Larry's Sorta Fun Stories
Larry's Sorta Fun Stories
Love, Laughter, and Colorado Peaks
Ever wondered how a love story unfolds when two hearts come together in the most unexpected places? Dominica and I invite you to join us as we recount the whimsical tale of our unique island wedding and the quirky tradition we've embraced of celebrating each month of marriage as if it were a year. Our latest escapade? A leap from sunny Orlando to the grandeur of Denver to visit my son, Josh. Picture this: a grand airport reunion, replete with a chauffeur-driven black car, a dozen red roses, and Josh's dazzling entrance. It's a heartwarming and hilarious saga of family introductions, new beginnings, and a sprinkle of unexpected twists.
But we don't stop there! Our journey takes you through the breathtaking wonders of Colorado—from indulging in various root beers to a nostalgic nod to Disney's Carousel of Progress. Feel the thrill with us as we reach the summit of Mount Blue Sky, where we stood in awe at 14,600 feet, and delight in the sight of mountain goats. Relive the excitement of our historic Georgetown Loop Railroad ride and reminisce about a memorable ski trip as we drive over Loveland Pass. Buckle up for more laughter and love as we gear up for our next adventure from Denver to Bozeman, Montana. This episode is packed with cherished memories and thrilling adventures you won't want to miss!
Hi, I'm Larry, and this is Larry's Sort of Fun Stories. Most of what you'll hear or read about actually happens somewhere in my life. Sometimes you'll hear about my experiences. My strengths and my hope will be, as I continue to grow as a person, be able to show that sometimes I make mistakes along the way, but I'm trying, one day at a time, to live a better life, sharing a little of it as we go along together. And speaking of being together, again with me today in the studio is my beautiful wife, dominica. Dominica, I am so glad you're with us today.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you for having me, Larry.
Speaker 2:I just love to share our stories about being together. Now. We kind of got married. We kind of got married. We went to an island and got married on an island.
Speaker 1:Yes, on February 12, 2024.
Speaker 2:Oh, you're reminding me of the date, huh, so I got to remember that in the anniversary book.
Speaker 1:Oh, absolutely, you better not forget.
Speaker 2:Oh, and what are we doing, Since we're not young kids anymore? We think one month equals.
Speaker 1:One year.
Speaker 2:One year. So we're trying to catch up with our friends who've been married for years, and we're doing it month at a time. Yes, well, we went to one. I got to meet your family. I know your family from living in the Orlando area and then now we need to go meet my side of the family. And we got to Illinois. We saw my sister and side of the family. And we got to Illinois, we saw my sister, and so that went okay. Yes, and so who else do we need to meet?
Speaker 1:So now we need to meet your sons.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, yeah, they're a little anxious. The problem is I can't believe this. We're living in paradise and they move out of paradise. They moved west, and they didn't move just to the Midwest. They moved to the west, to the Rocky Mountains, to Denver, colorado. That's where sun number one is.
Speaker 1:Well, I think, they seem to think that where they live is paradise.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:Yes, you know, florida isn't for everybody. No it isn't.
Speaker 2:You know, the heat, the humidity, it's not for everybody. Yes, you know, florida isn't for everybody?
Speaker 1:No, it isn't. You know the heat, the humidity, it's not for everybody.
Speaker 2:Right. So my son lives in Golden, colorado, and so how did we get there?
Speaker 1:Well, we flew from Orlando to Denver.
Speaker 2:And by golly I didn't drive.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:I wanted to. You know me, I wanted to drive everywhere we go, but that just seemed like a long trip to be driving right?
Speaker 1:Right, especially from Denver, we were going to go to Montana. So that would really be A lot of driving, a lot of driving.
Speaker 2:So my airline of choice usually is Delta, and I looked up Delta and everything. It just didn't work out and so we chose Southwest.
Speaker 1:And Southwest is one of my favorites.
Speaker 2:Oh, good, and Southwest is a direct flight. And this is on page two of the script. Oh, are you on the script? Look at page two.
Speaker 1:Okay, I'll get on to page two.
Speaker 2:We get to page two and there we are in Denver waiting for my son to pick us up. Now, my son always picks us up. I mean, he's very good about that. Fact is, can I mention this the last time I went to see him in Denver, I flew by myself, but he found out what I was flying on and he booked me up to first class. I could not believe it.
Speaker 1:He is an exceptional young man. That's for sure, yeah.
Speaker 2:And so we're sitting in the airport at Denver waiting for my son to come pick us up. We've got our bags and you know you go through the routine of you got to get your baggage. Then let your driver know that they're coming, you know. So I texted him and said we're here on level four, and he texted back and said I'll tell my driver and we'll be there in about 20 minutes.
Speaker 1:Okay, so we saw this big black car with these.
Speaker 2:American flags waving. It looked like a presidential car, didn't it?
Speaker 1:It did and it was like during the Republican National Convention.
Speaker 2:Right, we thought they were out of place.
Speaker 1:We thought well, you know, maybe these people are heading that way, who knows?
Speaker 2:Who knows what kind of celebrities are picking up. Well, we thought well, you know, maybe these people are heading that way.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah. Who knows who knows you know what kind of celebrities are picking up? Yeah, Little did we know.
Speaker 2:So the driver gets out of the car and goes around and the driver, he looks like a chauffeur, I mean he's got a chauffeur.
Speaker 1:He's dressed in black, with a hat, a cap.
Speaker 2:The whole deal. And he goes around and opens the car door, the passenger side, and out steps this guy, another guy dressed in black.
Speaker 1:Good-looking young man, I might add yes.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And he starts heading my way, our way, and I had never met him before, so I had no idea who he was, and I didn't either.
Speaker 2:You didn't recognize him I did not either, and it ends up being my son is chauffeured to pick us up and he's going.
Speaker 1:Dad, dad, it's me it's your son, josh.
Speaker 2:Oh, my goodness, I felt so funny. And then I, and then stuttering, I uh this. This is my wife, domenico, are you know? You're glad to meet her yes, and I'm going well.
Speaker 1:Nice to meet you, josh. I was just a little taken back by the presentation and then and then what happened? And then, uh, the driver presents him with a dozen red roses to give to me. And I looked and I thought is this for real? You know, I have never been treated in such a manner.
Speaker 1:Yeah, in such a manner I was. You know, I was left speechless. I didn't know what to say here I was trying to. I thought I need to impress this young man and and to assure him that I'm going to be taking good care of his dad and and I'm going to be a you know, good wife to his father. And it turns out that josh was trying to know, impress me or make me feel welcome. Making you feel special, and he certainly did, and he really went out of his way. Wow, and then.
Speaker 2:So then we get in the limo, the car, and my son says to the driver you know, here's the address we're going to.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:And so we drive, and he put you in the front seat too. The address we're going to. And so we drive, and and I'm I'm he put you in the front seat too.
Speaker 1:He did yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:You could sit up there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're going to sit in the front seat. You got the seat of honor.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:And then my son and I are sitting in the back seat. Now I actually have a photo of that. I took a a selfie of me in the, of course you know you love to take those selfies. Well, I'm trying to learn how to do it at the right angle and stuff, and so at least okay we've got a picture of that we also have a picture of you with those roses too by the way.
Speaker 2:Oh, yes, yes, which was fantastic. Yes, and so we drove through the back roads of the Denver area. We ended up at a little restaurant and finally, what happened?
Speaker 1:So then, and the whole time, the driver stayed in character.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:You know he would not reveal that he was one of Josh's friends until we got into the restaurant.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Josh actually disclosed the full. What did he call it? Reveal, Reveal.
Speaker 1:The reveal.
Speaker 2:yeah, and that was fun.
Speaker 1:Yes, that was fun.
Speaker 2:It actually happened to be Josh's in Josh's band. His band, by the way, is called Old Deer. If you want to hear him on the internet, check out Old Deer on YouTube and check out my son's band. But he's the guitar player. Josh is the bassist. So I married Josh the bassist. No, I didn't marry him. He's my son.
Speaker 1:You're getting a little confused here.
Speaker 2:Yes, I can get tongue-tied very easily. So we had a tremendous time in Denver, didn't we?
Speaker 1:We did. And then Josh I mean he took us all over and he knew that I like hiking and going to mountains and experiencing new exciting things, and so one of the places, the first place you took us to, was lookout mountain and the home of buffalo bill cody yes, I was a little shocked over that one. Well, the resting home. Yes, and there's a museum up there yes, but I love the view from lookout mountain right, yeah, you could see denver. You're looking down on denver what you're looking down.
Speaker 2:If you look straight down, you see the cores brewing company, oh and the important thing and the cores brewing company.
Speaker 1:That's just yes.
Speaker 2:But yes, yeah, you could see all of denver and beyond yes yeah, it's beautiful up there.
Speaker 1:it was a great view. Oh, oh, my goodness, breathtaking, yes.
Speaker 2:And didn't we then drive to the Red Rocks Theater too? Was that the same? That wasn't the same day, was it? I can't remember.
Speaker 1:Oh yes.
Speaker 2:The Red Rocks Theater. Yes, it was Right in that area.
Speaker 1:Yes, because they had a concert going on that night.
Speaker 2:Yes, when a lot of good friends of mine have been there. But I've never been there for a concert, but I knew where it was.
Speaker 1:Yes, and that area, that Red Rock area, seems more like Sedona Arizona.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, yeah, because of the Red Rocks. Yes, what kind of rock is that? Because it's porous, isn't that?
Speaker 1:the word Is that the word. Might be red rock, and one of the explanations was that it's one of the fault lines and you know, eons ago when that came together. I don't know how exactly that happened, but that's why that short section looks different than the rest, oh yeah, it's not really at the foothills of the Rockies, or it is.
Speaker 2:It is part of the foothills.
Speaker 1:It's part of the Rockies, but it just doesn't look like the rest of the Rockies. It looks like Sedona, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Okay, so day number two. Josh says well, I wanted to go to Rocky Mountain National Park and Rocky Mountain National Park this summer. You've got to have a reservation, and we couldn't get a reservation to get into a park. That's amazing, isn't?
Speaker 1:it, it is.
Speaker 2:It's amazing.
Speaker 1:But it's good to know that people are out there traveling and enjoying nature.
Speaker 2:Yes, it's refreshing. It's refreshing, yeah, Very good. Okay, and so he said to me we can't get into Rocky Mountain National Park, but I've got this other idea and I want to take you there. So he took us and he wouldn't tell me where we were going.
Speaker 1:Everything was a surprise. Dad, I know you're the planner, but this trip is on me and you are going to have to sit there patiently until we get there.
Speaker 2:So we get back. We got out of Denver Golden Area on Interstate 70, head west, and then where did we get the root beers?
Speaker 1:Oh yes, that was on the way. Was it something like Idaho, idaho Falls, idaho Falls yeah?
Speaker 2:A cute little store off the side had more root beers than anybody will ever want to drink, right?
Speaker 1:It was such a quaint little store and they didn't open until 9, and we were there like at 8 15 and I go to peek through the window and and the lady sees me and and she opened the store up a little early for us oh yeah yeah, that was pretty special so we can get the.
Speaker 2:So we got our own. We each got a different kind of root beer. I of course, had dad's old-fashioned, because I had to stick with the dad's routine.
Speaker 1:And I had birch beer.
Speaker 2:And Josh had a.
Speaker 1:Sarsaparilla.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 1:And the sarsaparilla reminds me of the Carousel of Progress at Disney. When he has a sarsaparilla, uh-huh.
Speaker 2:So what great memories, huh. Yes, wonderful memories so where was my son taking us this day?
Speaker 1:So was that the day that he took us to the Georgetown Loop Railroad?
Speaker 2:No, no, that was the next day. Where did we go? First we went to a mountain that was 14,000 feet high.
Speaker 1:Oh, was that the day before oh see all these things run together. Okay, that was Mount Blue Sky.
Speaker 2:Bingo.
Speaker 1:And what's the elevation?
Speaker 2:14,000 something 600 feet 600 some feet.
Speaker 1:It was the tallest mountain that I have ever been on. And here I thought that when I was in Peru I thought that I had gone to the highest mountain there, in Machu.
Speaker 2:Picchu, that was only 12,000 feet.
Speaker 1:Right, it was not even that, really. Yes, machu Picchu is actually lower elevation than Cusco, and so in Cusco, you know, you walk like 20 feet and then you just have to kind of, you know, relax a little bit, breathe and then resume your walk. And so Mount Blue Sky was even higher and I thought I want to get to the very top.
Speaker 2:Okay, so we get to the top of the parking lot and I couldn't go. There were 200 feet more to go up.
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 2:I said, no, I couldn't make it.
Speaker 1:Well, that elevation, it makes people dizzy and you know you need to. Josh made sure that we had lots of water.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:And God bless him. He took me by the hand and he and I climbed to the top. To 200 feet more, and you were on top of the mountain, on top of that mountain. It was glorious.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 1:Glorious Just to see look down on the Continental Divide.
Speaker 2:And you know the fun thing there. There I was standing in the parking lot and you saw them too mountain goats mountain goats, real mountain goats. This was better than going to yellowstone.
Speaker 1:We saw more goats up close yes, and and, with their little babies yeah, it was wonderful.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was exhilarating yeah, so we have some pictures of that too. If we want to post them on the website, that would be fantastic. We could do that. Okay, you mentioned the Georgetown Loop Railroad.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:That's what we did the last day we were in Denver or in the Denver area. It was pulled by an old steam engine. Yes, and what was the purpose of the loop? The railroad made a big loop around the mountain.
Speaker 1:Well, it couldn't go around, so they had one engine in the front, and then when we got to that destination, they brought another engine Because they couldn't do the loop. So going back was the exact same route, right, only in going there the engine was in the front, and then they repositioned the engine going back Right repositioned the engine?
Speaker 2:Yes, but the reason for the loop was that the towns were like so far apart that they couldn't go straight up. They had to go around.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay.
Speaker 2:Because of the incline.
Speaker 1:Oh, I see yes.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that makes sense.
Speaker 2:So that's why they had the loop, but it was great. This railroad has been in operation since the 1980s and it's a great way to go. It's right before the Eisenhowerisenhower tunnel, right off of interstate 70 in georgetown yes so if you want to get a railroad ride, it's phenomenal, it's fantastic, it's a great ride. It's great what it took us over an hour and a half, I think I think it was a while yeah and then josh made the point.
Speaker 1:He said it. It reminded him of uh thunder mountain in disney world he said this is the real thunder mountain, yeah, yeah yeah and uh.
Speaker 2:So, um, that was, uh, that was our famous ride on the georgetown loop. Yes, and then we came back. At that point, this was my last day in Denver area and back in the 19, a long time ago, before the Eisenhower Tunnel was finished, you had to go over the Loveland Pass to get from one side of the mountain to the other, and this was a famous road and it's 11,900 feet, and so I wanted to go over the Loveland Pass. I wanted to go over because the one night I can remember driving on a Friday night, wanting to go skiing the next day and it was the middle of a snowstorm and we're at the top of a mountain, the wind is blowing, it's so bad I could hardly see. It's amazing. We even made it over the mountain that day, so I wanted to retrace my steps. Yes, so we got to go over Loveland Pass and see some of the ski areas where I used to ski.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:And that's on the bucket list. That's on the bucket list.
Speaker 1:Well, I told you you can go skiing. I'm going to be at the lodge by the fireplace with a nice hot toddy. I'm not a skier.
Speaker 2:You're a bunnier, I'm a bunnier, you're a bunnier, bunny, bunny, bunny. Well, listen, so that's a little bit of Larry's sort of fun stories, how the wife met the son.
Speaker 1:Yes, glorious.
Speaker 2:Glorious got together and we look forward to many more of those kind of reunions in the future. But we're going to actually next episode. We're going to talk about going from Denver to Bozeman, montana. Yes, we're going to be driving through Wyoming and then into Montana, so we'll talk about that on the next episode of Larry's Sort of Fun Stories. So what do you say?
Speaker 1:Well, can I just mention Mother Cabrini's Shrine.
Speaker 2:Oh, yes, yes, oh, I forgot.
Speaker 1:Yes, and that's in the Golden Colorado area, right? Oh, that was another treat, a treat yeah, it was a treat, a discovery.
Speaker 2:Yes, that was quite a discovery as we were driving up. I think it was interstate. It's off of Interstate 70. You can see it, it's the old road. Yes, josh likes to take the back roads and there was a sign that said Mother Cabrini. Shrine Retreat right. And so we said, well, let's go. And that was inspirational.
Speaker 1:It was peaceful. There's a path with different scriptures along the way, and then you can sit on the benches and look at the beautiful views and just reflect the glory of our God. Yeah, it was beautiful, and that was another thing that Josh says. I think that you might like this. You know, yeah, yeah, such a thoughtful young man.
Speaker 2:Oh, thank you, I guess maybe we'll let him hear this, you know, yeah, yeah, such a thoughtful young man. Oh, thank you, I guess maybe we'll let him hear this, you know, yeah, well, again, thanks for joining us here on Larry's Sort of Fun Stories. You see, there are many parts of our lives that we have in common and we kind of like to share them here. On Larry's Sort of Fun Stories, I'd like to hear from you the best way is on my website at LarrysSortOfFunStoriescom. You can do that on the internet. That's LarrysSortOfFunStoriescom. Drop me a line or share a story and maybe you'll be a part of the podcast. Again, thank you, dominica. It's a pleasure, larry, and we're going to be moving on to Wyoming and Montana on the next episode. Thanks for listening. Until next time. I'm Larry. We're always looking for a sort of fun story to share with you.