The second park on our three state park expedition is Cherry Creek, which lies on the eastern side of the Gridlock Gulch (Denver) metropolitan area.
Cherry Creek offers an oasis of nature-made sanity surrounded by a man-made jungle of urban chaos.
Cherry Creek is an old favorite of ours. Our former home…
…was only five miles from here (front yard looked nicer when we lived here). While we seldom camped there, we frequently took advantage of the biking trails that cut through the park.
Our goal for stopping at Cherry Creek was to meet up with four of our long-time camping buddies who still reside in the Gulch. We arrived at the park on Friday afternoon, set up camp…
…and then met two of our buds for dinner at The Perfect Landing, one of our favorite Denver-area restaurants.
The one thing I found annoying at Cherry Creek was that at this state park, the restrooms require a five-digit secret code to enter.
It didn’t used to be that way back in the good old days when we’d stop in for a pee break on our bike trips.
On Saturday afternoon, all four of our camping buddies stopped by our campsite for a lunch featuring hamburgers…
…grilled on our trailer-side grill.
Sunday, Dianne got to attend services at her former church, saying hello to dozens of old friends.
Back in camp, it rained in the early afternoon, leaving the grass wet and puddles in the street.
When the rain stopped, we went over to the dam side of the park…
And looked out on anglers fishing. (We did not see any anglers catching, however.)
Driving out of the park to refill the truck with fuel, I began to think about…
…what I truly miss about living in Gridlock Gulch (besides goggle-wearing dogs). The answer was…
This return to the Denver area once again confirms every one of the reasons why we left.
Tomorrow, we’ll hook up the trailer and flee back to the Western Slope – the canyon-side of the Rockies.