Contemporary art peaks my interest in the abstract. The museum has art of every media and form- ceramics, paintings, glass, metals, sculptures, furniture, etc. Vance Kirkland was a professor at DU and this building was originally his studio. The present building expanded the studio in 2003 and turned into a two story museum. The art is predominantly from Colorado artists, but there is art from around the world. As I strolled from room to room wondering why I like this museum, I realize contemporary art intriques me because of its bold use of color.

So, halfway through the Nontraveling Tourists’ journey happened on a low-light activity. What fun this has been to do something new every week. I hope some of you will join us in the future- there are only 26 more opportunities!

Ernie was our 87 year-old tour guide, having grown up on the property before the Arsenal forced his family to move. This land has been part of his whole life, so he shared lots of information about different families who lived there, the water czar, the wives tales that they told about weather. He showed us where the four one-room schoolhouses used to sit, until the first four-room schoolhouse opened. The ‘new’ school had gender segregated classrooms with a horsebarn in the middle, where the students ‘parked’ their horses.

Ernie’s stories were an added bonus on the tour about the wildlife refuge and the evolution of a military arsenal to an open space, all natural habitat for hundreds of animals and native plants. Three lakes are on the property, one of which had literally hundreds of ducks on it. There are over 500 deer and 44 buffalo living in the refuge as well as bald eagles, owls, prairie dogs and numerous other types of birds.

This tour is definitely worth a couple hours of your time. I learned all sorts of interesting facts about animals and ecosystems as well as Ernie’s perspective of the past 87 years on that land. I encourage anyone looking for something to do to go spend some time at the Wildlife Refuge.

There were 8 students enjoying Summer’s wisdom as she shared tricks of the trade to make cooking easy. Summer is one of four instructors at Generous Servings, where there are numerous classes to enjoy. We all shared in cutting up herbs and squeezing out potatoes and measuring flour in order to make our awesome menu:
salmon pastries with dill pesto, Vermont maple muffins, tomato and goat cheese quiche, German apple pancakes, and sweet potato pancakes with pineapple and mango chutney. Every dish was as delicious as the next one.

I must comment on how impressed I was to watch the other participants who have a real passion for cooking and flavors and herbs. They shared stories of great recipes they’d made and of disasters they’d concocted. The other students walked away with the desire to make these dishes again one day and some even had ideas of how to ‘improve’ the recipe. I admire their passion for cooking. The best part of the class was having an employee at Generous Servings clean up our gigantic mess!

Dr. Weiss inadvertently came upon these photographs when she was on a private tour of Auschwitz. She accidentally got separated from her group and was frantically running around the compound looking for them. A woman came out of a door and asked her if she’d like to see something no one else had seen at Auschwitz. She was taken to a room filled with 2,400 photographs. These pictures were brought to the death camp by the Jewish people, and the Nazi’s intention was to destroy all pictures that humanized them. She said these were the most beautiful pictures she has ever seen. She found her tour group and returned to America, but the pictures haunted her. She returned to Poland and asked the Communist government for permission to research and publish these pictures in 1986. Her life work for the past 24 years has been to show these pictures to people for identification and to interview survivors to talk about the lives people lived before Auschwitz. She has traveled the world with this mission.

Ann Weiss has a book titled The Last Album: Eyes from the Ashes of Auschwitz-Birkenau. She has identified many people in the pictures and she tells their stories in her book. Her goal is to document the vibrant lives all of these people lived and to celebrate their lives. Dr. Weiss points out that we know the end of their stories, so that is not the focus of her work. Her lecture was filled with wonderful, intimate stories of all these people and she is a master at bringing their lives back to life.

This lecture honored educators and students who were in attendance. Dr. Weiss believes in the value of education to teach about the Holocaust and to never let history repeat itself. The most important message that Dr. Weiss shared was that we can all do something to stop bullying and to start making this a better world. She challenged each of us to be vocal supporters of world peace and bully prevention. Dr. Weiss shared ideas of how to stop bullying in schools and within our communities. Although the Holocaust is deeply disturbing and painful, my experience was positive. I left the event fulfilled and knowing that I will do more to protect victims. This is a different type of Nontraveling Tourist activity from our usual activities. This one reminds you to become a better person,and I left believing that I will be better for having attending this experience.

For more information on Dr. Weiss’ work, please refer to her website www.thelastalbum.org

These are two pendants made during this class.

Glass is a seductive material and one that I admire tremendously! Glass is strong and hard and beautiful, but it also breaks easily and is fragile. Shack Man Glass Studio offers classes including this one where we each made three pendants. Although my pendants are very novice-like, the glass work at this studio is breath-taking. This studio is off 38th and Tennyson tucked into an adorable regenerating neighborhood. Crafty activities are enjoyed by creative people and fusing glass opens a whole new creative outlet for me.

Nothing says “I love you” like some sweet treats, delicious tea, and a highly knowledgeable story teller. Valentine’s Day is special in a Victorian home built in 1889, enjoying high tea on the top floor. This beautiful home has been restored to look the way it did when Molly Brown and her husband JJ lived there in 1894. The Browns traveled extensively and the house was rented out to the Governor of Colorado. Eventually, the “House of Lions” was turned into a boarding house, home for pregnant teens, and apartments until it was in disrepair and sat empty in 1970. The home was saved from the wrecking ball when some courageous and dedicated citizens started Historic Denver, Inc. The house is now restored to look like it did in 1910.

Molly Brown lived a busy life filled with involvement in civic responsibilities and social activities. Although she ran for federal office three times, she was more well known for surviving the Titantic disaster. (Hence her nickname ‘the Unsinkable Molly Brown.’) Her story is filled with exciting highlights, which our docent told with many well-researched details. I find it fascinating that the house and stories were all about a woman from the early 20th century and not about a man. I really enjoyed this tour.

Now, as for the high tea, the food was delicious. The Molly Brown House catered these bakery treats and made Molly’s favorite tea: Earl Gray with jasmine tea. The traditional high tea included orange and chocolate scones, cucumber sandwiches, tomato and hummus sandwiches, shortbread and sugar cookies. Valentine’s Day at the Molly Brown House was very elegant and delightful. Apparently you can enjoy other holidays at the Molly Brown House if you watch for updates.

The owner of this microbrew tour is a graduate student at the Colorado School of Mines. He offers the tour twice each week to about 20 people. Every participant brought a rating sheet along to judge the beers and record the different beers we tasted. The four breweries we visited were the Great Divide, the Breckenridge Brewery, the Wynkoop, and Rock Bottom Brewery. Our tour guide was knowledgeable about the history of each brewery and the different types of beer we sampled. The tour guide does not advertise these tours except online on travel websites, so most of his clients are from out of town. This made the tour even more appealing.

Last week, we went to a tea factory, and this week, we went on a beer tour. I personally prefer coffee and wine, so it’s been fun to venture outside my usual beverage choices. Since Nontraveling Tourist activities are about doing things I would not normally experience, both of these events have stretched me outside my usual realms. If you haven’t joined us on an activity, I hope you’ll pick one soon and come along. We have a good time!

If you want to learn more about this tour, you can visit the following website:

http://www.denvermicrobrewtour.com/

The gift shop is filled with an assortment of mugs!

In the waiting area, Celestial Seasonings has artifacts related to tea. There is a long dress made of tea bag covers including shoes and a purse!

Teapots of all sizes and colors are fun to see.

Free tours run every day and your ticket is a packet of tea samples. While waiting for the tour to start, there are about 6 flavors of tea to sample. A video tells the history of the company and explains how herbs are grown, harvested and collected from 35 countries.

The factory tour is fascinating. Warnings are given to watch out for the tea dust because it makes the floors very slippery. The herbs smell overwhelming to the nose- some smell refreshing or sweet and others smell tangy or spicy. Herb bins line the warehouse from floor to ceiling with labels from different countries. The factory has areas for cleaning out shipped arrivals, preparing tea formulas/mixtures, for making tea bags, for packaging boxes, and for shipping. The whole factory runs with 10 employees on a shift.

The tour ends in a delightful gift shop. The obvious merchandise is the variety of teas and tea accessories made by Celestial Seasonings, but there are soaps, lotions, lip gloss, pottery, cards, placemats, plaques, etc. There is also a restaurant on-site, although it was closed the afternoon we visited. I am personally a coffee lover and felt a bit like I was betraying my favorite beverage by going to the tea factory. After our visit, I actually have started drinking more tea. Hummm, maybe my favorite beverage is dependent upon my appreciation and knowledge of the substance. The tour is well worth the trip to Boulder!