Sisters, Sisters...

I had the pleasure of my sister Bekah visiting me this weekend. She flew into Denver Thursday night at 8:30. I gave her an extensive tour of Denver (after taking the WRONG exit and learning that a series of Southbound Interstate entrances were closed for construction). We arrived home at 12:30 a.m. (Suzy was tired the next morning.)

On Friday, after walking through Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs' perennial tourist attraction, we decided to take the Cog Railway up Pike's Peak. We had initially intended to just buy tickets on Friday and ride up Saturday, but when we arrived at the station the last train of the day was leaving and the people in the office convinced us to go. So up we went, braving 35 degree temps in t-shirts. We wanted to buy a camera at the top, but they were out so we asked this couple I knew from church if they'd take our picture (to prove we'd been there!).

At the top, we sang a couple bars of "America the Beautiful," which was written by Katharine Lee Bates from the top of Pike's Peak. Then we talked to Allen, who, evidently, has made it big in Native American music (he claimed to have opened for Kenny Chesney, George Straight and P Diddy) but sells fudge in the visitor's center. He invited us to his concert the next day...but we had other plans.

After Pike's Peak, we stopped by the house my friend Anthony rents. It's a really cool, old, 4-story, 10-bedroom mansion downtown. Bekah likes old houses, so as we took the tour she made Anthony open up every crawl space and cranny. It happened to be Anthony's 30th birthday, so a bunch of the Stick Horses, old and new, joined us and we went out to celebrate. At the end of the night, my existence was validated by Bekah's simple statement: "You have cool friends." :) (It's true. I do have cool friends. But it means a lot coming from her.)

The next day, we slept in, did a little shopping and went to "the 605" where I guest hosted (see entry below). On Sunday we did more shopping and visited my grandparents in Parker, Colo. And yesterday, you guessed it, we shopped some more before heading to the airport. I can't believe Bekah starts college next week! Was it really nine years ago that I was a college freshman? I loved having her, but it's always sad when I have to drop a family member off at the airport and am once again the sole representative of the Hadley family in Colorado. I hope for more visits like this one in the future.