Two of our goals for this trip are to spend time together as a family and reconnect with friends and family. Our visit to Denver included activities that met both goals.
We visited the awesome Denver Museum of Nature and Science https://www.dmns.org—this is definitely a must do, especially with kids. The Augmented reality sandbox was the first hands on activity we did. https://arsandbox.ucdavis.edu/ The sand in the sandbox is augmented with an elevation color map, topographic contour lines, and simulated water when the kids move the sand around with their hands. They could even make rain on the landscape.
The kids did an extra virtual reality session of the prehistoric ocean.
Justin and I spent time with the Science on a Sphere global display system: https://sos.noaa.gov/What_is_SOS/. We explored snowfall in real-time all over the world and connections among Facebook friends plotted on the globe.
Then we had dinner with a family friend of Justin’s in Denver. This family introduced Justin to skiing in Colorado and inspired his love of the Rocky Mountains.
The boys attended a Denver Nuggets game at the Pepsi Center in Denver (they won). Fun facts: The court design includes two numbers inscribed along the sideline: “5280” and “300.” “300” is the number of sunny days said to occur in Colorado each year. “5280” is the number of feet in Denver’s mile-high altitude.
As we made our way to Winter Park for a real winter with snow and skiing, we stopped at one of our favorite Colorado restaurants, Snooze, a breakfast/brunch all day place, https://snoozeeatery.com. Rumor has it that one might be opening in the DC area—can anyone confirm?
On a closing note, I find it to be a privilege to be able to experience the beauty of the mountains; I hope everyone gets to experience the mountains, not just the Rockies but any mountain region.
Find our Wild Ride 