Rachel's First Outting

On this past Saturday morning as the temperature here in Denver was climbing steadily toward the hundred degree mark, we decided that it would be a good idea to take our daughter Rachel on her first outting to the mountains. After all, she was 10 days old already and hadn't even been outside the Denver city limits yet. Bree's mom was in town also and we thought it might be nice for her to get out into the high country while she was here in Colorado, see some scenery, and get out of the heat for a while.

Rachel performed admirably as I hoped that she would. Her older brother Owen, had always seemed to like riding in the car for whatever reason, which made it much easier for us to take him places. However, I have heard that this is not the case with all babies, so I was admittedly relieved.

So it was a day of first for our new daughter, for not only did she make her first trip to the mountains, but she also paid a visit to her first brew pub when we were in Nederland. Some people may not consider that to be such a momentous occasion, but considering my Milwaukee/German/beer guzzling heritage, I can't pass up taking special note. While there wasn't much beer guzzling happening on this particular occassion the Rueben was passable and they served an interesting 3 bean baked bean dish as a side.

After lunch we spent some time going through some of the little shops in town and had a cup of coffee outside by a train car turned coffeeshop. Instead of coffee, Rachel opted for some fresh milk. We took the long way back to Denver and went through Gold Hill. Gold Hill is a wonderful little town tucked away in a valley on a dirt road several miles west of Boulder. There is one tiny, rustic general store, and the old restaurant was recently reopened, but other than that there are not really any specific attractions. What is cool about the town, though, is that it is made up mostly of the original old log cabins from the mining days which are now long-past. The population seems to be a mix of hippie artist, escape the city types along with a fair number of curmudgenly long time residents. It is my understanding that the one room school house in Gold Hill is the last functioning one room school house in the state of Colorado. Rachel appeared impressed. Like her father, she already seems to have a melancholic affection for a past she never knew.