Wednesday, July 13, 2011

The Great Adventure 2011 Colorado– 7/7/11

053For more pictures, click HERE.

We started the day off with a self guided tour at NCAR (National Center for Atmospheric Research) in Boulder, CO. It was a nice tour but it involved too much reading displays. I had a little trouble focusing on the details but the displays were colorful I got a lot of web page links that I will have to check out and see if there is anything good to share.

Our next stop was at the Celestial Seasonings factory in Boulder for a tour. On the way there, Don spotted a yarn store for me and I’m so glad we stopped there. I found the little tool that I had lost and the people there were very friendly! It was a huge store with lots of varieties of yarn and fiber plus a huge classroom for classes in knitting, crocheting, spinning, and weaving. After the tour at Celestial Seasonings, we sampled a few of the teas that I wanted to try. For lunch we ate at Pasta Jays in downtown Boulder which was excellent food for reasonable prices.

We tried to go to Coors in Golden for a tour but the line was over an hour long in the hot sun so we skipped there and went to REI in Denver. This was the flagship store and I enjoyed seeing the huge rock climbing wall in the middle of the store. After that we were going to go to Hammonds Candy for a tour but we never made it.

Since there was a lot of traffic, I drove all day which wasn’t a problem. On the way to the candy store though, I got on the interstate and we saw a sign stating that a $2 toll was coming up. Then I saw the HOV lane (2+) was toll free so I sped across 5 lanes and got in the HOV lane. As we traveled north, I noticed that we were passing the exit that I needed to get off at for the candy tour so we just kept going. Poor Don spent the day holding onto his door and “helping” me drive.

We arrived in Lafayette and shopped at a thrift store where I bought some glass sticks that would look nice with some shawls and also a metal bank. Then we parked downtown and walked through the Farmer’s market before it began to rain. At 6pm, we met Craig and Lisa for dinner at Efraim’s which was very good Mexican food. The chili relleno with rice and beans was only $6 and margaritas were $4. It has been seven years since we have seen them and we had a great time catching up on news.

What I Learned Today:

· White tea has more antioxidants than green tea but is milder tasting.

· White, green, and black teas all come from the leaves of the same plant. White tea leaves are the baby leaves during the first week of harvest.

· Healthy pine trees pitch out the pine beetles in their sap causing yellow popcorn shapes on the bark of the tree. If there is a drought and the tree doesn’t have enough water and sap, the beetles will attack the tree and kill it within a year.

Posted on the Successful Teaching Blog by loonyhiker (successfulteaching at gmail dot com).

Original Photo: Friends by Pat Hensley

5 comments:

Sioux Roslawski said...

Glass sticks? Explain.

I would have loved to go to the tea factory. That sounds fascinating.

loonyhiker said...

I think they are drink stirrers (swizzle sticks). I thought they might be used as shawl pins but they may be too slippery and fall out and break. So maybe they will just be decorations in a glass since they are so colorful and collect dust. :)

rebecca said...

I was in Boulder last week and did the tea and NCAR tour! I would recommend Avery Brewery in Boulder for a free tour....significantly smaller than Coors, but fun. Samples were about $1. I'm enjoying following you on your trip!

jody.su said...

Woww, amazing , I have been in NCAR in Boulder! I think it's very interesting and great adventure!
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jody.su said...

Woww, amazing , I have been in NCAR in Boulder! I think it's very interesting and great adventure!
End of Tenancy Cleaning