Denver rocks!

(no pics yet, but wanted to update on our adventure...will post soon). After finishing up a wonderful visit to my Nana's house in Topeka, we survived the drive through Kansas (the flatest state in the world...ever). Overall it really wasn't that bad of a drive... there is a slight bit of rolling hills in western Kansas and we had the ipod and laptop to keep us occupied. We got to Denver yesterday in the early evening and were greeted by a brief hail storm!... seriously there were gumball-sized hail pelting us as we made it into town. We were afraid our nice new car would be damaged and dented, but it survived unscathed. We got to my mom's cousin's house and hung out and had a great family cookout and caught up and chatted the evening away.... lots of fun.

This morning we got up and had a reallyl great unexpected adventure. My cousin Jennie is takingg flight lessons to become a pilot and she had a lesson scheduled this morning. So last night she asked if we'd be interested in flying along with her and the instructor over Denver... so of course we said yes! So Renee got to go up for about a half hour with her in the Cessna, and then they landed and we switched places and I got about a half hour trip as well. We flew out of the airport and flew past Red Rocks, and the Coors Brewery, and near downtown, and some other cool parts of the city... it was SUCH a great experience and we've got some great photos to be posted in the next day or two hopefully!

After that awesome trip, we headed to lunch just outside of downtown and met up with James and Greg (who many of you blog followers will kn0w). We had a good meal and got to catch up with them for a bit which was a good time. Then Jennie took us out to Red Rocks to see it in person, not just from the sky.... and man that place is a lot bigger than it seems from the air. What a great place and incredible venue for a concert... wish we could have seen one... but we justvisited for a bit and took some photos and climbed a few stairs.... man that altitude will get ya pretty quickly!

Then we came home and changed and rested for a few minutes and then Renee and I drove about 45 minutes north to meet up for dinner with our friends Lacey and Jason... oh and did I mention we encountered another hail storm!! Unseasonably crazy weather according to the native Colorado-ites. We got to see Lacey and Jason's beautiful house (luckyyyy) and catch up with them over drinks and dinner at a neat local restaurant called the Pumphouse that is built within the shell of an old firestation. We had the best time hearing about all the outdoor adventures and travelling etc. and sharing stories of our upcoming travels as well. It was great to see them and hopefully they'll be visiting us in the future!

Now it's getting late and we're getting up early for the 9 hour trek to Zion National Park... I have a feeling the drive and scenery will be a little more interesting than the Kansas trip.!