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Day three of
our trip, we got up at 6:30 MDT and we got showered, refilled our waters, and
grabbed some fruit from the hotel breakfast place. We had plans to eat breakfast at Voodoo
Doughnut since we’d never tried it, so we didn’t eat anything at the hotel. (Well, I think I did eat some scrambled eggs
first, because I always like to start the day with protein!)
We had to drive
into Denver to eat there, and we assumed that they’d have tables in the
doughnut shop, but shockingly, they didn’t, even though the place was
huge. Since they had no tables, we had
to take the doughnuts back to the car and eat them there.
Brian got a
banana cream pie and a blueberry cake, I got a maple old fashioned and a
blueberry cake, Jacob got a Marshall Mathers (the one covered in M&Ms –
LOL) and a blueberry cake, and Olivia got a Marshall Mathers and an ODB (the
one with chocolate frosting, Oreo cookie crumbles, and peanut butter drizzle). They were all so delicious.
We’d parked in
the Denver Botanic Gardens parking lot to eat since that’s where we were headed
next, and we got there just before they opened at 9 AM. They were already letting people in, so we
were able to get started a little early, which was great!
We toured
around there for nearly an hour and a half, and it was the most beautiful
place… and it’s HUGE. It just kept going
and going and going and we had no clue that it was going to be that big. We got to see a few bunnies hopping around
there, too, so that was fun. We have
them here in Georgia, too, but it’s not very common to see them around,
although in the last year, we’ve been seeing them occasionally in our
neighborhood!
We left the
Botanic Gardens around 10:15 AM and we stumbled upon the end of a Pride
race. There were tons of people in the streets,
and everyone was dressed up so fun and festive!
That’s one thing about Denver – they go all out for Pride month! There were flags and various other sentiments
of support all over the city, in all the shops and restaurants, and there were
special displays in all the stores.
We wanted to do
a little shopping after that to kill time before lunch, so we headed downtown
and parked near the Simply Colorado store.
They had tons of souvenirs, as well as other random stuff, and we all
got a kick out of this chihuahua stuffie in a taco purse.
After that, we
walked down the way to the I Heart Denver store in Denver Pavilions. It’s a souvenir shop, but items in the shop
are created by local artists, so purchases support the artists. It was kind of like Etsy, but in
brick-and-mortar form. They had the
best stuff in there, too, and we ended up getting a few things – a Colorado
hat for Olivia, a Denver sticker for my bulletin board, and a Red Rocks mug for
me as well. We always love bringing a
little something back home when we travel, and it was so nice to be able to
support local creators instead of getting our souvenirs from those standard
souvenir shops that you see in every city.
We had to find
some lunch after that because we had reservations for Meow Wolf at 12:20
PM. 5280 Burger Bar was right there in
Denver Pavilions, so we decided to try that, and we were so glad we did because
we all enjoyed it. None of us were very
hungry yet at that point after eating all those donuts, so we were happy that
they had a few small options. I grabbed
a hot dog and fruit, Brian got a French dip and shared my fruit, and the kids
both got mac n cheese which is exactly what they’d both wanted.
When we were
done, we walked back towards the car, and on the way, the kids got up in this
big jungle gym in the middle of downtown.
While Brian and I were waiting on them, my cousin, Rob, and his
girlfriend, Lindsay, just happened to walk by, so we chatted with them for a
bit. We knew they were going to be in
town for my cousin’s celebration, but it was wild that they just happened to be
in the same place at the same time as us in that big ol’ city!
The only thing
I Heart Denver didn’t have was a souvenir frame for my souvenir frame wall, so
we had to go back to Simply Colorado and get one there. Then, we walked back to the car and drove
straight to Meow Wolf.
Now, if you’ve
never heard of Meow Wolf, then you’re in good company, because we’d never heard
of it either until I asked everyone for recommendations of what to do in Denver. Several people mentioned going to Meow Wolf,
and Brian and I were like, “What on earth is that?!” so we looked it up,
and after telling the kids about it, that’s the main thing they wanted to do on
our trip. Haha.
Meow Wolf only
has five locations – one in Denver, one in Santa Fe, NM, one in Las Vegas, and
two in Texas. It’s an immersive art
adventure. You get to step inside the
art, explore, and touch everything. There
was no rhyme or reason to any of it, and it was just such a crazy place. Honestly, it was one of the weirdest things
I’ve ever seen and I’m convinced that whoever designed it was on an acid
trip. Haha. It just gets weirder and weirder the whole
time you’re in there and 99.9% of the time you have no clue what you’re looking
at.
There are
hidden tunnels and doors and staircases and every single one of them leads to
yet another place that makes no sense.
Haha. And there’s also some
puzzle or riddle or something that you’re supposed to solve by collecting data
from different exhibits, but most people don’t even know that’s in there. Since I’d read a blog post about it, our kids knew there was a mission going in, and they ended up solving it with a little
help from someone else who’d been there before.
Not sure
exactly what else to say about it, so I’ll just let the pictures do the
talking…
Weird, right?
We stayed
nearly two hours, and we were all hungry and so tired by the time we were done,
so we looked up places to get treats/snacks, and we ended up at Tiff’s Treats…
a bakery with cookies and brownies.
Brian and
Olivia both had brownies and Jacob and I both had a lemon sugar cookie and a
snickerdoodle. While the cookies were
good, they weren’t really special or unique, so I wouldn’t go out of your way
to get them if you’re ever in town. It was
a good place to stop and recharge, though.
After we were
done eating, we walked to the Denver Central Library. I do love checking out libraries in big
cities, and I’d hoped that the Denver library would be as cute as the one in
Nashville, but it wasn’t impressive at all, other than the fact that it was big.
None of us had
any other ideas of what to do or where to go since time was limited (it was almost
time to switch gears to the family portion of our trip and the main reason we went
there), so we just decided to hang out at the library for a bit so we could
cool off. The kids played a game of
chess, and when they were done, we walked back to the car.
We got back to
the hotel with just enough time to rest for 10 minutes and freshen up, and then
we met my Momma, Daddy, and two brothers, Zach, and Alex outside, because
they’d finally arrived in Colorado and they were staying at the hotel right
next door to ours!
My Aunt Maureen
and Uncle Chris who live here in Georgia part time and in Colorado part time were
hosting my whole extended family at their house Saturday evening, so we
followed my parents to Walmart to pick up a few things to bring to the
gathering – beer, wine, and dessert… the essentials! Haha.
And can I tell
you just how weird it was walking around Walmart in the middle of Colorado with
my Momma, Daddy, and brothers again? The
last time we were all in Colorado, it was just the five of us, and I was 12, my
brother Zach was eight, and my brother Alex was only two. I guess I just never expected to be out in
Colorado with all of them again as an adult.
Haha.
We drove to Uncle
Chris and Aunt Maureen’s house after that and spent the rest of the evening
over there with my extended family. Mama
Cass had arrived along with my Aunt Joy and Uncle Greg + my cousin Shelby, my
Aunt Mary and Christa and my cousin Cat and her boyfriend. And my Aunt Becky and my cousin Courtney were
there, too. My cousin Taylor and her fiancé,
Chelsea, arrived on Sunday, so they couldn’t make it Saturday evening, and my cousin
Rob and his girlfriend Lindsay were in town, but they didn’t come to the gathering
on Saturday evening. While most of my
extended family was able to come to Colorado (32 of us were there), there were 15 who couldn’t
make it. We have a very big family, as
you can see!
I’ve mentioned
this before, but one of my cousins married Matthew Perry’s sister (yes, the
Matthew Perry from Friends), and since it was my cousin’s sister who we
were celebrating, some of his wife’s family came, too, including her mom, which
is Matthew’s stepmom. She and Mama Cass
are good friends, so she came over to hang out Saturday night, too, and I was
able to spend some time with her. I’d
met her before at my cousin’s wedding in California many years ago (that was
also when I met Matthew), but I hadn’t gotten to spend a lot of time with her.
Saturday
evening, I was able to sit with her and Mama Cass and chat, and I was able to
tell her just how loved Matthew was and how much he has meant to me my whole
life. Friends has been my
favorite show since I was 12 years old, and I literally watched it nonstop in
my bedroom growing up – first on VHS tapes, then on DVDs (I own all ten seasons
and I have the collector’s DVD glass case), and eventually on streaming. Chandler and Monica were (and still are) my
favorite characters on the show, so Matthew has always been a big part of my
life since I grew up with him on my TV all the time. It was a HUGE privilege getting to meet him,
and I only wish he was still around, so we could spend more time with him. I miss him so much.
After everyone
chatted for a while, we all had dinner – pizza, wings, salad, dessert, and
beer. We ended up staying over there for
nearly five hours talking, practicing our dance for the celebration (more on
this later), and reminiscing.
We all went
outside at sunset and took our shoes off and put our toes in the grass, and it
was just nice quality time with everyone.
We all get together several times per year but this seemed extra special
since we were all so far from home.
Brian and the
kids and I got back to our hotel around 9:45 PM, the kids showered, and then we
all went to bed at 10:45 PM.
Sunday morning,
we didn’t set an alarm, and we all ended up sleeping until 7:30 AM. We walked down to the hotel lobby for
breakfast after that, and then we all got showered and ready for the day.
My cousin’s
celebration of life was at 10 AM at the other Botanic Gardens that we hadn’t
already visited. And this celebration of
life was a first for everyone because the person who we were celebrating was still
with us. My cousin Zoe’s request was to
have a celebration of life before her time comes, so that way she could
see everyone one last time and say goodbye.
We had a
private area in the gardens under a big pavilion, and it was a gorgeous day –
sunny, blue skies, a cool breeze, and it was the perfect temperature in the
shade. There were rows of chairs up
front and big tables in the back, and there was a screen with a slide show of
photos of Zoe through all her stages of life projecting on the wall.
We all mingled
for an hour or so, spending time with family and friends and meeting new people
and catching up with people we hadn’t seen in a while, and then it was time for
the presentations. We all grabbed drinks
from the bar and took our seats and then things got started.
My cousin,
David, (Zoe’s brother) was the host, and he started by reminding us all what a
unique event this was. He said that it
was likely a first for everyone there, so we could navigate it however we
needed to – by crying. Laughing. Breathing.
Leaving. Getting out and walking
the grounds if we needed a break. Everyone
handles grief differently and there’s no right or wrong way to navigate it.
Zoe was a
dancer her whole life – her entire life has been all about moving your body and
feeling comfortable in your skin and taking care of and nourishing yourself. She was a professional dancer in New York
City and then she went on to start her own business helping women reclaim their
bodies after childbirth. She is
creative, artsy, and so very talented, and therefore, all her friends and the
people she surrounded herself with are also very creative, artsy, and
talented. So, the next four hours celebrating
her was an absolute treat.
We watched old videos
of Zoe dancing, some of her dancer friends performed dances for her, her
brother and husband and many others gave speeches, we all meditated together,
some of her friends performed poetry that they’d written for her, we all got up
and danced to Sky Full of Stars by Coldplay while waving white satin
sashes that one of her friends had brought, Zoe’s brother performed a song for
her along with two of his friends, one of Zoe’s best friend’s and Zoe’s
daughter sang Long Live by Taylor Swift (I cried buckets during that
one), and my parents, aunts, uncles, and Zoe’s sister-in-law and niece
performed I’ll Fly Away per Zoe’s request.
We took a break
from the presentations after that to eat lunch, and they had a huge spread of food
catered – chicken, rice, vegetable wellington, mac n cheese, salad, and
bread. I lose my appetite in times of
grief and/or stress, so I didn’t each much, but everything that I did have was
delicious.
After lunch,
they opened the mic to anyone else who wanted to say something in addition to
all the planned presentations that we saw before lunch. There was a steady stream of people for the
next hour telling funny stories about Zoe and beautiful stories about Zoe and
generally talking about what a beautiful soul she is. Then, we closed out with a guided meditation
from one of Zoe’s friends. Her friend
walked us all through taking energy from the earth and the sun and the moon and
the stars and sending it to Zoe and each other and ourselves, and it was really
beautiful. I don’t think there was a dry
eye in the whole place after that. I mean,
there really wasn’t a dry eye in the whole place all day.
We didn’t want
to leave on a sad note, though, because that’s not who Zoe is, so after that
was done, my whole extended family and I ran out on the dance floor, flash mob
style, and we did a line dance to Drunk and I Don’t Wanna Go Home by
Elle King. We were the comic relief, I guess
you could say. Haha. When we hit the dance floor we were all still
crying from the meditation, but then we were laughing and dancing and having a
great time. It was such a roller coaster
of emotions all day.
My Aunt Mary
had planned the line dance before the celebration as our family’s contribution. Zoe participated in many flash mobs over the
years, including one in Times Square in New York City a few years back. We knew it would be just the thing to make
her smile, and it did, indeed, make her smile.
After our
dance, we all took a couple of family pictures, we said our final goodbyes to Zoe,
and then we were on our way.
It was a
beautiful day, but it was a hard day. We
laughed. We cried. We laughed and cried at the same time. Over and over over again for five straight
hours. By the time we left, we were all
emotionally drained (and physically drained from everything else).
My Uncle Chris
and Aunt Maureen (Zoe’s parents) invited my whole extended family back over to
their house again after the celebration and Zoe and her family headed to their
own home to rest.
We all hung out
over there for the rest of the evening.
I got to hang out with all my cousins again, and we talked and joked and
laughed and cried together all evening.
My aunts and uncles warmed all the leftovers from the celebration of
life and dinner the night before, so we had a hodgepodge of leftover pizza,
bread, mac n cheese, salad, wings, and chicken for dinner. I had to snap this picture of Mama Cass because she had her own little cocktail holder while she was walking around. Haha. This particular evening was pretty subdued, though... we were all completely drained emotionally. And that's really saying something because I have a very loud family.
We said our
goodbyes at 7:30 PM, headed back to the hotel, and we were in bed at 8:50 PM
MST. Just exhausted. Shockingly, I barely slept Sunday night. I thought for sure I’d be dead to the world
after being so emotionally and physically exhausted, but I just couldn’t stop
my brain from thinking about all the things.
We didn’t set
an alarm Monday morning because we knew we’d be up with plenty of time to get
to the airport for our flight. We woke
up at 7:30 AM, we went down to have breakfast in the hotel again, and then we
all got showered and ready. We took our
time packing because we had time to spare before we needed to be at the
airport, and Olivia Facetimed with her friend, Maren, so they could compare
schedules for the upcoming school year since they’d just been updated in the
school’s app.
We drove back
to Denver to return our rental car, and then we shuttled to the airport. On the way, Brian realized that our airline
for the flight we’d booked was requiring us to check our bags, so I had to
shuffle a few things around from my suitcase to my carry-on when we got in the
airport.
Once we were
through security, we found some lunch.
The kids wanted McDonald’s, but Brian and I opted for Shake Shack, and
then we went in a couple of shops to kill some time. Allen Levi’s book is just everywhere, and
always in the #1 spot! <3 Oh, and I took my new travel outfit for a spin... and I LOVE it.
Our flight was
on time, and as we were taking off, our captain told us that there’s always
turbulence when flying out of Denver. I
was expecting mild turbulence, but this was most definitely not mild. At one point, our plane dropped so
drastically that everyone’s stomachs dropped and one lady screamed. That is the first time I’ve ever been on a flight
where somebody screamed and it was not ideal to say the least. My anxiety went through the roof. Haha. The
kids both looked at me wide eyed, but I assured them it was okay, and thankfully,
it was.
The rest of the
flight was smooth, but when we landed, the jet bridge was malfunctioning, so
they had to call a mechanic. Thankfully,
it was fixed quickly, and we were off the plane soon enough.
While we were
waiting to deboard, my Aunt Joy (who had landed in ATL a few hours before we
did), texted me to let me know that the entire highway (on our route home) was
completely shut down due to a shooting that was being investigated. They’d been sitting there for hours, and they
weren’t allowed to proceed or turn around since it was a crime scene. I was grateful for the warning, but I knew we
had an extra-long drive ahead of us if we had to take the backroads.
Baggage claim
was slow, which is rare for the Atlanta airport. They’re usually quick, so we were surprised
we had to wait so long. We shuttled back
to our car after that, and then we swung by Chick-Fil-A to grab dinner to eat
in the car on the way home. Just as we
were approaching the area of highway that was closed, the GPS told us that it
was starting to clear, but we went ahead and took the backroads just to be
safe, and it only took us a couple of minutes out of the way.
My Aunt Joy and
Uncle Greg (who also had Mama Cass with them) ended up waiting nearly FOUR
HOURS just sitting on the highway, and I was so grateful we didn’t get caught
in that mess.
We made it home
just before 9 PM our time, and then we unpacked a little, and the kids were in
bed by 10 PM.
This was such a
beautiful, bittersweet trip, and it’s one that I’ll remember for always. I’m grateful that we were able to experience
so many new things as a family, and I’m even more grateful that I was able to
hug Zoe’s neck one last time.
Thanks for
following along, y’all. If you missed
the first two recaps you can see them here and here. And please keep Zoe and her family –
especially her children (they are Jacob’s and Olivia’s ages) – in your thoughts
and in your prayers as she navigates this last stage of life.
