The Flemings Go to Denver- The Novel

Hello! Welcome to another fabulous update brought to you by your lovely website hosts (that's us! The Flemings!) 

Time to tell you about our weekend trip to Denver, are you ready? 

Do you have your popcorn popped?

Your seat reclined?

Yes! Then, "beam me up Scotty!" 

Wait, wrong idiom. 

Ready? "Let's get this show on the road!"

Starting on Saturday morning, Nina & Brian (again with this weird third person narration, but you readers are used to that by now, aren't you? You're also used to our stalling, rabbling self-reflections. We appreciate your patience with both of these things) went to Starbucks.

Are you surprised?

Then we hit the road! 

Hey, guess which towns we passed on the way to Denver?

We'll give you a hint...

Sorry, that's more of an answer than a hint. The cool part was that after passing Fleming, the next town was...Proctor! No joke (sorry Proctors that we didn't take a picture of your sign, so we did a bit of research and found a nice picture of your town)

Cool town you've got there, Proctor family!

Unfortunately, after our family reunion in Colorado, we hit some pretty bad weather.

Do you remember that "death cloud" from our travels to Nebraska?

Yea, that cloud is like a cuddly little pillow compared to the storm we drove through on Saturday. More than once, Brian & Nina considered pulling off the side of the road. The rain was coming down so hard and so fast, that Brian could barely keep control of their little blue Kia. 

(this picture doesn't do the pounding, blinding rain justice...)

If that wasn't enough, the rain turned to snow, sticking to the Kia's windshield and freezing the road beneath the Kia's cold tires as we entered Denver.

Brrrrrr...

Did you pack the snorkel?

Is that ice on the road? No, it's probably just shiny water. Yea, shiny water, that's all.

Needless to say (but I'm going to say it anyway), we were more than relieved to reach the Warwick hotel. Definitely a sight for sore eyes (or in our case, wet, freezing eyes).

Ready to see our hotel room? Forewarning- We are not rich snobs. Upon arriving to the hotel, the welcome desk attendent informed us that our package had been upgraded for free. So, when you see our "Mile High Suite", just know, we were supposed to get the Junior (little) Suite.

Welcome to our (not so) humble abode:

Knock, knock...

"Hello, let me show you our crib"

This is our hallway, with hard wood floors and a Disneyland fun house looking mirror...

The view from our balcony...

 Our snack corner,

 Boo! Oh, wait, those are just our robes, phew!

 Our study area...

 separate living room...

 detached bedroom...

 Let's just pause to remind you again, we didn't sign up for this crazy apartment suite, that's why we don't mind pretending to be hoity-toity.

Oh yes, that is a telephone in the bathroom. Room service, anyone?

What do Brian & Nina look like when they get pampered above and beyond what they paid for?

This is what we look like =]

Soon after we arrived, our wine and cheese appeared. We were definitely out of our element here!  We had to ask room service to come up to open our wine bottle for us!

(Because apparently you don't open a wine bottle like this...)

(or like this...)

(though that face Nina is making is pretty cute...)

After relaxing and watching a few episodes of Netflix, we decided to go to dinner. But not just any dinner, a fancy, have-to-get-dressed-up for dinner.

(awww...)

But before dinner, we decided to take a leisurely stroll around the 16th Street Mall in Denver, which is actually a mile long strip of road with shops, restaurants, and trolleys.

We got a lot of funny looks as we walked in the "mall" though.  You see, it was about 45 degrees outside.  Apparently, to the native Denverians (Denverites?), that was a pleasant temperature.  Yea, not so pleasant for us.  So we were bundled up in our heavy winter Cabela's jackets, complete with beanies and winter gloves.

(as modeled here minus the onlookers in the background)

Once we couldn't feel our feet or our ears anymore, we decided to go to dinner.  Our dinner was at Randolph's  undoubtably the most fancy restaurant we had ever been inside of, let alone eaten at. As we starred at our menus in confusion,

we couldn't help but think of those "What in this picture doesn't belong?" puzzles. (We would be the thing in the picture that you would circle).

After our one-of-a-kind dinner experience (which left us very full, but still slightly puzzled), we were greeted by a box of chocolates upon arriving back at our hotel room.

(completed with its own instruction manual on the different types and shapes of chocolates)

After eating our chocolates, we crashed and slept very soundly (or soundlessly) through the night.

Sunday morning, we awoke, feeling rejuvenated and refreshed.  Maybe it was the cool Denver morning air, or maybe it knowing that we were waking up in a hotel room as large as our apartment, either way, we woke up happy.

With this happiness, we decided to go make a trip to North Glenn, where Nina's grandparents grew up. Apparently, North Glenn has changed a lot in recent years, but the street that Nina's grandma lived on is still there:

(Grandma, hope this brings back pleasant memories for you!)

After North Glenn, we stopped at a Cracker Barrel (amazing!), a Michael's (fantastic!), and a Super Target (wonderful!). 

It was nice to be part of a consumer culture again, if only for a few hours.

Then it was time to go home.  We were ready.

And while the drive home wasn't as stormy,

it was still as long.

(yes, that does read 209 miles).

We are home now. Happy. Satisfied. Exhausted.

Thank you for checking in with us...

Until next time...