Visit to Castle Rock, CO

On Thursday, July 25 through Tuesday, July 30th Frank and I visited Dan, Carrie, and their four kids at their new home in Castle Rock, CO in a development called The Meadows. They moved in June 1st, but this was the earliest Frank and I were able to visit and see their new home. A natural stone formation just outside the town is shaped like the rook in a chess set and is the inspiration for the town's name. It bears a star at the top that is lit in the Christmas season. Per the town website:

Nestled just south of Colorado's capital city, Castle Rock is a thriving world-class community. With more than 80,000 residents, Castle Rock values its small-Town character, its traditional Downtown core and its regular community events.

The house they moved into has double the bedrooms of the California home they left and twice the square footage; actually, if the finished basement is counted, it is three times the size of their California home. In the basement is a perfect large playroom for the kids and an adjacent spacious hangout area with a huge 85" TV on one wall opposite an L-shaped sectional. We watched movies and the Olympics there during our visit.

Thursday, July 25
It was my first traveling since my lobectomy and chemotherapy this spring due to lung cancer detected at the beginning of 2024. I was apprehensive that I might lack the endurance for the trip since I had only partially built back my strength but, when I reduced my activity level accordingly, all went as well as could be expected. Dan and Carrie took good care of Frank and me. Coincidentally Dan was returning from a business trip to California on the same day and a few hours before we  arrived so he met us at our gate in the Denver airport. Denver is a huge airport, under construction still of course, and the trek from our arrival gate to the baggage claim was very long. I was glad I had pre-arranged for a wheelchair transport.  That was an eye-opening and emotional experience for me. I have a renewed respect for those in a wheel chair who cannot turn around when they hear something behind them and who develop a sore neck because they have to tilt back their head to converse with people. 

Dan's truck was already parked at the airport for the few previous days he had been in California so we had a ready ride to his home. There was one small caveat. He had been pleased with the close-in parking space he had been able to nab, under a roof and next to a half height wall looking out. Apparently the location was in line with a flight path of a flock of birds. His windshield was woefully covered with multiple white patches of their droppings, so much so he feared that turning on the wipers would create one big white opaque smear the extent of his windshield. And I think they were BIG birds! He was able to drive peeking out between the white punctuations of the birds' legacy as we traveled the roughly forty miles south to the town of Castle Rock without mishap.

After a quick house tour - it was early evening, it was starting to get dark, and the kids were starting to melt - we settled into the guest room in the basement. We would explore more the next day. Carrie had the king size bed appointed like a scene in a home fashion magazine with layers of pillows, two Euro size squares, four bed pillows, and two accent pillows all in coordinating shades of a deep luscious green. We felt very welcomed. Having just moved in, the house is just beginning to fill with furniture; we appreciated that they had prioritized the guest room for our comfort.

The bed was especially high however, and Frank and I laughed when I could not climb into it. He rolled a round ottoman out of the TV area downstairs and set it next to the bed. My entry to bed became a two step process where I needed an assist from that upholstered accessory.

 

Friday July 26
We planned for Friday to be a laid back day after a day of traveling. Dan took us to see Vivian and Lillian in action at a rock climbing facility where they had a week of camp. We saw Vivian hook herself up to a pulley safety system and climb to a height that must have been at least three stories high, maybe more. She then nonchalantly "rappelled" down from the height in two long leaps, speed controlled by the pulley system. Frank and I were aghast. That is Vivian, dressed in black, near the top of the photo just beneath the large, bright yellow, hand and foot holds. Technically, I think Vivian was belaying, not rappelling.

In belaying, the belayer remains stationary and the rope moves. In rappelling, the rope remains stationary, there is no belayer, and the rappeller is the thing that is moving.

The facility was impressive and the heights awesome. Here is staff doing maintenance or changing out the foot/hand holds. If those are 6 foot guys standing in the lower left, then I estimate the height is easily five or more stories.

Lillians' age group was on their lunch break so we did not get to see her in action until pickup time. She and Will still demonstrated their skills on the concrete wall surrounding the facility.

Frank and I had lunch with Dan and Irene at Panera Bread. Once back at the house Frank wanted to "walk the perimeter" with Dan, so they did. I sat out that "it's a guy thing" excursion. Irene really took a liking to Grandpa and he read a fair number of books to her during our stay.

Friday night was Castle Rock's annual cattle drive down Main Street. Frank and I sat that one out figuring parking would be at a premium, possible far away, and the event would involve standing throughout the duration. Dan and Carrie texted us photos though, so we could share it vicariously (minus the pungent aroma).

Saturday July 27
Frank and I had brought three suitcases with us, one for each of us and one that contained a set of stuffed fabric chess pieces. I had bought these 32 pieces at an antique street fair in Petaluma over 12 years ago, before we even had any grandchildren. We stored them in the attic for over a decade. When I saw a video of cousins 11-year-old Autumn and 10-yr-old Vivian playing chess with each other when they were together at Colorado move-in time, I realized the time was ripe to deploy the set. I later noticed each figure had a PBK label on it. They were not an antique, just a long-ago product of Pottery Barn Kids. I managed to fit all 32 pieces in a large suitcase with a resulting weight of 35 lbs. Frank located a large size vinyl checker board on Amazon, saving me from having to quilt a cloth one. Here are the kids opening that suitcase Saturday morning and setting up the game board. 

Six year old William knew the names of all the pieces and what their permitted movements were. I started to play a game with him. I realized I had underestimated his skill level when I lost my two rooks to him fairly early on. He got bored before we finished our game but that did not stop him from directing other players on the moves they should be making. Even clueless three-year old Irene wanted to get into the act.

Saturday night, Dan and Carrie went to a Kenny Chesney concert at the Mile High Stadium in Denver while Frank and I stayed with the kids. We and the kids had pizza that Carrie ordered from their car while they were in transit and had delivered to the house. It worked out great. Dan and Carrie texted that their concert was delayed close to an hour due to a lightning threat.

I texted back a photo of a beautiful rainbow we were enjoying from their back porch back at Castle Rock without experiencing any rain to go with it.

Then Frank and I curled up with the big kids and watched the Olympics, USA vs. Greece water polo, while Irene played with her new weather puzzle we had brought out for her. A weather puzzle was a good choice considering the abundance of thunder, lightning, and rainbows they had already experienced in their two months in Colorado so far. The snow is yet to come!

It was a pleasant time putting each kid to bed individually and reading to them. William shared with me his photo album from his visit to spend time with his best friend Nixon when Dan was on a business trip to California and took William along. William was sweet. He talked me into staying with him for 10 minutes more telling the Alexa in his room to set a timer. He was asleep before the 10 minutes was up. Vivian showed me her art album of her paintings and sketches. Lillian was proud to display her canopy bed strung with lights and her two horse lamps. In a switch from the afternoon, Irene wanted Grandma to read to her, not Grandpa who she had preferred earlier. The quiet, one-on-one times are the best! 

Sunday July 28
For a Sunday outing, Dan located a minimum walking activity, the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge, about 45 minutes away, slightly west of the Denver Airport.

While the older members of our party walked the exhibits in the ranger station, I hung out in the Discovery room with Irene and William. After Lillian and Vivian had earned their junior ranger badges, successfully completing activities in the exhibit area, they too joined us in the Discovery Room where fishing was a popular activity and crawling through tunnels like prairie dogs or burrowing owls was also fun. I was bemused when William and Vivian played rock-paper-scissors to decide who would go through which tunnel.

William struck me as the ultimate woodsman as he cuddled with his fish friend and nonchalantly posed with select slabs of tree trunk. His boots seemed to me a testament of his macho man personality.

Back in the exhibit area Frank and Dan's family posed with a bison before we left the ranger station to drive off on an 11-mile circuit about the refuge rounds. By the way, this is the closest we ever got to a bison.

The 11-mile self-guided Wildlife Drive took a bit over an hour to complete. An audio recording was synced with mile markers as we passed them. The audio tape and more details of the scenery and wildlife can be found at  https://www.fws.gov/refuge/rocky-mountain-arsenal/visit-us/tours.

We only saw a few bison as specks in the distance but we did see white tail deer, mule deer, lots of prairie dogs, and some impressive birds. Fortunately, we missed seeing any rattlesnakes. Some of us had seen a black footed ferret up close back at the ranger station. It was an engaging ride that the kids really seemed to enjoy. Their eagle eyes often spotted creatures even before the adults did.

Monday July 29
Monday, the day before our departure, our low-key activity was to drive through downtown Castle Rock to get the flavor of the town and to spend some time at the Castle Rock Library. Their local library is less than 10 minutes away from their house.

Upon entry, on the first floor, was the pleasing sight of a whimsical wall mural and colorful spotted rugs.

The play area in the adjacent children's section was delightful with a skeletal barn, a loading ramp, and a tractor, along with the accoutrements of hay bales, blocks, stuffed animals, produce, baskets, books, and chairs.

The following images depict, in the following order, 1) all four kids - yes there is an extra unknown boy at the top, 2) the three "bigs", 3) the three girls, and 4) the littlest, Irene.

Frank is transporting Lillian down the loading ramp, which works for children as well as boxes of produce and bales of hay.

On the upstairs floor there was a piece of abstract art that caught my fancy. It was a series of scattered acorns filled with various colors of epoxy/clay and mounted on blonde toned panels of wood. That evening we returned downtown to dine at the Block @ Bottle voted Best New Restaurant in Castle Rock.

  

Tuesday July 30
Final photo for posterity from the visit: on the couch are Dan, Vivian, William, Irene, Lillian, and Frank. The photographer (me) is absent from the photo. I really do need to get better at those time-delayed automatic shots. To be fair though, those pictures truly do need a place to balance the cell phone just so. Right after this we left for the Denver airport.

Frank is all grins as he sports his Harry Potter / Mickey Mouse shirt riding on the train at the Denver airport en route to Terminal C for our departure gate for the flight back to Oakland.

Once in Oakland, I was impressed that the wheel chair service took me from the arrival gate, to baggage claim, and all the way across to the second lane in the pickup area to get our Uber home. The trip I was initially apprehensive about due to my energy level, worked out fine. Frank and I had a memorable time and are so glad we got to experience Dan and Carrie's new home in Colorado. Visiting face to face with those grandkids gives so much more insight into the unique personality of each.