Casa Bonita

Today I had an errand to run in Denver, so I decided to make a day of it with my friend Jennifer. She offered to treat me to lunch or dinner for my birthday (what do you call it when it's too late in the day for lunch but too early for dinner? linner? dunch?) and the restaurant I chose was... Casa Bonita! This request elicited an eye roll from Jenn, but she gamely went along with my wishes. Let me explain. If you've lived anywhere along the Front Range for as long as we have, which is, in the case of Jenn's, Pat's, and my families, the 1970s, you probably have fond memories of Casa Bonita. And it can only be described as kitschy. Casa Bonita is not known for its food. In fact, the food there is sort of a running joke -- eat there at your own risk, etc. I don't think their cuisine deserves such a bad rap, personally. They do serve hundreds of people on a slow day and probably several thousand on a busy day, so it's not like they're going to earn any Michelin stars. It's cheap and cheerful Mexican food. But I digress. Casa Bonita is known for its entertainment. The interior of the restaurant is completely over the top. You may find yourself eating dinner on a terrace overlooking a two story waterfall, you may find yourself eating in a baroque dining room, or you may find yourself eating in a cave. (Really.) If you're lucky enough to get a view of the waterfall and pool, you'll be treated to skits and cliff divers. Kids LOVE it. We all love it. You don't have to have kids to eat there. I personally think it'd be a great place for a first date, because it's so corny. There's never a dull moment at Casa Bonita and it's always a fun time. Even if you do need a little Pepto Bismol afterward.

Here's a video of one of their famous cliff divers. Sopapillas and cliff divers. It just doesn't get any better than this, folks.

Road Trip to Durango (Part 3)

I love Durango! It's a small city with lots of personality and natural beauty. Durango sits on the Animas River, and there is a particularly beautiful spot a few miles outside of town called Baker's Bridge that gives you a perfect view. If it looks familiar to you, cast back in your memory to the movie "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid": a key scene in the film was shot in this very location. Do you remember when Butch and Sundance are being pursued by a posse, and their only recourse is to jump off a cliff into a river? This is the spot. All the dialog and close up bits were filmed here, and the actors jump, but apparently it's onto a mattress below camera range. Through clever editing, a shot of two stunt men jumping into an entirely different river, in California no less, gives you the impression that Robert Redford and Paul Newman leaped from a great height. You can watch it HERE. When the movie was filmed, there probably wasn't a lot out by Baker's Bridge but prettiness. Now there are some nice homes, including some right here along the edge of the Animas.

The rest of today's pictures were taken downtown, where we found some good shopping and restaurants, including ice cream. (Hooray for ice cream!) Tomorrow I'll show you more.

Denver Comic Con (Part 4)

Here are the last of my Comic Con pictures. Enjoy!

This man was GIGANTIC. With the helmet he was well over seven feet tall. People were gaping in awe as he passed. I can't think of a more appropriate costume for him -- just perfect.

Denver Comic Con (Part 3)

Just a few more fun costumes from Comic Con last weekend. I had planned on blogging ten pictures today like I did the last couple of days, but I'm too busy! So I'll share five now and the last five of them tomorrow.

If you're a fan of the show Parks and Recreation, you'll get a laugh out of this. We love Parks and Rec! We wanted to buy this but of course it was sold out. Too bad!

Denver Comic Con (Part 2)

More fun pics of Comic Con over the weekend! By the way, I think that's not a costume at all in the first photo -- it's a tattoo!

We thought this guy was the best of the many Deadpools we saw. He even had a unicorn.

This was hands down our favorite costume! Bob Ross! I love it!

One thing I learned about Comic Con is that not only will people gladly agree to be photographed, they'll immediately go into character and strike a pose.

Denver Comic Con (Part 1)

Yesterday Pat and I went to the Denver Comic Con! It was so much fun! We've never been to a Comic Con before so this was a unique experience for us. I got tons of pictures of some great costumes, and I even got to meet one of my favorite actors. I have a lot of photos so share, so I'll spread them out over the next couple of days.

Pat and I noticed that many people incorporated rainbows into their costumes. It wasn't until we left that we realized the Denver Pride Fest was going on a block or so away. (Let's not talk about the traffic. Oy.)

I noticed lots of Wonder Women but only one Xena. I think this lady must have made this costume herself, and she's also rocking a three day pass. Now that's commitment.

I loved this clever costume! He had wired the shirt to stay open and the tie to stay in that "blown back" position. Simple but hilarious!

I have to admit that I had no idea what was going on when it came to the majority of the costumes we saw. I'm a huge fan of Star Trek, Stargate, BSG, Joss Whedon and Supernatural, and I have a layman's appreciation for Marvel and Star Wars, but everything else is a big question mark for me. Many of the costumes at Comic Con were Manga or gamer inspired. I admired the creativity while not having a clue what it all meant.

How cool is this?!? I got to meet Mark Sheppard, the actor who plays Crowley (a.k.a. The King of Hell) on my favorite series, Supernatural. He's a funny guy!

New York (Part 3)

A few street snaps from our trip to New York last week. Some of these were places we stumbled across rather than being intentional destinations. The thing about New York is that we've all read so many books or seen so many movies and TV shows set there, practically everything in the city is a landmark you've heard of. So you'll be walking along and find that you're right in front of Carnegie Hall! That's it in the photo above. Of course we did have plenty of great sites to see on our list -- everyone goes to Times Square, right? Enjoy these and I'll share more tomorrow!

The famous Russian Tea Room, next door to Carnegie Hall.

Do you remember the hilarious "Soup Nazi" episode of Seinfeld? When we heard that the place actually exists, we thought it might be fun to try it out. Pat had the lobster bisque and I had tomato-zucchini soup. It was delicious and came with a piece of nice, crusty bread and an orange. (Oh and they were very nice. No shouting at all. Too bad. I was kind of hoping the Soup Nazi guy would give us a hard time and then yell "No soup for you!" 😉)

Times Square is a madhouse night or day. I remember driving through here with my parents in 1979, and it was all XXX movie theaters, drug dealers and prostitutes. Now it's more like the Vegas strip. The last time we were here, about 15 years ago, it seemed less crazy.

I know I told you yesterday that I was finished sharing pictures from the MoMA, but I forgot about this: we stumbled across a photo of the old 8th Street Drive In in Colorado Springs! That was a shocker. Our city is in the MoMA, how about that!

You can read about the artist HERE. I learned today that he is a highly respected documentarian of the huge westward explosion in the 1950s-1970s, and that he took many photographs of Colorado Springs during that time frame.

Star Wars and the Power of Costume

The new Star Wars movie opened this weekend, and in anticipation of that my brother Chuck and I went to see the "Star Wars and the Power of Costume" show that's currently on display at the Denver Art Museum. If you live around here and are a fan of the force, you should definitely make the drive. They have ALL the costumes and it's great fun to see them up close and personal.

The first thing you see when you walk into the exhibit is Obi Wan Kenobi's robes, worn by Alec Guinness How cool is that?

There were tons of Amidala costumes. I love this one.

My bottom jaw hit the floor when I saw this. It's Princess Leia's infamous slave costume.

Early concept for Chewbacca.

As a sewing enthusiast, I can appreciate the amount of agony (ahem, workmanship) that went into any of these garments. These are the pattern pieces for I believe Obi Wan Kenobi's costume.

And now, a man who needs no introduction...