank you Dr. Elbert Dysart Botts

A friend of mine was talking about In and Out Burger on Facebook today, and it made me start thinking about some of the other things I really appreciate about California and miss out here. Of course there are the big things, like family, the beach and great weather. And the not so big things like clover milk bilboards (a post for another time), fresh fruits and veggies and recycling.

Something that I took completly for granted while I live in California were the Botts dots. What are they you ask? They are the best part of driving. Besides the fact that the roads are well lit, lines painted and drivers know how to merge, use blinkers and parallel park; but you also know when you are moving from one lane tot he next.

(the blue dots mark fire hydrants in residential areas and on freeways where cops can pass between the two different directions of traffic)

I understand the blatant fact that they could not be used in parts of the country that enjoy the company of snow in the winter, but I sure do miss them. I never noticed them much when I had them, but man do I miss them. So, read up and feel special if you do enjoy these wonderful little dots on the road.

Calling all toy owners

Okay, here's the deal. Intermountain Healing Hearts is donating a tree to the festival of trees this year. The theme is "If I only had a heart" - aka The Wizard of Oz. We are looking for help with these:

McDonald's Madame Alexander Wizard of Oz Dolls. If you have any laying around your house that your kids no longer want of play with, can we please have them? We are planning on wiring them to the tree and using them as ornaments. We well accept any and all that you have. Pretty much any condition too. We don't mind cleaning and sprucing and brushing our selves. We just need a lot - enough to cover a tree.

If you have some (or any other Wizard of Oz merchandise) that you can donate, please contact me (melissa at intermountainhealinghearts dot org) and I can either give you my address or we can arrange a pick up. Thanks so much for your help in advance. Oh, and I forgot to mention that I need them by thanksgiving.

Here are some pictures of Vi on Crazy hair day.

The trip

Estes Park

We drove. A lot. Through Wyoming. Not much to look at. It was straight roads and good weather. We checked into our new home. There were 3 rooms and 2 baths. Kitchen, living room and a fire place. It was great. Staff was helpful. It took us a couple days to figure out our way around town. We stayed in Estes Park. There was a big fire downtown the day we arrived, so we were further confused by the detours and roadblocks. We did have to stop and ask for directions a couple of times. Once we talked to the nice police officer and Mary promised to bring him donughts, which she did not do - therefore she steered clear of law officials after that.

Lets see, the first night we went to dinner at a BBQ place. It was yummy. Then it was off to Safeways (everyone was flabbergasted when I pulled out my Safeway card). We have the chain in California where I grew up. My card saved a total of like $15 for everyone. GO me! Then we drove around town a bit. A couple of the group went to the pool and hot tub. We watched New in Town. We stopped by the Stanley Hotel and made reservations for the ghost tour the next day. That was about it. During the night we discovered that we indeed had some snorers with us.

(Liz, Melissa & Heidi)

(Me)
(Stanley Hotel)
(Heidi, Mary, Karissa & Liz)

Thursday was the "big" day. We started off by heading to the Stanley Hotel. If you know nothing about it, you should check it out. We enjoyed a ghost tour, complete with lots of stories and local history. Lots of amazing things have gone on in that place. And the ghost stories helped us get in the mood for Halloween. They actually weren't scary. But the hotel was so beautiful and simply amazing!

(Karissa)

(Liz & Me)

I don't think that I've mentioned who all went. Myself, Liz Lowder, her sister Heidi, Mary Hansen & Karissa Ewell. We took Mary's miraculous car which got 30 mile/gal.

Then we ate and got all gussied up for Wicked. We drove to Denver - about 90 minutes from our room and checked out the Tattered Cover. It was the largest book store I have ever been in. Needless to say I spent too much money, but books are hard to resist. Then we went to dinner at a a fun little Italian place. Then we went to Wicked!

It was such a fun show. If you've ever thought about reading the book, don't. It's horrid and gross. The play is sooooooo much better. I love all the tie in's that they made to the Wizard of Oz. It's funny that the tree for the Festival of Trees has a Wizard of Oz theme. The performers we had were simply amazing! Lots of talent. We were far enough back that we had a good veiw of the entire stage. I wasn't bored at all, but I wasn't expecting to be. I would go see it again in a heartbeat.

We were all still pretty excited when we returned home. It took us a while to finally go to bed. Friday we spend the morning/afternoon hiking around the larges National Park in the Country.

(Rocky Mountain National Park)

We went to Rocky Mountain National Park. It was gorgeous. So vast and open. I think that you could spend a year there and still be finding new things to do. We hiked a couple of trails, a b beautiful water fall and a lake. We drove up Trail ridgeroad as far as we could. What a site!

(Mary, Liz, Heidi & Karissa)

There was snow on the ground and it was chilly, but not uncomfortable. There were lots of people there and we made some friends. There was one chipmunk in particular that followed us around forever.

(Heidi & Liz)

(Liz & Mary)

(Karissa, Liz & Mary)

(All of us!)

(Me with beautiful Colorado behind me)

Of course we stopped by the gift shop and browsed and learned more about the park. I got some really nice pictures. We were hoping to have more time in Colorado so we could head down to Pikes Peak and Colorado Springs, but in the end there simply wasn't time. We ate that night at Mary's Tavern. It was a bit pricey but the pumpkin soup was delicious! We saw a couple huge, I mean HUGE Elk, moose, something. They were ginormous and in people's front yards in the mornings.

(Denver Colorado Temple)

Then we shopped around down town and watched another movie. That night I did go to the pool - it was cold afterwards. Saturday we shopped some more around town and drove to Denver/Littleton to the Temple. We didn't have time for a session, so we did initiatory's. It was my first time at that temple. From there we changed our clothes, had our "last meal" at Applebee's and headed home via I 70. It was a windyer road. Several of us battle motion sickness on the trip. On the drive home we also dealt with some rain, wind, slush and attitudes. We also almost hit a cow and a couple of construction barrels once we got into Utah.

It was a fun trip. Great to get away and see some of our beautiful country. I had a real good time. Darin was able to take time off work and stay home with the kids, so ina sense he had a vacation too. He was abloe to spend a lot of time with the kids and play.

So, Colorado is beautiful. Wicked, fabulous!!