Leap Frogging Home

Since we left Abilene, we have had a series of one night stands heading west toward home. Our stops have been brief but enjoyable.

Goodland, Kansas, is the only US site and one of only six places in the world to have a giant painting of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers. As the center for sunflower seed and oil production, the city has a park with this painting as its center point.

Cousin Barbara recommended we stop in Burlington, Colorado, to see a wonderful Philadelphia Toboggan Company 1906 carousel. As children growing up in Denver, one of the nicest outings we had was to the lovely Elitch’s Gardens. Donate by John and Mary Elitch (we just learned that fact), the old grounds were delightful for all ages (the gardens have been moved and are now more amusement park than gardens). The night before we got married, we went with our bridal party to Elitch’s. One of the fun things we did was ride the carrousel. This was the second carousel on the site (another fact we learned).

Going to Burlington to ride the original one was wonderful and a bit intimidating. It circles at speeds of 10-15 mph with the centrifugal force causing riders of the stationary animals to tilt outward. The musical accompaniment for our ride was provided by the Mighty Wurlitzer Band Organ.

Through great effort, the animals and paintings have been cleaned of decades of grime and are among the few antique carousel decorations to have their original paint. This carousel was moved in 1928 from Elitch’s.

Next to the carousel is a small but fine museum giving the history of carousels, this one in particular.

Our stop in Denver was to visit cousins Joann (she was in the bridal party) and Rich. We had a fabulous dinner at Highlands Garden Café and caught up on each others lives. We briefly saw their son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren who were visiting from NY and whom we saw earlier at the reunion in Philadelphia.

Our final activity took place in Salt Lake City at the Red Butte Botanical Garden. This is a small, lovely garden which, unlike many gardens we visited that have their best color in spring, is planted to show off a blaze of blooms throughout the year. Paths lead to the various of gardens. The park has a popular concert series and is great for weddings and parties. It has a great place for children. This year’s summer camp focuses on art so the flower beds have information about artists and creating art, ie a picture of Andy Warhol’s Tomato Soup Cans next to tomato plants.

This evening we enjoyed our last dinner on the road at our favorite Mexican restaurant, The Red Iguana (see previous blogs). We have enough for leftovers for our next dinner.