Denver Burches and July 4th

Just like old times, the "Three Musketeers" were together again and picking up where we had left off in Virginia (most recently after Billy and Marybeth had relocated to Denver and drew Rick and Kay's attention for their later relocation).  Recounting times and memories shared and discussing the family tree had us focused on visiting sites Rick and I remembered from growing up in Denver (so many years ago -- over 50 plus now).

Rick and Kay (as always)

We managed a few get togethers with my niece and nephew and some of their friends at times.  Fun to see the younger folks enjoying each others company and a few of us older folks as well.

Billy and Hanna

Marybeth and friends

 The threesome made some visits to the old neighborhood (Westwood) and ventured out to Dinosaur Ridge for a little hike around and a trip to the little old town of Morrison that Rick and I used to pedal our bikes through (after going up the now closed section of road with the Dinosaur tracks).  Made it through Red Rocks after our hike but, couldn't get into the Ampitheater as it was closed midday for a concert that evening in response to the entertainers requests.

In Morrison, we walked along Bear Creek on the new pathway and saw some interesting birds -- diving underwater like Cormorants (but they weren't).  Then farther down the pathway, Kay spotted another bird standing in the waters just below a 3 ft waterfall -- it looked like a taxidermied specimen as it stood quite motionless while stalking any fish that might come over the falls.  We never had seen this type of bird before in Colorado and later discovered it to be a black hooded Heron as best we could tell.  In another outing later in Denver we saw another of these birds in Cherry Creek close to where it emptied into the S. Platte River.

Friday, July 1st the three of us joined nephew Billy for a round of golf at the John F. Kennedy golf club -- where views of the mountains were distracting and triggered fond memories while taking them in (camera could not capture what we saw with our eyes for some reason).  Don't know what we all scored but, we did have a fun time -- first time I had played since early May before I hit the road in my Jeep (with pop-up behind).

Fourth of July, Rick and Kay had a cookout with Billy and Marybeth and friends joining us.  Afterwards the younger crowd headed elsewhere and we three went to the neighbors behind Rick and Kay's to watch fireworks from their balcony (looking east).  City of Denver's fireworks were the night before at the Civic Center in the middle of town and we saw them on TV.

The day Billy and Hanna and Marybeth and Allie headed out of Denver going east for vacations, we headed into the mountains to try fishing up at Georgetown -- the little lake I had seen on my trip down to Denver (one I had seen many times during years past).  Our luck wasn't so good at fishing so we headed back down the canyon and into Denver -- decided to stop at Mt. Olivet Cemetery on the outskirts to look up the gravesite of our deceased infant brother.

Larry Burch's grave

We started in error looking for a "Paul Burch" but, when we got to the grave, realized we had named him "Larry" per mom's directions instead of "Baby Burch" (June of 1947, I believe he was still born).  We had a small pinkish stone added with a bronze plate in years past and it was the first time I think Rick had seen it -- I did remember the canal nearby and the little statue of a child not far away -- the older section of the cemetery but, it had been maintained better than in years past.

Thursday, I headed out of Denver and looked to plant the pop-up camper at South Fork, CO near a "Gold Medal" stream to use the last few days of my 5 day fishing pass.