Saturday afternoon, Kim and I took a trip to the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. We made advanced reservations online for the Expedition Health exhibit, arrived at our scheduled time, and we immediately starting working our way through the crowds. Upon entry, we were given a Peak Pass card, which was inserted into various stations throughout the exhibit, recording various data along the way.

Though many of the stations are a bit more kid friendly than I was hoping, there are still some amazing machines throughout. One of my favorites was a vein viewer machine, which magically displayed your veins on your arm and even allowed to see the direction of blood flow. Also there was a machine where two people sit down across from each other, put on a head strap, and try to relax. The winner is the person who is more relaxed. I beat Kim in this challenge!

After spending at least two hours throughout this exhibit, we caught a movie at the IMAX, Grand Canyon Adventure: River at Risk. The movie is full of action-packed river rafting sequences, great music provided from the Dave Matthews Band, and lessons on how everyone can help conserve our limited clean, fresh water. Though I’m already aware of most of what I can do to help, the movie seemed to open the eyes of many of the older folks in the group, as evident from a conversation I overheard after the film.

We also explored the various wildlife exhibits and the space odyssey section. Overall, I was shocked at how much was inside the museum and even though we probably saw less than half of what is displayed, we still managed to spend over five hours there. You could easily spend an entire day at the museum if you wanted to see it all in one visit. I was definitely impressed after our visit and would not be opposed to visiting again in the future.

Spring is in the air, and I’m loving every minute of it. In addition to all of the running outside, long bike rides, and other outdoor fitness activities, I really enjoy getting in the yard and doing some landscaping. On Sunday, I added some new shrubs to our back fence area, a spot where grass refuses to grow, which I’m very happy about. I also mowed the lawn for the first time, put down some fertilizer, and tested out the sprinkler system. I found an outside leak that I hope to fix this weekend, and then we’ll be fully ready for summer. We even kicked on the swamp cooler fan last night for the first time. It was over 80 degrees upstairs at 10 o’clock, so we had to get some cooler air inside for bed time.

I’ve also been trying to take myself off of my daily dose of Claritin-D. I was hoping that maybe I’m outgrowing my allergies, but have resulted to taking a couple doses of Claritin without the decongestant. I’m also looking at more natural ways to reduce the effects from season allergies. I’ve been reading up on different herbs but haven’t taken that plunge. I feel alright most of the time, but recently I’ve been struggling with a cold that I just can’t kick. Perhaps some racquetball tonight will knock it out of my system, the run yesterday didn’t help.

I just experienced my first thundersnow. I wish I would have been outside to see if there was lightning with the snow or not. Windows will now be open the rest of the day. We are having another one of our wild spring snowstorms. Currently it is coming down in huge flake form. At one point earlier in the week they said we could get up to two feet of snow in the downtown Denver area, though I think a bunch of it fell as rain earlier today. I’ll be curious to see what happens the rest of the night as temperatures drop again. Good news in the mountains where I’ve heard that some spots could get up to three feet of powder! It’s closing weekend for most ski resorts that aren’t already closed. Kim and I will be at Spring Back to Vail!

After 24 hours of snow it has finally stopped. At times Denver was under a blizzard warning, and it really was some intense snowfall. After being penned up inside for so long, I decided to go out and do some shoveling. I also decided to snap a few pictures along the way. According to the Paff meteorological center, we received 13 inches of snow. And to be honest, we really needed it. Haven’t had much precipitation at all in Denver, and the conditions in the mountains were not very good. I’m hoping we can get up onto the slopes for some snowboarding this weekend.

I am another year older and one step closer to 30. At this time next year I will hit that mile marker of life. At least Kim’s is before mine. We just took a quick lunch break to go check out office chairs for my desk at home. Kim bought me one years ago that I am still using and have nearly worn completely out. Yes, it is still standing upright, but all of the padding is smashed down and the leather is starting to really wear. So to keep the tradition alive, I’m getting another chair for my birthday today. I enjoy the mesh back feel of my chair in the company office, and once I sat in this chair at Office Depot I was nearly sold. However, I’m not completely sold on the price. If there are any other more affordable options that may offer the same features, please let me know, otherwise I will likely end up owning this one.

Over the weekend, the wife and I took a trip to the Denver Art Museum. Not being that much into art, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but we had always heard good reviews of the museum. We had heard that they offered free admission on select Saturdays, but this was not one of them, turns out it is offered on the first Saturday of every month. However, we were surprised to discover it only cost $10 per person (for Colorado residents) so we went inside anyway.

The first gallery we encountered upon walking up the main set of stairs was dedicated to Western American Art. This features many landscape paintings of the wonderful western landscape, and looking back on our visit was one of my favorite sections of the entire museum. This is in the newly built Hamilton Building, and offers an enclosed skywalk over to the the older North Building.

Upon entering the North Building, we were greeted by large wood carvings from the Northwest Coast along with other American Indian art and artifacts. This large gallery continues onto the third floor of this building, where more than 18,000 art objects representing the heritage of all cultures and tribes across the United States and Canada are on display. This is recognized as one of the best of its kind in the United States, and I would highly recommend this area as well.

We spent the better part of three hours just in these small parts of the museum. Realizing that it would be closing soon, we hurried through Pre-Columbian gallery on the fourth floor, which was very overwhelming, before moving on to the Asian art gallery up on the fifth. I wish we had more time to explore this gallery, but this was where we were alerted that we had only fifteen minutes left in our stay. So we rushed up to the newly reopened seventh floor, which contains more Western art. I really wish we had more time to explore this space, but I guess there is always next time.

With that we exited the museum without even exploring any of the new Hamilton Building, other than the second floor. So it’s easy to say that there is more than a days worth of things to see in museum. Though, if you were to arrive earlier than we did, I guess it would be possible to see it all in a day. I was very impressed by the museum, and I’m sure we will return in the future.

While walking out to the car yesterday morning, I noticed something strange in the back flower bed. There is an alley that runs behind our house, as with most houses in the Denver city area, and it isn’t uncommon for trash to blow into the flower beds. But this time I didn’t find a candy bar wrapper or even an old beer can. I saw what appears to be the first sign of spring. One of our tulips has already started popping it’s head out. Well not actually the flowering part, but the leaves are poking out of the mulch. This always brings to mind the warmer temperatures that are on the way. But I feel bad at the same time, knowing that this one probably doesn’t stand a chance with upcoming snow storms that we all know are coming.

In my new quest to eliminate many of the plastics that we typically use, I made a couple of sweet purchases yesterday. First up, Kim and I both got Kleen Kanteens from REI. We both drink a lot of water and I had grown tired of using the Nalgene bottles we had that contained BPA, and other various plastic bottles that contained who knows what. The Kleen Kanteen is made from food grade stainless steel and it’s completely BPA-free plus it won’t leach toxins or funky flavors into your drink of choice. I’m pumped to start using this.

We also made a stop over at Bed, Bath, and Beyond to stock up on some new glass storage containers to replace the Tupperware that we were using before. I honestly just don’t know what plastics can be trusted, especially when you involve heating in the microwave. We decided on a variety pack of Pyrex glass bowls with lids. I also considered Snapware Glass Lock containers, but couldn’t justify paying the difference in price when compared to the Pyrex. Hopefully the Pyrex lids stay on tight enough to prevent leaks. I can’t wait to throw out all of that stained and smelly Tupperware.

Woah, what happened to today? Quickest day of the week, that’s for sure. I’m just glad it’s Friday. Have a nice weekend everyone!

Today is Kim’s birthday, the last one she’ll have in her 20’s. That’s a scary thought! Hanging onto the edge of that hill everyone always talks about. We’re heading out to dinner after work to celebrate. Today is also the last day that Cari, our roommate for the last couple of months, will be with us. Her mom is flying into Denver this evening, and they will be on their way back toward the Midwest. We wish her the best of luck in her future endeavors.