Highlights:

Creepy scene in the basement of the Museum of Natural History

Deer prancing around a Northern Boulder neighborhood

Wooden roller coaster at Elitch Gardens

Wish I lived inside the Tattered Cover

Ridiculously good pho at Pho-Yo

The other half of Pho-Yo

Build Your Own Burger at The Counter

The Shangri-La of Consumerism

Chedd’s Gourmet Grilled Cheese
That’s right–they serve only grilled cheese. Pick from over 30 kinds of Wisconsin cheese, a dozen types of bread, extra meats or vegetables and condiments, and they’ll grill it for you! Yummy! Why don’t we have something like this in Michigan?

The BCT = bacon + smoked cheddar + tomato + baby spinach on cracked wheat

Denver Art Museum
They had a whole floor dedicated to American Western art — something I’ve never learned about before.

Favorites:
Charles Marion Russell’s tiny (adorable!) detailed watercolor illustrations in his letters to friends
Frederic Remington’s famous Bronco Buster, the bronze statue that’s been reproduced over and over using different techniques
Albert Bierstadt’s large landscape of Estes Park, Colorado

Outside the museum, the 35-foot Big Sweep keeps the city clean.

Buckhorn Exchange, est. 1893

How about a rattlesnake appetizer? Fried alligator tail? Rocky Mountain Oysters perhaps? For dinner, try some buffalo or elk.

It was disconcerting to see the hundreds of animals on the walls!

Leadville or Bust, an 1880′s style Burlesque Show

Burlesque is a humorous theatrical entertainment involving parody and sometimes grotesque exaggeration.

By the 1880s, the genre had created some rules for defining itself:
* Minimal costuming, often focusing on the female form.
* Sexually suggestive dialogue, dance, plotlines and staging.
* Quick-witted humor laced with puns, but lacking complexity.
* Short routines or sketches with minimal plot cohesion across a show.

- Wikipedia

Another great Denver spot:
Piatti Locali, Cherry Creek – Fresh Italian food with a local focus

T House, Tagaytay

David, his girlfriend and I drove down to Tagaytay for a day trip. We went to a spa to get massages. Ahhh…

Changi Airport Terminal 3, Singapore

8:30 am
Jocelyn’s two best girl friends and I are congregated in Jocelyn’s room at the Fullerton Hotel. It’s a gorgeous two-floor suite that lets Jocelyn spy from the bedroom above to the sitting area below. Elliot is coming to pick her up, but we have been given the charge to block his way with all sorts of obstacles. He’s not getting our Jocelyn that easy! At 9 am, Elliot and his groomsmen arrive at the door. Jocelyn’s friend Aileen is a tough gatekeeper. She demands angpao for admission. Angpao is literally a “red envelope” filled with money. The angpao is slipped through the door crack. Aileen peeks inside the envelope, sniffs, hands it back slamming the door. The men cough up more cash. Three offers later, she finally lets them in. But oh! There are many tests prepared for him and he must pass them all in order to be worthy of his bride. First, fifty pushups! Elliot manages ten but cries out his love for Jocelyn in different languages for every one. Then, hands still shaking from the physical exertion, he was to thread three needles, the holes getting smaller and smaller. In old China, it is the wife who was made to perform this task for her future husband as a test of her ability to maintain the household. Today, the man does it to show that he is willing to share in the chores. The next test was for the groom and his men to serenade the bride with two love songs in Tagalog (Elliot, being Singaporean Chinese, couldn’t actually understand what he was singing) and one in Chinese. Then we tested him on how well he knew our dear Jocelyn. He racked his brains for her shoe size, her allergies, her food preferences. And when he didn’t know the answer, he paid us with more angpao! After several more tests (and angpao), he was allowed to approach the staircase. On each step were slips of paper for Jocelyn’s “terms and conditions.” He read them out loud as he rose closer to his goal. Some were mushy, “I promise to tell Jocelyn I love her every day,” some funny, “I promise to clean the fish tank regularly,” some revealing, “I promise to watch my choice of words when I am angry,” while some were sacrifices he grudgingly made, “I promise to stop smoking.” At the top of the stairs, he met the final gatekeeper — future mom in law. She gave him hell, demanding to know how he will treat her daughter. The man was on his knees declaring his utmost devotion for Jocelyn until she relented. The bride and groom are united at last!

10 am
We head to the groom’s house for the tea-serving ceremony. This is traditionally performed during the engagement but they’re improvising. The groom’s mother sits on a chair while the couple kneel before them offering cups of tea. “Mother, please have some tea.” The mother accepts and sips. She gives them a few words of wisdom then angpao. An aunt sits in the chair and the process is repeated. There are other aunts and uncles and older sisters and their husbands. They give their blessing and gifts to the couple. Then it is the bride and groom’s turn to sit in the chairs. The younger generation approach them with cups of tea. Jocelyn and Elliot take small sips and give angpao to the children.

12 pm
We drive back to the hotel where the bride’s family is staying. The tea ceremony takes place once more but with a smaller group. Jocelyn and Elliot kneel in front of her parents who bestow jewelry on them. They lay necklace upon necklace, bracelets and rings. Compared to the earlier ceremony which was rather lively, this time it was solemn. Jocelyn explains to Elliot that the ring he is wearing was one that her mother gave to her father when they got married.

Elliot gives each of us girls angpao again. Aileen informs us that in a very traditional wedding, the groom must provide angpao to the bride’s helpers for every tiny thing they do — from opening the door, carrying her purse, giving her a drink. Sweet.

1 pm
Dimsum lunch at the hotel dining room. So much good food!

2:30 pm
Time to rest and freshen up for the wedding tonight.

Hawker food at Maxwell Food Center, Singapore

Rockwell, Makati (Home Sweet Home)

The dessert buffet at Heat, Shangri-La Hotel.

From the installation plaque:

Presence 2007

The installation’s “platoon formation” is in reference to Fort Bonifacio’s history as a military facility transformed into what we now know as Bonifacio Global City….. The subtle sounds are intended to generate good vibes resonating through the park.

Push gently on the middle part of the pipes to activate the chimes.

I went nuts pushing them all in turn. But in a martial arts movie in my head I was able to move six of them at once!