Picking Pumpkins @ Four Mile Historic Park

This morning we went to Littleton for the first time since we moved here. We bought some educational toys for Johnny off of Craig's List and we were meeting the seller in Littleton. Littleton is a really pretty suburb of Denver. Pretty quiet, lots of trees, nice little town right next to some rural areas and with a great view of the mountains (they're right near the foothills). We still like Boulder best but Littleton was really great as far as the Denver metro area goes.  When we were heading back through Littleton we ended up driving past Columbine High School. It made us sad to think about all that happened there. It was surprising too that something so tragic & violent would happen there in a suburban neighborhood that was as quiet and nice as they come.

It just reminded me that tragedy and violence can happen anywhere. Every generation has events that they remember clearly and affected them in profound ways.  For my grandmother's generation it was World War II, the assassinations of Kennedy and King, the first man walking on the moon, the Vietnam War...My parents remember vividly things like Lennon's assassination, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the Challenger explosion...For my generation (so far) two of the biggest events included 9/11 (which goes without saying) and the Columbine Tragedy.  There are lots of other big events that help to define us but if I think back to growing up in school these two events had some of the biggest impacts on me and my peers.  To see the actual high school where that happened was a little surreal for me.  We saw a sign for a memorial of the victims when we drove by and are hoping to go back there sometime in the future.  We were only in the sixth grade when it happened but we both still remember it as if it were yesterday...

(A view of the Rocky Mountain foothills in Littleton)

 

(Columbine High School--not a very good picture since it was a little unexpected and we were driving by it)

After we left Littleton we went to a Pumpkin Festival at Four Mile Historic Park in downtown Denver. It was a great park--all historical buildings & people dressed up. If you've ever been to Jamestown or Williamsburg in Virginia then it was a lot like those places. The history of the park was really interesting too. Apparently the park used to be a camp that was four miles outside of Denver (though it is in the center of Denver now) where settlers, travelers, and miners from the east would stop to get food and clean up before they reached Denver. The park had buildings from different time periods of the camp--some people represented people of the Revolutionary War era & the French-Indian War; others represented the 1820s through the 1830s; and then others represented the rest of the nineteenth century. They also had a lot of Native American historical representations, which I really enjoyed.  This park has a huge history & significance for Denver and for Colorado history.  It was nice to participate in a fundraiser for the park. We got LOTS of pictures of the various buildings and people--too many to post in this blog, so I'll post a few that give a good overview of the tour.

(A blacksmith showing us how they made various metals at the camp back in the 1800s)

 

(Johnny taking everything in on his daddy's shoulders--and with his friend Mr. Lion)

 

(The pumpkin that Johnny picked--it is a pretty big pumpkin but this picture makes it look small)

 

(Johnny wanted to pick up the pumpkin himself)

 

(Me in front of a teepee...holding the darn heavy pumpkin...word to the wise: pick your pumpkin @ the END of the tour)

 

(Just one of the campsites--we have pictures of lots of different camps and buildings)

 

(The actual 4 Mile Historic House)

 

(John & Johnny in front of a root cellar)

 

(We were looking at some chickens, but Johnny wasn't too interested--he thought it better to give me a bored/tired look)

 

 

(Johnny in his new Gap jacket--size 3T so he can wear it for 2 yrs--isn't he adorable??)

Overall it was a fun day!  I'm not sure we would have ever went to Four Mile Historic Park if I had not seen an advertisement for the Pumpkin Festival there...we hadn't even heard about it or read about it online.  I'm really glad we did get to go because it was a lot of fun and there was a lot of history that we go to see there.  It will be fun to take Johnny back there next year when he is a little older and would be more inclined to enjoy interacting with all the historical games and activities. 

The best part of the day was that we bought our first pumpkin for the autumn season! :)  I think I'm going to let Johnny decorate this pumpkin...we are going to an even bigger Pumpkin Festival next weekend and we'll probably get more than one pumpkin for decorating and for seeds and canning.  I'm not sure if I will make any pies out of any of these pumpkins that we're going to get because you really should use a pie pumpkin... Definitely going to roast pumpkin seeds, if nothing else! :)

I LOVE autumn!!