2 posts tagged “vacation”
Stones: The gorgeous gems at the HMNS Cullen Hall and new Smith Vault. You have to be really patient to go here with me, or my mom, or my mom-in-law.... All three of us together, and well, it's A Big Event. Just look at the goodness!!!
We also visited the Battleship Texas. I'd never been on it before, and it turns out there is a LOT to see! We got caught in a little rainstorm, but it didn't slow us down much.
[Part 2. See Part 1 here. More to come. All the pix here.]
Saturday morning we at at Ellyngton's. I had smoked trout. For breakfast. With eggs and hash browns. And the single most decadent mimosa I have ever sipped. It was one of the best breakfasts ever. The MO ordered a side of corned beef hash, which just turns my stomach when it comes out of the can, but apparently that's not REAL corned beef hash. This stuff was shredded corned beef (which I actually like) fluffed in with some hash browns and onions. It was actually good. Decidedly not stomach-turning.
We headed out to the History Museum, glad to see that the sun was trying to return. The Texas State History Museum is very impressive, but the Colorado History Museum is AT LEAST as well put together. I may even give Colorado the edge here. The special exhibit (Ben Nighthorse) was beautifully done. The pieces were well-chosen, and the commentary was interesting and informative. The only quibble I have is that I think they should have installed mirrors in some of the cases so that we could see the beautiful inlay on the insides/backsides of the jewelry. With a few contortions, I could see some of it, but something that important should have been played up.
The permanent exhibit areas are simply spectacular. I am extremely disappointed that there was not a Baby Doe Tabor history book in the museum shop, but there wasn't one in the Colorado section of the local Barnes & Noble either, so it looks like a trip to out-of-print books to satisfy my curiosity there.
They have a huge 1930s-era diorama of the original Denver settlement, an intriguing display of children's clothing, toys, and photos from the early settlers' days, a really gorgeous timeline, a big collection of mining equipment, a superb WWII (10th Mountain Division) display, a really cool maze-like American Indian history section, and a whole room full of early Denver papers and posters that I didn't even get to really see.
All of the displays are beautiful, legible, and interesting, but one of the neatest ideas is that their storage area is practically a display in itself! A large grid/panel system hangs behind a floor-to-ceiling window, and various objects, loosely grouped, are displayed on shelves on these racks. Behind all this, you see the aisles of the holdings. It's such a cool idea--they don't have to put a lot of effort into it (the objects aren't even labeled) but they get to show off a bunch of cool miscellaneous stuff! And seeing the storage area is like sneaking a peek into that secret warehouse at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark ;-)
After lunch, we headed back to Colorado Springs. This time, the sun was out (more or less) and, wow! There really are mountains! And that hill we saw yesterday was no mountain!
We checked into The Cliff House in Manitou Springs and then went to Walter's for dinner, on the recommendation of Stephen Green (VodkaPundit). My recommendation to you? If you're in Colorado Springs, ask VodkaPundit where to eat. The man knows good food. We ended up taking some of a bottle of wine back to the hotel, and it turns out that tne of the console cup holders in a 2006 Chevy Trailblazer is the perfect size for a bottle of wine. Honest, Occifer!
The Cliff House was delightful. Our room had every chill-fighting amenity you could possibly think of. And if you're a Southerner like me, some you never EVER thought of....
