Exploding peanut butter (trip report, part 1)

I've broken the report of my recent trip to Denver and Estes Park into three parts because I will be posting the middle part in several other forums.

My flight to Denver was the morning of Monday, August 31. Since I have low blood sugar and try to eat healthy, I have been buying natural peanut butter, pouring off the oil that floats to the top, and adding some sweetener (corresponding to the sugar in the traditional peanut butter). This makes a good bedtime snack. Alas, the jars are glass. I prepared 3 jars and debated how to pack them. I ended up putting 2 in my checked bag and 1 in my carryon.

The TSA scanner in Detroit spotted the one in my carryon and confiscated it. More than 3 ounces of "liquid". Ah, yes, who knows what explosives I may have mixed into the peanut goo? Fortunately, the two other jars lasted the whole 10 days.

I stayed at the Hotel VQ which is beside Mile High Stadium and across I-25 from downtown Denver. It was inexpensive and adequate (not exactly a sterling recommendation) and provided a shuttle service to downtown attractions.

I had a late lunch in Denver's Larimer Square, where a lot of the old buildings have been preserved. I then explored the length of the 16th Street Mall (pedestrian zone), though only one of the shops really attracted my attention -- the Tattered Cover Bookstore (I like books). I walked over to Cherry Creek on the west side of Downtown and followed the pedestrian paths to the South Platte River and continued on a ways on its paths. Watching the boys and young men in the skateboard park was fun.

I spent most of Tuesday at the Denver Art Museum. The museum is housed in two striking buildings and features a large collection of Western American art. I took time in the middle of the day to take the Dome Tour of the State Capitol. The "tour" part isn't much, but the views from up there are great -- or would have been if the California fires hadn't contributed to the haze. Alas, this was the only hazy day.

After a rest and an evening meal (enjoying naked tacos -- all the ingredients except the shell) I decided my feet weren't too sore and I could walk from Union Station back to the hotel along the South Platte River paths. The 16th Street Mall features a free shuttle bus, which got me from near the Art Museum to the station. The walk was less than 2 miles.

I got downtown early enough before museums opened on Wednesday to go back over to the Capitol to see the "mile high" marker I missed the day before (I has used a different door). The rest of the morning was at the Colorado History Museum. The main level tells the story from the European perspective, the lower level from the Native view.

In the afternoon I toured two historic homes. The first was the Byers-Evans house, restored to about WWI. The first Evans in the house was the son of the second territorial governor. One of the Evans daughters was instrumental in the fledgling Denver Arts Society. That became the Denver Art Museum, which is now adjacent to the house. The other home is the Molly Brown home of "The Unsinkable…" fame. The guide made sure we knew the famous name was created by Broadway and the owner always referred to herself as Margaret. But who would visit the Margaret Brown house? Sheesh, I visited the Byers-Evans house. The Molly Brown House was restored to about 1900 and showed how rich she was.

Denver has some pretty cool public art. There is a row of tall ballerinas in front of a downtown hotel. Two 30 foot dancers are in front of the Performing Arts Center. And a 40 foot blue bear peeks into the windows of the Convention Center.