Christmas in 2016 started early for us. We had to take the Airstream in to be fixed before our planned 2017 trips, and we knew it would be at least two weeks for the work to be completed. We had a soft floor in front of the sink that needed to be investigated, and we believed the hot water heater was leaking under the dinette. So, we left the Airstream in Buda, Texas at Camper Clinic II and drove to Denver for Christmas on December 17th.
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| 2016 Christmas in Austin |
But first, to wrap Christmas up in Austin, we did hit the Armadillo Christmas Bazaar, the Zilker trail of lights with Lupe's little sister and many good friends, and had early Christmas with Lupe's family.
December 2016 is also when the Green Monster got its side scratched at the Decker Lane Self Storage (which they refused to pay for). Sad face.
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| 'last' haircut with Farah |
And, I got a beard trim, with Farah, my favorite hairdresser, and stepdaughter!!
Thanks, Farah for taking care of me for our last year in Austin.
Randy always has lots planned for Christmas in Denver. One thing we always do is visit the
Denver christkindl market, where there are lots of magical, German gifts and surprises as well as LoDo and the 16th Street mall where there is ice skating.
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| Pre-Christmas festivities in Denver |
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So, on to Christmas in Denver after all the shopping. As we approached the 25th, the rest of our close family from Texas arrived in Parker and we had another wonderful Christmas there.
Here's the fireplace the night before Christmas.
Sometimes it feels like we go overboard for Christmas. As you can see in the photos there are lots of gifts. I'd have to blame our mom, Ingrid since she was the one that always provided so many gifts around the tree. It was never about the $$ you spent but about the thought behind the gifts. We still do that, always getting gifts that, we hope, match what that person needs. Here's the link to the
Christmas 2016 Album showing the many gifts and good times we had on the 25th.
Since we had family in town, we decided to visit the
Denver Zoo to spend time outside and give the kids some fun. The nice cool weather was a change for those of us that live in Texas and usually have Christmas there.
Eventually, all the 'Texans' left and Lupe and I were left there in Denver waiting on the Airstream to get fixed. I called Camper Clinic II regularly, but we knew it was the holidays and they would be slow to get the leaks fixed. As it turned out, it wouldn't be two weeks to get it all done. After many calls, Camper Clinic got Airstream Company involved after finding how significant the water damage was.
They found that the kitchen faucet had been leaking behind the counter onto the floor since we got the trailer. That small drip finally started to damage all floors in the front of the RV and had soaked so much of the subfloor that they had to replace all the flooring from the dinette forward. They had to remove the galley, the dinette, and the L-shaped couch and then replace all that subfloor. That work wound up taking 2 months. We finally got a call in early February 2017 that the trailer was ready!
However, the good in all this was that we got to spend a lot of time with Randy and Kenny, and we had an opportunity to explore Colorado for great outdoor adventures. Here are some of the places we visited during that time.
Cherry creek state park
album, the Kathy Griffin show, Rocky mountain arsenal National Wildlife Refuge
album, Chatfield state park, Garden of the Gods park in Colorado Springs
album, and the International Snow Sculpting Competition in Breckenridge Colorado
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| Entrance to the International Snow Sculpting Competition |
Rocky Mountain National park + the famous Stanley hotel next to the park.
And of course, during that time I had my
2017 birthday at Linger in downtown Denver. Who knows how old I became that year LOL but Randy and friends put on a fantastic birthday for me.
