August 14th, 2019

We were exploring Denver and meeting with Sam's family today so we started by restocking on groceries and supplies at the local Safeway. Next we checked out the recreational marijuana stores to compare it to Canada and found they were pretty unique. More independent and full of character than the government stores in BC.

Sam had been speaking with her great aunt and made plans to meet for dinner around 4:00. They lived about half an hour South of downtown so we had a few hours to burn. We decided to go to the local library because I wanted to finish some blog posts and it was in a good location. It was very hot in Denver and we were trying to avoid walking around.

We met up with Sam's great aunt, Gerry, her husband, Paul, their son, Jim and their granddaughter at their apartment at 4:30. The granddaughter was at a hair appointment so we chatted in their place until 6:00 while waiting. It had been over 10 years since Sam had seen any of them so there was a lot to catch up on.

At 6:00 we headed to Chilis for dinner. It was my first time in a Chilis and I enjoyed it. I had the spicy shrimp tacos and we all shared a chocolate cake with some ice cream for dessert. During dinner Sam and her family played a joke on Sam's mom who wasn't there, via text which was funny except they tried to pin it on me at the end..... she will probably kill me next time I see her.

You could tell they were having a good time and we practically had to peel ourselves a way since our plan was to camp at the trailhead to Gray and Torreys Peak. An hour drive still. We said our goodbyes, took some photos and left at about 9:15.

The drive to the trailhead was long and tiring but we made it before 11:00. The road to the trailhead from the highway was the shittiest I've ever taken, which was not fun in the dark. We decided to sleep in the truck to avoid setting up and taking down our tent and went to bed.

Our plan was to get up and hit the trail by 7:00 the next morning.

Denver city hall?

Denver art museum

Denver library