Texas (Michael's First Communion) - June 2015

Dodds Family

Our godson, Michael, was having his first communion so we went to Texas for the weekend to join in the festivities as well as to pay out our IOU birthday dinner for Keith's dad.  Shawna flew in from Florida on Thursday night (she was there for a conference) and worked from Keith's parent's house on Friday.  Keith flew in Friday early evening - we picked him up and went to dinner in Dallas at Casa Rubia which was very yummy.  We shared several small plates, including the cheese and charcuterie tasting plate, clams, pork ribs, maitake mushrooms, shrimp and lamb.

Jordan

On Saturday, we slept in and then Keith and his parents watched over 9K slides that Dick had scanned from their childhood.  It took them over 3 hours to watch them.  Shawna watched some of it but worked for most of it to catch up (she joked if working or watching slides was worse!).  We went to Orange Theory which is only a couple of miles from Keith's parent's house and then had some bread and cheese for lunch.

Josie

Owen

That evening, we stopped by Hibiscus to see Graham for a few minutes.  He gave us a wonderful birthday gift of cheese, honey, quince and wine which we took home with us.  After visiting with Graham, we celebrated a belated birthday dinner for Dick at Gemma which is owned by a couple who had owned Press in Napa (we had dined there when we were in Napa for Dick's 70th birthday) and which won best restaurant in Dallas.  The food was quite tasty.  We shared salmon tartare, oysters, mussels and goat ricotta for appetizers for the table and then Keith and Shawna shared the rabbit pappardelle for an entree.

Michael

On Sunday, we went to church to attend Michael's first communion and then joined everyone at Peter and Jen's house for lunch and a pool party.  Peter grilled various meats, shrimp and veggies which were all tasty.  Margaret brought the kids who had a blast climbing all over Keith in the pool.  Keith was quite exhausted so we took a brief nap back at Keith's parent's house  before we headed to the airport to fly home.

Shawna, Keith, Michael, Peter and Jen

Estes Park Birthday Weekend - June 2015

Stanley Hotel Estes Park

Rather than exchanging gifts for our birthdays we have a "rule" that we go away for a weekend to a place that is driving distance.  This year we decided to spend the weekend in Estes Park.

Keith had a meeting that lasted until 3pm so we did not get as early a jump on things as we had hoped.  It was also a bit of a dreary weekend and there was a huge hail storm the weekend before so we opted to skip the soft top and instead took the 4Runner.  There was a bit of traffic so the trip took an extra 30 minutes.  The last time we had been to the area was in 2000 when we were looking for wedding locations.  We had checked out the Stanley but had never stayed there.  Shawna had booked us in the more "modern" Lodge building at the Stanley - which was quite nice but not totally our style.  After relaxing a bit, we headed out to dinner at Twin Owls Steakhouse.  The decor was a game lodge motif, and the food quite good.  We started with the smoked salmon and trout as well as the cheese platter - which was well presented.  The main course was the lamb chops which we really liked.

Hike in Estes Park

We did not set the alarm clock for Saturday which was glorious.  We had a relaxing continental breakfast in the dining room of our building - the fresh fruit was excellent and the lemon curd went well with just about everything.  We then headed to Rocky Mountain National Park for a walk.  We left the car at the Bear Lake parking lot and did the hike to Nymph, Dream and Emerald Lakes.  The last leg had a lot of snow but the lakes were gorgeous - we relaxed at Emerald Lake a bit before heading back to beat the afternoon rain.

Hike in Estes Park

We grabbed lunch at deli near the movie theater - Shawna had a grilled cheese and Keith and burrito - both were sub-par.  We got out of there in time to see the 1:30pm movie Spy - it was pretty funny.  We then headed back to the hotel for a pre-dinner massage - Shawna's was excellent while Keith's was average - but an average massage is still fantastic!  We showered and then headed to dinner at Cascades - the main restaurant in the hotel. We had the charcuterie and cheese plate for an appetizer and the oxtail pappardelle for an entree which was delicious.  Following dinner, we joined the 9pm one hour Ghost Tour.  Keith thought this was a total loss and wanted to bail half way through, but Shawna wanted to persevere so we did.  Neither of us are convinced there are ghosts there!

Sunday was another relaxing morning in the room followed by breakfast - where we chatted with a fun couple from St Louis - we exchanged time share stories.  We decided to head home a bit early so we could get a nap and walk in before we needed to head out for the U2 concert at the Pepsi Center.  That show was fantastic - it was on our bucket list and definitely well worth it. 

Bono from U2