Thanksgiving 2015I booked this trip back in August, and as SW usually goes, if you book 6-8 weeks in advance, you can generally find very cheap rates. The RT EWR-DEN cost about 28K and with the magical CP, that's 7K per person each way - a steal! These pictures are my first TR pictures taken with an iPhone 6S. I personally think they're better than the pictures from my iPhone 5 - let me know what you think.
Thanksgiving, Thursday, 11/26I checked in for the flight exactly 24 hours before and got boarding numbers in the A50 range - not bad. We couldn't fly until Thursday itself and flying on Thanksgiving day turned out to be quite normal, as most travellers likely flew to their destinations on Wednesday night. After leaving the car at my mother's house, she kindly drove us for the short trip to EWR. We got there 1.5 hours before the flight and without checking bags, already having our BPs printed and having TSA Precheck, we were at the gate with over an hour to spare. What can I say? We prefer to give ourselves extra time rather than rush. We picked up a Fresko sandwich from the market; they're pricey, but tasty, and it's especially convenient to have the Kosher option while travelling. Before we knew it, they called boarding, and we got seats next to each other pretty close to the front of the plane. Right on time, we backed away from the gate and took off.
The beautiful view of what must be Linden, NJ.It was our pilot's retirement flight and boy did he land that bird smoothly to a round of applause. Upon entering DEN, we were shocked to see a new airport kiosk.
I wasn't familiar with Coffee Beans that don't have a Hechsher, so we decided not to get anything. Now I know that the drinks are Kosher everywhere and only the food products need to be avoided. Good to know for next time!
Thankfully we had just slight turbulence and no delay on our flight despite landing in snowy Denver. It was our first snow of the winter - and interestingly my first time being in Denver when it was snowing! - and boy, it's much nicer here than in NYC.
After a sumptious Thanksgiving dinner prepared by my MIL, I was hoping to meet up with a Denverite DDFer, but alas, the travel + food knocked me out.
Black Friday, 12/27Having bought the printer I needed a few days ago, there was nothing really on my shopping list for today. After Shacharis at the East Denver Orthodox Synagogue (EDOS), we headed to the
Denver Museum of Natural History, specifically for the temporary Sherlock Holmes exhibit.
We got there a bit early, so we had time to revisit some of DW's fond childhood memories of the museum, including dinosaurs (!) mummies and gems/mines.
Brachiosaurus
Woolly Mammoth
Our Zaidah? 
Crazy how her teeth and eyelashes are still intact!
Stalactites and stalagmites
Seeing these exhibits took less than 30 minutes. Once it was our scheduled time for Sherlock Holmes, we headed that way. The exhibit first goes through Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's character creation process, where he was influenced from, etc. and shows up some original handwritten copies of his books. After that, the displays teach you different investigative techniques in preparation for a case you have to solve.
Learn Morse code at the telegraph display.Once you've picked up all your skills you head to Sherlock Holmes' apartment, where you hone your skills a bit more.
After that, you're taken to the scene of a crime where you need to study certain aspects like the splatter of blood on a wall and dragged footsteps.
Then it was time to test theories by seeing for example, how blood looks when it drips from a cut versus being shot forth from a bullet impact and how footsteps look when being dragged versus running away.
At the big reveal, you just look kinda confused as you never would have guessed who was the culprit. Nu nu, it was a fun exhibit. My only complaint is that it was too crowded. There were way too many people at each station throughout the exhibit, which made the interactive displays hard to use. At the end, there were some displays showing props from the different Holmes' movies/TV shows.
The original Beats by Dr. Dre?After the museum, we were hungry but with Shabbos so soon, getting a full meal didn't make sense. Have no fear, winter and snow can't stop us from getting
Bonnie Brae.
So many fresh, homemade flavors. How to choose??As always, the ice cream didn't disappoint.
Shabbos was very nice with family, even with the frigid temperatures on the walks to Shul. On Motzai Shabbos - Israel time - I had a fellow, kind DDFer check in for our Sunday morning SW flights for us. Despite checking in exactly 24 hours before, we still somehow got B30s. Must have been a lot of people who paid extra for EarlyBird Checkin.
Sunday, 11/29[/u]
On Sunday morning, we said our goodbyes and headed to DEN. This was our first trip where we couldn't see the Rockies at all during our stay, but we did get to see the airport's first on-premises hotel finally open - the Westin.
Bad quality, I know.
DEN airport, with it's snow-capped mountain roof and the Westin in the background.Without checking bags, quickly printing BPs at the self-checkin kiosk and TSA Precheck, we were at the train to the terminals in no time. We had less time at the airport than we did in EWR, so we were boarding the plane shortly after arriving. This was my first time that I recall a flight I was on offering to bump a passenger, but $300 wasn't enough to make us wait around all day and then land in LGA 2 hours from my parked car in Jersey. SW offers free live TV and on a winter Sunday, it's awesome to catch the entire Giants game from the moment you step on the plane all the way till landing. (Tough loss
) My mother picked us up and before we knew it, we were heading back home.
Another fun trip to DEN!
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