Saturday, April 4 — a whole day in Denver! And then ... Villa Tatra

What a day! The sun was shining when we woke up, and the sky remained gloriously blue all day.

Looking out over the balcony of our hotel room.

We decided to take the train downtown. We drove to a "park and ride" where, in spite of the internet's assurance that the parking would be free, we paid $4.00.

Then we bought our train tickets, $8 each for the round trip.  The amount of $24 for the three of us turned out to be way more than it would have cost to park the car downtown, but it was absolutely worth it! 

We loved the train!

At Union Station, the end of the line, we got on a FREE bus that runs down the 16th Street Mall. We took this to California Street, where we got on another light rail train. Here's where we waited for that second train:

Our destination was the Black American West Museum, a fascinating place located within the former home of Dr. Justina Ford, M.D., the first African American woman doctor in Colorado.  Dr. Ford delivered over 7.000 babies in a period of about 50 years in Denver.

Dr. Ford's house, abandoned for many years after she died, was scheduled for demolition, but the neighbors rallied and succeeded in getting the city to move the house to its present location. 

Inside, we learned about the little known history of the Black Americans in Colorado.

Then we got back on the train to head downtown. We loved that several people put their bicycles on the train. 

You wouldn't know it from this photo, but we were actually having a great time.

Back downtown, we strolled through the Civic Center Park to get to the Denver Art Museum. The park has the state capitol building on one side and the city hall on the other. And, best of all, the park is full of captivating squirrels. The squirrels refused to pose nicely for a photo.

Look up!

These flowers are pretty but they have no scent.

Finally, we got to the Denver Art Museum, the newest part of which was designed by Daniel Libeskind.

You can see the poster announcing an exhibit of the art of Joan Miro.

The red steel sculpture is the work of Mark di Suvero, an American born in China. The sculpture is entitled, Lao Tzu.

Inside the museum, we saw Western American art and also art of Native Americans. I was particularly impressed with the exhibit of William Matthews' watercolors, "Trespassing." 

La chance! une exposition temporaire de Miro, tableaux et sculptures qui se répondaient, on a été éblouies.  

We were tired out after all this walking. OK, one of us was tired out; Marie Therese and Anne Marie never get tired. So we took a taxi to Larimer Square and walked around this old section to admire the architecture.

And then we hopped back on the FREE Mall Ride. Amazing to have this free service, such a great idea.

One more ride on the light rail train and we were back at our car. 

An hour and a half later, after driving through Boulder and Lyons, we arrived at Villa Tatra, up in the mountains near Estes Park.

Inside, we spoke Polish with the proprietor and his adult children who now run the place.

We drank Polish beer.  And we ate the most marvelous smoked fish — salmon and trout — and homemade sausage and even smoked elk. We also enjoyed a huge plate of pierogi — dumplings filled with potato and cheese, and even cabbage dumplings which we requested even though they were not on the menu. 

La Pologne autour de nous et voila que je me retrouve a discuter presque sans difficulté dans ma langue maternelle!

I was too hungry to take a photo of the food. The presentation was very nice.

It was dark when we drove back to Denver along the winding mountain roads. The full moon peeked out at us from time to time between the curves of the mountain. And then, as the road leveled out, the moon was our steady companion, shining over our left shoulders. Marie and I sang a few songs in Polish. And then Marie Therese and Anne Marie sang French songs in lovely harmony, and I couldn't imagine being any happier.  

Tomorrow, we pack our suitcases back into the car and drive across the Rocky Mountains!

Friday, April 3 — from Nebraska to a Seder in Denver

We began our day's journey on the plains of western Nebraska, where the fields were flat and mostly brown.

By the time we entered the state of Colorado, the fields were dusted with snow! We have traveled from winter into spring and back into winter again!

We found a rest area with a picnic table in the sunshine. 

Thank you, Sara, for the water bottle! With yours, we have three of them with us on our trip. So necessary!

We had bagel sandwiches with cheese and lettuce, and hard boiled eggs from last night's motel. It was an excellent lunch.  But our fingers were cold!

The volunteers at the rest areas are super friendly. We have enjoyed many conversations with these senior citizens!

Now we are in Denver, one mile high! (1,609.344 mètres)

We found a flowering tree outside our hotel! We are in spring again! But last night they had snow here!

In the evening, we were invited to a Passover Seder at the home of my friend, Patricia Gaffney Kindig.  Here are some of the traditional dishes on the table. 

Note the name tag! Marie Therese and Anne Marie also had name tags at their places!

There were nine people at the table, including Patricia's brother from Madison, Wisconsin, and her daughter from New York City.

It was a privilege to share this meaningful feast with this family and their friends. Thank you!

Thursday, April 2 — Iowa to Nebraska

Iowa City! We spent Wednesday night at the lovely home of Mark and Beth Smith. 

After dinner at the Blue Bird Cafe, Marie Therese and Anne Marie took a walk downtown and looked at the Iowa River.

In the morning we enjoyed Beth's homemade granola. 

Then we piled into our car and hit the road.  We drove West along Highway 80 all day.

We stopped for lunch at a rest area near Waco, Iowa. 

This area of Iowa is very proud of its windmills! I love windmills so I went off onto a small country road to get a closer look.  But you'll have to look hard to find the windmills in this photo!

Marie took the wheel and did a fine job of driving for more than two hours. I took a little nap.

As we entered Nebraska, we saw our first tree with green leaves! It must be Spring! And we began to notice that the grass is green!

When I chose Kearney, Nebraska, for our destination, I didn't know about the cranes! Every year, thousands of Sandhill Cranes come in to the Kearney area to feed in the fields. After sunset, they all fly in to roost on a little island in the middle of the Platte River

To see these cranes flying, take a look at this:

https://youtu.be/ZljhM2Uvuqo

April First!

We said goodbye to Madison on Wednesday morning. Now our big adventure begins!

What a beautiful day! We've had a blue sky and warm breezes all day long. Wonderful.

Our destination today was Iowa City, with stops on the way in Dodgeville, Wisconsin, and in Dubuque, Iowa.

Our first stop was Governor Dodge State Park. We went straight to Stephens Falls, and the remains of the Stephens family farm. 

Marie Therese and Anne Marie climbed down the steps to the base of the waterfall.

After more walks in the park, we went into town to the Quality Bakery, where we purchased hot pasties to go. 

We managed to avoid getting any of their sweets.

The bakery's front window is filled with Easter treats.

Et a tous Joyeuses Paques ! Pendant ce temps nous traverserons le Mississipi en route vers le grand Ouest!

We took our pasties to the county courthouse where we found a few picnic tables outside in the sunshine. Perfect!

A pasty is something like an empanada — pastry dough wrapped around meat and potatoes. They taste good but they are very greasy! Pasties are a traditional food in this part of Wisconsin. Miners and stonecutters from Cornwall, England, came to southwestern Wisconsin in the 1830s. The men took their lunch to work in this way, so they wouldn't need a bowl or a spoon to eat their meal.

We drove on to Mineral Point, a town on the way to Dubuque. Here we saw examples of the kinds of houses built in the mid-19th century by the stonecutters from England.

For more information about the history of Mineral Point, you can look here:  http://mineralpoint.com/history

Less than an hour later, we crossed the Mississippi River and found ourselves in Dubuque, Iowa. We stopped at the home of Paul Schultz and Mary Sack, my very good friends, and had a delightful time talking with them!

We continued driving for another hour and a half until we reached Iowa City. You'll just have to wait until tomorrow for Iowa City photos!

Tuesday, March 31, in Madison

Today we stayed in Madison. After another breakfast of oatmeal and coffee, we drove through the low-income neighborhood of Vera Court and then immediately drove past the dwellings of Madison's One Percent in the adjacent neighborhood of Maple Bluff.  We saw million-dollar houses and also the mansion of the governor of Wisconsin.

I had a little bit of volunteer work to do at the warehouse for the Wisconsin Medical Project. We send donated medical supplies and equipment to Cuba and to places in Africa including Kenya, Senegal, Guinea, and Cameroon.  Here are some of the boxes ready to go to Cuba:

While I was doing my work, Marie Therese and Anne Marie waited for me in the nearby public library. Alas, the library had nothing written in French, not even Le Monde.

From here, we went downtown.

Our first stop was the State of Wisconsin Historical Society. I forgot to take a photo here, sorry. We went to the 2nd floor to see the exhibit about Native Americans in Wisconsin.

Then we went to see the Capitol Building. (Madison is the capital city of the State of Wisconsin.)

In front of the capitol, the Solidarity Singers were singing songs of protest.

We joined them for a short time.  You can listen here: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9Grfb4JjKQ&feature=youtu.be

 Inside the capitol, we all took many photos.

This is the inside of the dome.

Here we are inside the chambers of the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

This is the ceiling of the Wisconsin Senate chamber.

Anne Marie is trying to turn off the flash on her camera. No luck!

For lunch, we went to Himal Chuli, a Nepali restaurant.  We had cups of dal and momos and we each had a mango lassi. Very sorry — no photos. We were too busy eating.

After lunch we went to the Chazen Art Museum at the University of Wisconsin.  Marie said the art was very good.  Trop peu de temps pour admirer des oeuvres  aussi riches:Calder Picasso Moore,Miro,Duffy... nos mirettes etaient excitees.

While Marie Therese and Anne Marie looked at the art, I sat on a bench and fell asleep. Pretty soon I heard the voices of two angels singing a lullaby in French. When I opened my eyes, Marie Therese and Anne Marie were singing and smiling and looking at me. They were singing Meunier tu dors.

Next, since we were already at the university, we walked to Memorial Union, a building on the shore of Lake Mendota. We bought ice cream cones and ate them outside. The ice cream is made here at the university.

Next, we drove to my old neighborhood near Lake Monona. (Madison has three lakes!) 

We looked at my old house, and then walked to the lake to look at effigy mounds, built by Native Americans from 500 to 1000 years ago.

In the photo above, you can see that part of the lake is still frozen!

Then we went to the Willy Street Co-op to buy food for supper.

My friend, Becky, is a cashier at the co-op.

On our way back to my house, we stopped to see more art by Doctor Evermor:

And then we went home and cooked supper and talked until after 10:00 at night!