A Gnome Conquering the World
On Christmas Night in 1776, George Washington crossed the Delaware River from Pennsylvania to Trenton. This lead to the Battle of Trenton, which caught the British troops of guard during the Revolutionary War. Every year, at Washington Crossing (named in his honor), there are reenactments. Here are some photos from a “dress rehearsal” held in early December of 2015:
With some troops!
Walking to the boats
Crossing into New Jersey
Knitting with some ladies
Another city to visit when in Denver is Boulder. It is about a 45 minutes drive west toward the Flat Irons. Boulder is known as one of the most highly ranked cities for health, well-being, quality of life, education and art.
This may be because there is a beautiful river that runs directly thru a park in the middle of the city.
For lunch, I stopped at the Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse.
The entire building was built and sent piece by piece from Dushanbe, Tajikistan, Boulders sister city.
Built in 1876, this is Old Main on the campus of the University of Colorado.
It was built as the living quarters for the University president and his family. Then it was a library and museum.
I was able to get a picture with a graduate!
Back in Denver I went to the Capitol Building. Built in 1894, it was built out of local white granite.
The dome is painted in gold leaf, in honor of the gold rush of 1908.
There are also 3 places around the building that mark the exact elevation, one mile above sea level. Denver is known as the “Mile High City” for this reason.
Another day trip from Denver is Colorado Springs. It is an hour south of the Mile High City, and has many attractions to see. My first stop was the Garden of the Gods.
Can you see me in the middle?!
There are many trails to discover, but I only walked two.
Looking up to Pikes Peak.
The Siamese Sisters!
After walking those trails at the Garden of the Gods, I headed over to the Manitou Cliff Dwellings.
This site has over 40 homes from the Pueblo Indians.
It is a museum and shows how these Native people once lived.
Inside the homes, which are on the side of a mountain, I could climb inside them. Can you believe 4 people would live inside this dwelling?!
What a view!
Do you prefer museums or parks when you are traveling?
While staying in Denver, I took a day trip to Fort Collins. Ft. Collins is about an hour drive north. It was a very scenic route and the sun was shining… I was really lucky!
The main reason I went to Ft. Collins was to visit the Anheuser Busch Brewery. I got there right when it opened and ended up having a private tour.
It is 110 degrees F in this room!
Out of the 12 breweries, this is the 3rd largest. Over 30 beers are brewed here!
Over 28 batches are made per day, which is 9 million barrels of beer!
The Ft. Collins location is famous because it is where the Clydesdales live.
Each horse can be at least 6 feet tall and weight one ton.
The largest horse on the current team is 6 feet, 6 inches tall and is over 2400 pounds!
Being able to see the stables with 10 horses was amazing. Normally they are gone all summer on tour, but I got there the weekend before they started traveling!
Each day, one male horse drinks up to 30 gallons of water and eats 50 to 60 pounds of hay. Every morning they are allowed to run around on 120 acres, however, the white on their face can get sunburnt so they are put inside before 11 am.
The horses pulling sleighs of beer became a Busch tradition after the end of prohibition. These horses are so strong, that one horse could pull the sleigh, however, when they tour they use 8.
They also have Dalmatians, but those stay in St. Louis, the breweries headquarters.
Have you visited a brewery?
Pittsburgh is the second largest city in the state of Pennsylvania. It is known as the “City of Champions,” “Steel City” and “The City of Bridges.”
Here I am by the stadiums, overlooking Downtown Pittsburgh and the Allegheny River.
For a day trip, I drove about an hour south-east to Fallingwater. Fallingwater is a house that is built over a waterfall by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1935.
This is the perfect house for me!
Back in the city I went to the Mt. Washington to see another view of Downtown and the Monongahela River. 
While Downtown, I had to see a rival cat… the University of Pittsburgh Panther. 
I also visited the Cathedral of Learning, which houses most of the University. It it known for its Nationality Rooms. Actual classes are in these ornate rooms… but I couldn’t help myself from sharing some Penn State Pride!
This is the view from the top of the Cathedral. Breathtaking!
I also went to the Andy Warhol Museum. Even though it is small, you can learn a lot about the artist who grew up and made a lot of art in this old Steel Town.
Have you been to Pittsburgh? Do you have any good day trips from the Three River City?
This past weekend I went to the Annual Philadelphia Flower show. The show is presented by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society and is the largest & longest running horticultural event in the country! It was started in 1829!!
This years theme was “Explore America,” in celebration of 100 years of the National Park Service. There were park rangers and small exhibits of different National Parks all around the country.
The picture to the left is Football Coach James Franklin, giving the dancers some words of encouragement.
