No butterflies😊

I haven’t been riding much in Florida as I find the terrain so flat and boring. 

So my bicycle has been gathering dust in the storeroom.

I however jumped to it when my Guatemalan friend Rosa called to find out if I wanted to go to Butterfly World in nearby Coconut Creek, to ride. 

Having never been there before too, was a major incentive as I love to learn about new places.

Rosa is fully equipped for riding as she has a sturdy bike carrier, a good pump, (my tyres are always soft😫) and a large electric bike, so she picked me up.

 (The electric bike weighs a whopping 65 lbs! However she has a ramp to load it on to the carrier.)

We didn’t go into Butterfly World though as the entrance fee is $35!

To look at butterflies ?😡

Anyway there is much more to the park than butterflies and you don’t have to pay to be in the great outdoors if you are not riding horses, playing baseball or riding the railroad .

It’s a really nice family oriented outfit with horses, (including horseback riding) kids’ railroad, sports’ fields, cows, goats and chickens.

 

On seeing the small stock, and having just returned from the most wonderful safari in Botswana, (https://joan-myviews.blogspot.com/2023/03/heaven-on-earth.html ) I jokingly enquired from Rosa if we were at a Florida safari. 

That made her day😂. 

It was a great outdoor adventure while getting fresh air and good healthy exercise, and of course, the horsing around, camaraderie etc.

To cap it off, she had some delicious barbecue ribs and ice cold beer at her place so tired but happy, we knocked it off before I was dropped off.

A healthy happy way to spend a Saturday wouldn’t you say?

GREAT MEMORIES 

 

THOSE AWESOME RED ROCKS

Yesterday started out quite sadly for me as Shadrach was leaving for New York and I knew I was going to miss him badly and it is not because I wont have anyone to play tennis with on Sundays! Worse yet, I had to take him to the airport by myself and I have this disgust with large international airports (and Denver's is one of the largest I have seen) which I find so confusing.


 I can't forget getting lost in JFK'  driving around in circles for over an hour. And just a few years ago when I was in New York, the idiot of a taxi man who took me to the airport circled forever as he couldn't find the Air Jamaica terminal. Luckily I had negotiated a flat rate with him before we left.


It was therefore with much trepidation that I set off . Amazingly however, when I got there I found everything as the directions were so well laid out and the instructions so explicit. I had to wonder out aloud why the operators of other international airports do not collaborate with Denver to improve customer kindliness.


Anyway we got  through quite easily and as Shadrach is under 18, they allowed me to accompany him though security and to the gate. Anyway I cheered myself up since he will be spending a month of his summer vacation in  good old Jamdown.


So after the sad parting I headed to Beverley's. She is a friend of Michele's who just loves the great outdoors as much as I do and she promised to take me to Red Rocks. I had heard about it briefly as  there they have is a natural amphitheatre which is built in the rocks and  I had heard about some of the concerts there. 
At first it appeared that we might just have to drive around as it was raining. but as Michele once told me "If you don't like the weather in Colorado, just wait fifteen minutes and it will change." That is so true for it turned out to be a wonderful, sunny day most of the time and a little overcast at other times.


I was not prepared for what I saw. It is only about twenty miles from Denver but its like you are in another world. As we drove up l saw these awesome and overwhelmingly huge rocks, all red, jutting out of the mountainside. Its as a super chiseler had gotten to work and chiseled these unbelievable formations in the rocks jutting precariously all around.  In fact, many of the rock formations have names, depending on the image they naturally project. Some names are Creation Rock, Ship Rock etc and it is estimated that those rocks were formed about 296 million years ago. Humbling  isn't it? Before the white man came, that area had been a favourite camping ground of the Utes.


One got a feeling of the supernatural and I even thought out loud that they must film dinosaur movies there for you could almost get the feeling that this is the type of environment that these huge creatures of old would hang out.


Luckily I have been keeping up my exercise by going to City park daily to walk and run and I cycle occasionally, so the hiking trail up and around the rocks was not all challenging. Unfortunately, the amphitheatre was closed as they were rehearsing for  a concert which was to take place that evening so we could not go up there even to take in the view.


The little  town of Morrison which lies below is quaint and inviting, a really lovely place to hang out in the numerous restaurants and bars, especially those by the creek.


What had started out as a sad day turned out to be a wonderful adventure and the good news came as we drove back to Denver, that is that Shadrach had arrived safely in New York.

 As the late great William Shakespeare said, all is well that ends well. I say amen to that.