Colorado Vacation, Part 4 (Last one, I promise!!)

Okay, so this is the last vacay post.  I am a museum buff so we had to find one to visit in Denver.  There are a few to choose from, including a children's museum, but after much research we decided to go to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.  Boy, am I glad we went here!  It was awesome.

I loved the pirate hanging from the sign on the outside of the museum. 

Miss Priss hanging out with the peg leg.

There was the coolest Real Pirates exhibit from National Geographic that you could purchase.  Cameras were not allowed inside, but it was so cool.  The kids got pirate hats and "tattoos" (stamps) upon exiting the exhibit.  It took about and hour and half to go through and was truly one of my favorite parts of the museum.

Next up was the Egypt exhibit.  Another really cool one.

Abby's mummy/zombie imitation.  This girl finds a way to get in almost every picture!

Finally a picture of my sweet Wyatt.

There was a really neat exhibit about space and a planetarium where we saw a show a cute little children's show about the Sun.  

We watched this fun Imax show about ocean life.  It was narrated by Jim Carrey and was pretty funny.

The children's area of the museum, called the Discovery Zone, was great.  Abby took advantage of all the fun activities and labs offered.

However, Wyatt did not move from the block station.  Typical.

Abby saw this book and insisted I take a picture.  She was laughing hysterically about it.  :)

The museum was great!  I could have gone back for a few days in a row, but the rest of the gang didn't appreicate it as much as I did. 

We also went to Manitou Springs and walked around the historic area.  There were so many neat little shops and restaurants.  I found some great bath bombs at a shop called Salus (you can order online!).

We ate at this restaurant called Coquette's.  It was delicious.  They had burgers and crepes and it was so good!

We decided to head up to the cliff dwellings after shopping.  It was pretty neat except for the two buses full of middle school camp kids.  I know that sounds horrible since I'm a teacher, but they were loud and rude and just really ruined the experience.  

Since we were in vicinity, we headed over the the Garden of the gods.  Be still my heart.  It was beautiful.  Until it started pouring rain.  We had to run for about 20 minutes in the pouring rain to get to our car.  It was a really cold, wet trip back to the hotel in Denver. 

The sky started to turn ominous. 

Balanced Rock.  I took this one inside the car. :)

Despite the rain, Garden of the gods was truly breathtaking.  I can't wait to go back to see it again!

If you didn't notice, I fell in love with Colorado.  I truly feel like it's a part of me now and is calling me back.  Maybe one day!