We sadly left on the one day off that Sherry had but had had a wonderful week with everyone here in Post Falls. She and Gary took us to the airport for an uneventful trip back to Denver where we were to be picked up from the airport by Hayley. Hayley had finished work to come and collect us but due to a forgotten phone plug and therefore our flat cellphone we took 2 hours to connect with us sitting 2 floors above Hayley and all of us waiting for the other! Once we connected we were away and had 2 great days staying with her in her flat. We got to meet her crazy, fun co-worker friends David & Sal who were determined to show us the delicious side of Denver. We got to eat amongst other things dairy-free thickshakes with sago in the bottom! Carol loved it, Kent hated the idea...
We headed out to Fort Collins on Wednesday evening with Hayley having that day and the next off we planned more adventures there. Amazingly when Carol woke next morning it was to find her fondest wish had come true - Fort Collins was covered with a few inches of pristine white snow! She raced out with Elaine and Hayley to drive around and view it and to go up Horsetooth to look down on FC from above, it was a great morning. The snow rapidly disappeared because it was a lovely day but transformed FC into a beautiful picturesque city.
Saturday was the day to head to Elitch Gardens, we (Elaine, Carol, Kent) got our tickets online and met up with Glen and Hayley there. Elitch Gardens is an amusement park and this time Kent's fondest wish came true - to ride some rollercoasters! We spent the day here having fun on the rides and managed to go on nearly all of them.
All too soon it was May 5th and time to leave. We were heading to London via Iceland at a time when the volcano there was belching ash and closing airports in Europe. We were unsure whether or not we would end up flying to Iceland (where we would wait between planes for most of a day) or whether the plane would be redirected to Glasgow or possibly not fly at all. We have really enjoyed our time in FC and especially the time with Elaine, Grant, Carolina, Jane, Hayley, Glen and Grant and Carolina's little cutey Penelope who is a real delight.