Despite miserable traffic between Colorado Springs and Denver, we finally rolled into Cherry Creek State Park.  This is an amazing park right in the heart of Denver with a very large lake, swimming beaches, hiking and biking trails, camping and probably other things we weren’t aware of.

Our primary purpose in coming to Denver was to visit Coors Field for a two game series between the Mariners and the Rockies.

We arrived early for our first game as we weren’t sure where to park. Why not watch batting practice and wander around a new (to us) ballpark?  We learned that the row of purple seats is the true “mile high” designation.   Fortunately our seats weren’t that high!

The Mariners have a wide range of uniform options and colors and I was quite disappointed to see they wore their “road grays” for both games.

We were joined for the second game by Minnesota friends Eric and Micah who flew to Denver to join us.  Eric and I are baseball buddies and have text messages going forth at any time of the day or night.   Randy and I went to a game at Target Field (Minneapolis) a few years ago so this was a second installment.  Hopefully we’ll figure out another game and location in a couple years.

Randy and I did enjoy a couple other activities in Denver besides baseball!  Read on for Airplanes and our Food Tour!

We went to the Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum.  We learned that when Lowry Air Force Base closed in 1994, two large hangars and multiple aircraft were donated to the group that formed this museum.   One of the hangars were sold to have the money to refit the second for the museum.  There are approximately 40 aircraft in residence.

An RB-52 aircraft provides the wow factor at the entrance.  RB is the designation for B-52s that were fitted for reconnaissance.  This particular plane was retired from active duty in 1966, was used as a training plane until 1975, and then served as a static display until being transferred to the museum in 1994.

The F-14A TOMCAT goes from 0-150 mph in 300 feet.

This is one of only four B-1A LANCERs ever built.  This plane could fly 1450 mph which makes individual personnel ejections impossible.  It has an ejection pod.

Originally owned and designed for speed records by Craig Breedlove, Steve Fosset purchased, modified and renamed the vehicle Sonic-Arrow II.  He was hoping to break Breedlove’s land record of 763 mph but was killed in 2007 before making the attempt.

And in lighter fare – We did another food tour!  We look for them because we always have interesting food, a bit of city tour, and interesting fellow participants.

Our tour guide Zoe spoke to us in front of my personal favorite from the tour.

We had delicious empanadas with a wine pairing.  They were so good, some of our fellow tour participants bought more. 

We were a group of eight tourists and Randy and I were the only ones from the western US.   That meant we were the only ones who already knew about fry bread.  

But even we were surprised at a new application – fry bread taco and margaritas!

We also enjoyed pizza, pork stew, and ice cream at various establishments on our four hour tour.  If you haven’t yet discovered Food Tours – why not?  We’ll join you!