Saturday, June 28, 1986

1986 Newport Tall Ships (6/28/1986)

Saturday, June 28, 1986
After lunch and errands, we drove towards Newport to see the Tall Ships. We had information in hand as we drove down Rte 24 from Fall River and took Rte 138 to Middletown’s Middle School. The parking lot was pretty full already as we paid our $4 and received a pink ticket with four holes punched in it.
We got on a bus parked in front of the school and were told to tell the bus driver to go. So we bounced into Newport, and fortunately, due to the shuttle buses, traffic wasn’t bad. We were dropped off near the State Pier, where a tremendously long line waited to board a couple of the tall ships, tall meaning square-sail rigged. It was overcast and hazy today, and hot. I carried my big new Kenya bag with cameras and snacks. Kent carried the little cooler with fruit and drinks. We continued along the harbor in search of more tall ships. Supposedly 22 were to come to Newport.
Newport Harbor with Tall Ships
Newport Harbor
At the Yachting Club we saw a multi-flagged smaller ship used as sort of an Outward Bound type of conveyance.
Training ship
Training ship
 We didn’t find anything except people at the Treadway Wharf. We decided to join the line at Bannister’s Wharf to see the French ship Belem.

Bannister's Wharf ticket
The line moved quickly and we soon walked the gangplank onto the top deck. We circled around, peeking through window and portholes. Saw French chefs at work!
Kyle and Erich on the ship's wheel
When another gangplank was re-adjusted, we disembarked and walked farther to glimpse the ship used by MGM in filming “Mutiny on the Bounty.” There was a parking lot filled with craftsmen, souvenir vendors, and food stalls. We stopped for lunch. I had a bowl of clam chowder, Kyle had a hamburger, and Kent and Erich had chili dogs. We wandered back to the bus stop, and Kent and Erich stood in the port-a-john line. Our bus came, so they left the line to take the bus back to the Middle School. There were port-a-johns there, too, without the lines. On our way home, we stopped in Portsmouth to pick strawberries.
Kyle, Erich, and Kent picking (?) strawberries

Monday, June 23, 1986

1986 Denver, CO II (6/21-23/1986)

Saturday, June 21, 1986
Today we met Mike and Ryan at 8:30, and together we took the free bus down the 16th Street mall to Champs Street. We walked over to 18th Street to LaPeep, a big brunch restaurant. I had a skillet breakfast with home fries covered with steamed zucchini, onion, mushrooms and peas in a melted cheddar cheese, and topped with two fried eggs. Very good. Kent had a Spanish omelet with a spicy hot salsa. Ryan had blueberry pancakes, which were in a pile with blueberry sauce poured over it, and whipped cream in a circle around; looked like a pie. We walked back to 16th Street and caught the shuttle back to the hotel. We got Mike’s car and headed off into the mountains again. We took US 70 and worked our way into the Rockies, going through the Eisenhower Tunnel that is 1-1/2 miles long. The tunnel cut through the Continental Divide, so all the water flowed west once we got through. We drove through the mining town of Dillon, now a resort area in a wide flat glacial valley. Noted the many bicyclers on the bike paths. We continued on to Breckenridge, which looked like a ski resort town. Through other mining towns, then stopped at a junction for drinks and ice cream for Kent. In the general store, Kent saw a fishing bell and wondered what it was for. The proprietor explained that you set up your fishing pole, attached the bell on it, then you can fall asleep!
Next we went to Hoosier Pass, where we parked and put on sweaters (it was breezy) to take a hike. We followed a dirt road up to the tree line. It was a chore, as Kent got his headache, and I got my pinched feeling in the bridge of my nose again. But the scenery was fantastic as we headed up towards snow!
Mount Hoosier Pass
Kent and Ryan
Mount Hoosier Pass snowbank
Magnificent views into the valley. Even Mike could feel the altitude; not enough oxygen in the air to let his contact lenses breathe. We crossed a ridge and found some snow where Mike slid down on his bottom. I had to change film, and the last of my sprockets broke off. I had to figure a way to thread in new film. Found a piece of Scotch tape that did the trick. The boys have been able to use nature’s restroom. At one point they found a man-made one for me. We followed alongside a stream for a ways, and came to a stream junction.
We had been snacking on Japanese crackers, and dried corn and peas. When we got back to the car, Kent and Mike sneaked a gummy bear snack in the front seat.
Kent and Ryan fell asleep as we drove back down the mountain, passing Alpine pastures, then the plains to head north to Denver. Passed near Red Rocks, but couldn’t see the Amphitheater. We again passed Buffalo Bill’s grave, etc.
Stopped at a grocery store to purchase ingredients for dinner and went to Mike’s house that he shares with two apparent slobs. Ryan gave me a complete tour of the house while Kent and Mike called their parents. We made and ate dinner of grilled steaks, with salad and iced tea. After cleaning up, Mike drove us back to the hotel.
After Kent had a nap, we took the bus down the 16th Street pedestrian mall. Found a Haagen Dasz ice cream place on 15th Street. Near the Tabor Center, there were a lot of punks and street musicians. Also horse-drawn carriages. Took the shuttle bus back to the hotel.

Sunday, June 22, 1986
We went to look for breakfast at 8:30, but nothing was open. We ran out of time as we had to meet Mike at 9:15. He drove us to a Burger King for a quick bite, then headed towards the airport. I had thought the plan was to go to the Denver Museum of Natural History and see a movie on the giant IMAX screen, then after lunch we would go to the botanical garden. Instead we headed to the Denver Botanic Gardens, and sat in the parking lot to sit and wait. I was totally in the dark, until Mike told us to go in ahead with Ryan, while he waited for his girlfriend, Beth. Aha!
Denver Botanic Gardens map
We began walking the outer gardens, starting with the Linden Allée which was now lined with fruit trees and displayed weeds (thistle and Queen Anne’s lace!).
Oenothera howardii/Howard's Evening Primrose
Linden Allée
Gypsophila sp/Baby's Breath
Then the perennials. By the time we reached the amphitheater (a depression in the ground), Mike and Beth arrived. Together we went through the dahlia section to the other end of the Lily Path, and followed that back around past a variety of lilies and a beautiful house outside the gardens.
Lily Path
House in the neighborhood
Next the herb garden, and a scripture garden.
Herb Garden
Ryan was fascinated with the square pools with fountains. We went into a couple demonstration gardens.
Ryan helps Uncle Kent figure out
they are in the Landscape Demo Garden
Kent took Ryan to the restroom as the rest of us wandered through the lovely peony garden, past a bland lilac garden, along an area showing berry bushes and evergreens, and peeked into someone else’s garden.
Kent and Ryan caught up with us at the Rock Alpine Garden which was very specific to different areas. We entered the Alpine House, with a few banks of high-altitude plants, but no edelweiss!
Four Towers Fountain
We continued through a wooded area to the Japanese Garden. Lots of carp in the pond and a teahouse.
Japanese Garden
Carp
Next the Plains and then the water lily pool.
Water lily pool
There was a plot of cutting flowers. We followed some running water upstream from a poppy field, then passed through the rose garden.
Poppy field
After the irises we made our way to the conservatory. Took a break for some sun tea.
Tropical Garden pool shadows
The conservatory lobby court contained a few tropical plants, but we went on into the jungle! It was a well laid-out jungle with sample plants galore. We noted a fig tree with figs growing out from the trunk. At the far end was an area of orchids and bromeliads.
Unidentified liana
Kent and Ryan in the conservatory
Kent and I came out of the conservatory first, and Kent sat down. I went in search of the dried flower display. The herbarium was closed. I went to the gift shop to wander until everyone was gathered together.
We left the gardens and Beth followed in her car to have lunch at Zack’s. They were having a private party today, so we went to the classy Racine’s. Had a spacious corner booth and paintings on the wall were available for purchase for $1,800-$2,000! Mostly landscapes. Ryan had brunch, more blueberry pancakes. Kent had a club sandwich and I had the three-cheese grilled sandwich with a dill pickle and fries. Kent had pasta salad with his meal. Mike had a California omelet, and Beth had a spinach salad. Beth then had to go to work, and the rest of us went to the tremendous City Park. Found our way to the Museum of Natural History, where Mike bought an annual membership and I went as his guest.
Museum of Natural History ticket
It was very interesting to go through such a museum with a geologist/botanist! Mike could answer any questions that popped into our minds. We saw fossils and skeletons, and remakes of dinosaurs and early (prehistoric!) mammals in their natural habitats. The murals in the display areas were great, and they were more apparent as we looked at present-day taxidermy. We saw meteorites, all kinds of rocks and minerals, and lots of gold, from tiny flakes to the largest nuggets. Also precious gems. Onwards to the North American animals and birds. Tremendous displays.
Kent needed to get to work, so we left at that point. Outside the museum Kent was caught hugging a woman in public, and a girl “fined” him a donation to a meals program. She asked for $3 and Kent complied.
Mike dropped us off at the hotel. We readied for dinner with the president of BIF and sales reps, and their wives. Cocktails were to be served in the hospitality suite at 17:00. At 18:30 they would leave for dinner at the Wellshire Inn. I joined the crowd later in the suite to be introduced to key people, and then we were divided up for rides to the restaurant. We went with an elderly couple from Los Angeles. Arrived at the Tudor-style restaurant set in a golf course and were taken upstairs to a private dining room holding about 25 people at three round tables. The sun was shining directly into the faces of some people, so Kent went to troubleshoot with the femme maître d’, and she brought in shades that had to be thumb-tacked over the windows. White and red wine was served along with ice water. Rolls and butter in the table were passed around when the salads came. There were bowls of French dressing on the table. Our pre-ordered entrées (choice of steak or chicken) arrived, Chicken Oscar that was surprisingly good; a chicken breast stuffed with crabmeat. It came with rice pilaf and carrots ‘n’ peas. Dessert was a scoop of vanilla ice cream with a chocolate g-clef on it. Coffee was offered. There was a little talk, but things broke up fairly early. Some folks were still suffering from jet lag, or altitude. Kent signed for the dinner bill, about $800! We were driven back to the hotel.

Monday, June 23, 1986
We took the 16th Street bus down to Lawrence Street to Bear Buns for breakfast, getting the $1.25 cinnamon rolls. They were hot from the oven and huge; six inches across and 2 inches thick! The sweet icing was globbed on top. I could only eat 2/3 of the bun. After we returned to the hotel, Kent had business, and I walked over to the Civic Center to get photos of the Art Museum and the U.S. Mint.
Denver Art Museum
US Mint
I returned to the hotel, and Kent and I got off different elevators at the same time in our floor!
We took the bus down to Lawrence Street again, but this time turned right to 19th Street to find Sakura Square, a commercial shopping building with import type stores. This area is supposedly the center of Japanese culture in Denver, but the neighborhood didn’t look any different.
Buddhist Temple
We walked back to the hotel along 19th and 18th Streets, passing the main post office and walking through the Fairmont Hotel lobby. At our hotel I gathered my things, said goodbye to Kent, and went to meet Mike as he pulled up at the hotel at 10:30. Mike drove me to the airport on a very hot day. The 12:00 flight to Chicago left about on time and arrived at 15:15. Waited for the 16:44 flight to Providence, which also left on time. Had the same dinner we had going. Arrived on time at 19:45, but had a long wait for baggage. Paid $10 for parking, and the attendant reminded me that I needed to get a receipt!

Friday, June 20, 1986

1986 Denver, CO I (6/19-20/1986)

Thursday, June 19, 1986
Picked up Kent at BIF at 15:45 and drove to the airport for a 16:57 flight to Chicago. The plane was to be 20 minutes late. Heard a “Mello Cleanah” being paged and wondered if it was a name or profession. Later saw a kid with a Mello Cleaning Co. uniform.
We took off a half hour late. On this United flight we had headphones and a snack. Arrived in Chicago at 18:40, 19:40 local time, which was 40 minutes late.  Our 19:00 flight to Denver left a half hour late. We had seats 18E & F, but they weren’t by the window, they were in the middle of the center row on a wide body DC-10! Headphones again, and dinner. Arrived 10 minutes late at 20:40, 22:40 our time! Mike and Ryan were there to meet us, and drove us downtown to the Radisson Hotel. We checked in and took the mirrored elevator to our room on the 19th floor. Had a soda, showered, added Colorado to our list, and fell asleep.

Friday, June 20, 1986
Awake at 7:00, but it was 5:00 local time! Got up at the local 7:00, and looked out our window to see snow-capped mountains on the horizon.
View of mountains from the hotel
Walked down to the 16th Street pedestrian mall running the length of downtown. Nicely landscaped with buses passing frequently. Free shuttle service with stops at every corner using special buses by MCR-Vetter with the driver on the right side and a carpeted over engine behind him. Sort of like an airport shuttle bus, but with plastic bucket seats. We stopped at Goldie’s Deli to buy muffins and juice or coffee, and ate breakfast sitting on a bench on the mall. A couple girls came to sell us their Awake magazine for 20 cents. Kent bought one, and we found there are no more free Watchtowers! We continued down the mall, seeing bag people, and one guy with a shopping cart full of bags, plus others tied to hang off the sides. A line of people tailor-sitting waited at a Ticketron-type place. Most of the women wore sneakers to work. We saw a tower building that had three windows squared with a clock on top, juxtaposed to the mall. We entered the Tabor Center, a greenhouse-looking shopping mall with exclusive shops and an area of ethnic fast food.
Tabor Center clock
We continued walking down the pedestrian mall to Larimar Street and headed back, taking advantage of the free bus. At the hotel, Kent had some business and got the keys to the business suite. We arranged to meet Mike at 10:30, and Mike suggested I see the Capitol. It was a 5-minute walk from the hotel, and I could see the sun gleam off the gold-leafed dome.
Colorado State Capitol
On that side of the building were groups of idle Indians, red squirrels, and a statue of an Indian spearing a bison. I walked into the Corinthian style building of Colorado granite to see marble, stained glass windows depicting famous persons, and murals depicting careers (trappers, miners, etc.). I climbed up a staircase to peek into the Senate and the House. No one at work here! Passed some very small rooms where people were at work. Up another floor to find the entrance to the dome, climbing a spiral staircase, then a series of flights of steps to the balcony up in the dome. Went to the outside balcony where arrows on the stone balcony pointed out different mountains. Walked all the way around to see the Rockies to the west and flat plains extending into the mist to the east. I went out the front of the building to find the 13th step that is exactly one mile above sea level. I didn’t see any notation, so may have missed the step. But my knees were shaky!
I walked across the area of the Civic Center that had the curved municipal building ahead, and the Pioneer Monument in the center. Off to one side was the Denver Art Museum, which was oddly-shaped and had vertical lines with randomly placed windows. It is locally considered the ugliest building in Denver.
16th Street mall with RTD bus ticket automat
RTD bus stop and bus
I walked over to the 16th Street pedestrian mall to take some photos then returned to the hotel by 10:15.
Cloud reflection
Met Mike at 10:30, and he drove us to a liquor store so that Kent could buy stock for the suite. Mike gave Kent a gift certificate to Gart’s Department Store of Sporting Goods. We went to see the 5 floors of discounted sporting goods, and Kent bought some golf accessories (umbrella, glove, balls, etc.).
We went to the Blue Bonnet Café for lunch. We had a short wait to be seated for our Mexican meal. I ordered El Burro, which turned out to be a huge beef and bean burrito covered with an eye-watering salsa. Kent had a combination with a burrito, a guacamole taco, and enchilada. Plus the usual nachos and salsa, and iced tea. Mike had a special, and Ryan had a burrito and fries! We stopped by the hotel to drop off the liquor. Then headed to the mountains.
We could see storm clouds with rain and lightning in the distance. Suddenly we were in a storm ourselves, and torrents of water came down. The road became a momentary river, but then it was over. I jokingly asked if we could see the Silver Bullet from the Coors beer commercials, and Mike pointed out the brewery in Golden, Co. We took the highway to Clear Creek Canyon and followed that up right into the mountains. Clear Creek was the site of the first true gold rush in 1859. Wonderful scenery. You could see the out-takings of several mines, even up the hillsides. You spotted the out-takings before the hole of the mine. A few are still in operation, and a few are tourist traps. We ended up in a parking lot high above Central City and walked down into town. Passed an old steam locomotive.
    Colorado & Southern class B-4E steam locomotive #71
    A mannequin of an old miner said, “Hello! Welcome to Central City” to us. There were tiny museums and souvenir shops. Central City was once a rival to Denver. We passed the Opera Garden and the Opera House itself, on whose stage stood the likes of Lillian Gish, Sarah Bernhardt, etc.
    Opera House steps
    Some of the sidewalks were wooden, like in front of the Teller House where they once used silver bricks for the sidewalk to protest inflation, in honor of the visit of President Grant.
    Wooden sidewalk
    Tamiko & Kent (photo by Mike)
    We continued our walk through town and out the other side, where Mike had us follow a dirt road through the aspens. We took a short hike to the ruins of a large mine. Before it was a tiny walled-off area with a cross overlooking town.
    Gates
    View down on Central City
    Puffy clouds
    At the mine we saw an old wagon, and we sorted through the slag pile to find lots of fool’s gold.
    Old wagon
    Ryan and Tamiko (KSS)
    Remnants of a mine
    Tall pines
    We then headed back to the parking lot. Instead of returning to the main road through town, Mike drove along a gravel, then dirt road further up in the mountains.
    Confluence of streams at a "rest stop"
    We were taking the stagecoach route over the hills to Idaho Springs. Mike zoomed along the road that zigzagged up, then down, with dropping precipices on the downhill side and no guardrails! Quite a spectacular ride! The snow-capped Mt Evans was in view. We made it to a larger town where miners once came to sit in the radium hot springs. Many minerals are found in this area, and the first major gold strike in 1859 was near here. We saw a waterfall across the valley as we passed through town and headed towards Mt Evans. We drove along the highest paved road in the U.S. and made a stop at Echo Lake.
    Echo Lake
    We walked around a bit and saw some fishermen. One was inexperienced and Mike told us to give this guy a wide berth! The guy heard us; good acoustics here!
    We returned to the car and continued zigzagging up and up. We could see across the valley to the stagecoach road we had been on previously. It was a gorgeous day with a blue-blue sky and billowy white clouds. Farther up we stopped at an Alpine Garden and followed the loop trail.
    Alpine Garden view
    Came to some snow and threw snowballs down the hill. Noted some common tundra plants with yellow and purple blossoms, and the weedy-looking rose-like plants.
    Tundra plants
    Kent, Mike, and Ryan in the Alpine Garden
    On the loop back we adults continued along while Ryan wanted to return the way we came. He apparently expected us to follow him, since he was a bit upset when we met him near the car!
    I had a bloody-nose feeling and Kent had a headache; effects of the high altitude. We were at 20,000 feet. We decided to head back to Denver. We passed Buffalo Bill’s grave, a Mother Cabrini Shrine, and the flying saucer-shaped house on a hilltop that was used in the movie “Sleeper.”
    It was 18:00 when we were dropped off at the hotel. After Kent took care of some business, we walked down to the Tabor Center for dinner. Kent had a Greek falafel pocket and I wanted a quiche, but the line was too long. There was no line at the Japanese booth, but the girl had to cook too, so I still had a long wait. After window shopping, we went to check out The Larimar restaurant to which Kent was sending some business colleagues. He also asked a guy at a shoeshine stand where Off Larimar was located, as someone had just asked about that place, too. After checking that out, we walked along 15th Street to the hotel. A little seedier than 16th Street!