Sunday, September 11, 2011

Tasting Colorado...

Aside from my library life, Matt and I have been trying to sample some of the Denver offerings to help us fall in love with this place, and thus stop mourning how much we miss Edinburgh and Austin... Labor Day weekend included a few exploits in the name of adventure, including a trip downtown Denver for the "Taste of Colorado" festival.

We had pretty high hopes for what we may experience with a festival promising newbies like us some good Colorado flavor. I'd like to say that the glorified carnival it ended up being was all we had hoped for, but alas, it was a bona fide disappointment. Though it turns out that disappointments can be entertaining fare when you stumble upon weird phenomenons set up like this children's activity:

booths that leave much to the imagination (any ideas on what this is getting at? or are the Scots suddenly the Amish woodworkers of home improvements these days?)

and someone inexplicably dressed up as a shrimp.

It is hard to say the effort was a wash as Matt and I never cease to be surprised at how much fun it is to have a laugh at the absurd and the disappointing. Needless to say, it was a entertaining night out together.

Not to be discouraged by last weekend's let-down event, Matt and I took a trip up to Boulder for a tour of the Celestial Seasonings factory. This ended up being an hour of filled with all kinds of interesting tea trivia (Did you know that the tea leaves grow best at humidity, altitude, and high temperatures? Or did you know that white tea is simply picked first while the leaves are white while green tea when they are more ripe and black are oxidized?). It also included some overwhelmingly marvelous smells (the mint room made your eyes water with heaven itself!), cool views of robots and factory people at work (worthy of a Mr. Roger's Picture Picture episode), and a thrilling opportunity to for Matt to sport a beard-net. It was a proud moment for us both:)
We also got to feel like real connoisseurs in the tea tasting room.

The whole experience left us with even more enthusiasm for herbal tea drinking. We are now anxiously awaiting cooler weather...

In other news, Matt bought himself a red bow tie at a Labor Day sale at Dillard's. He is still learning how to tie it but man! I think he is going to be one smart-looking fellow when it all comes together.

3 comments:

Lindsey Hicks said...

I loved going to the Taste of Colorado as a kid - I'm sad to hear it has gone downhill. Some weekend you guys should check out the Dushanbe tea house in Boulder.

Dorothy said...

What a small world--I was just talking to my sister-in-law on the phone last night, and you are in her ward in Arvada. Her name is Sabrina Winder, and she's one of the coolest people I know. We'll have to go running sometime when we come out to visit them.

cate said...

@ Dorothy - that is stellar! I already adore Sabrina (she was super welcoming from the moment I walked into the ward and a lot of fun!) Her mum is my RS pres too and is super cool too. Of course they are related to you! Indeed we should have a rendezvous run when you find yourself in the neighborhood though I am nursing a Edinburgh (too much walking, housekeeping, etc) injury so I am a wee bit slow at the moment...