This week, Colorado Governor Jared Polis enacted a state-wide mask mandate. I’m thrilled about this and actually wish it had happened sooner. It takes the ambiguity out of the situation and makes it easier for cities/businesses to enforce the safety measure. The tide seems to be turning a bit with mask mandates happening in many states and Trump even finally caving to the pressure of masks. Of course, this all feels too little/too late, as the cases of covid are getting out of control in the United States.

If Douglas County can’t bring the cases down, we will be back to “Stay at Home” orders within a few weeks. This will be crushing for the economy and a very frustrating situation.

This weekend we took our first over-night trip of the year and stayed at the Hilton Doubletree in Breckenridge. It was strange. Last year, we spent about a third of the year in hotels, primarily Hilton properties as Dan has status with the chain, so Hiltons are very familiar, but this felt like being in The Twilight Zone.

We were requested to have one family member go into the lobby for check-in, a sign which we didn’t notice, and we both went in. Luckily, we were the only guests at check-in. The seating areas/tables/decorations in the lobby had been removed, creating a vast space, like the hotel was being remodeled. We didn’t receive our usual bottled water or signature DoubleTree chocolate-walnut cookies. Our free breakfast perk was gone, and I don’t think the restaurant was even open. Santizer gel and signs were absolutely everywhere, and only two people to an elevator for safety.

Our room had new signage, including a large sticker over the door to let us know that it had been cleaned and sanitized. We had to break the sticker seal to open the door. I guess I felt safe, but I didn’t sleep very well at night. I had the thought that someone else, potentially Covid infected, had been in that bed recently. Could it be properly sanitized? Was this a risky move?

The fun aspects of staying in a hotel, like the pool and cocktail lounge, were gone, so it was strictly a place to sleep situation. It cost over two hundred dollars for the night, with none of the perks. Maybe this is yet another reason to hold off on travel?

We did enjoy Breckenridge. The town takes the mask mandate seriously and we felt safe walking around. We ate BBQ and went up on the scenic chair lift. I will blog more extensively about our getaway in another post, but here are a few pictures. I did briefly take off my mask for the velociraptor picture, but no one was near us when I did. The town was very quiet mid-week.

On the way to Breckenridge, we went on the Historic Georgetown Loop Railroad. The ride is about an hour and it goes through stunning Colorado scenery. I will also write more on this in a future post, but I want to mention a Covid concern.

The train ride was mandatory masks, and we were seated by the staff in a semi-socially distanced way with our own companions. We sat in an outdoor train car. This is a picture of the people in the car next to us, very close to us…see how many refused to wear masks? This picture shows people from about six different families, sitting in close proximity.

Announcements were made that masks are mandatory, however, the employees walked past those not wearing them and did not enforce the state mandate. As I wrote last week, I feel empathy for the employees who are being made to be enforcers for this often volatile situation, however, it is a public safety mandate for a serious situation. These non-compliant people should have been directly asked to wear the masks when they were seated, especially prior to the train leaving the depot ( as many did not have them on then. It’s not like they were wearing them and removed them when seated) and if they refused to comply, they should have been asked to leave.

One family in particular, you can see the teenage son in the blue shirt in the forefront of the picture, was loud in their disagreement with masks and making mocking comments towards those complying with the mandate. We nearly said something rude to them, but didn’t. We were not alone in our feelings. This situation definitely diminished our enjoyment of the train experience. I was angry at those refusing to comply, and frustrated that the train company didn’t enforce the masks.

Here we are on the train following the mandate. We made the best of it by enjoying the sunshine and beautiful mountains.

Check out this beautiful Georgetown lake! We had lunch at a pub with this view.

We ate breakfast at The Original Pancake House in Denver, which was our last dine-in experience prior to the March covid closures. It was great to be back and we even had the same server.

It wasn’t all restaurant dining this week. I also experimented with several recipes in a Mediterranean cooking magazine that we bought at Sprouts. We made chicken kabobs with cucumber-yogurt sauce, stuffed tomatoes with couscous, zucchini fritters and a spicy shrimp marinade. All were delicious and healthy, but I only managed to snap a picture of the stuffed tomato.

We did some garden maintenance, and I pulled out an enormous weed that we actually think might be wheat. It was a monster to pull out. Here I am, having a Green Acres moment and feeling very chuffed.

On writing news, a poem I wrote was selected to appear in the “Field Notes” section of Cordella Magazine’s website. I’m not sure when it will be posted, but I was thrilled by the news!

Our community organized a visit to the nearby Happy Dog Ranch. Due to social distancing, we had to sign up in small groups for hour long visits. It was a great experience. We fed llamas and petted goats. A chicken named Penelope sat on my lap and we won a cute pig decoration in a charity raffle. The ranch helps rehabilitate both animals and people. It’s a great organization and the animals are delightful.

And finally, some adorable cat pictures!

Here we are in our fifth week of social distancing and we are still in a routine. It has been okay. I saw a quote, not sure who to attribute it to or if I’m remembering it correctly, but it was something along the lines of: “We are in the same storm, but not in the same boat.” This is so accurate. I don’t take it for granted that we have been very lucky during this situation. We still (as far as we are aware) do not know anyone who has gotten sick. To this end, we are doing our part and staying home.

We did venture out to the grocery store. It has been two weeks since our last shop. Our store was well-stocked and we were able to get everything that we wanted, including a huge bag of flour. We are trying to last another two weeks. Although the store was stocked and not very crowded, it was a different experience. This time, about 50-60% of people wore masks and actively practiced social distancing.

Among the people who were not wearing masks, some went out of their way to come close to us, closer than people would have under pre-virus circumstances. I couldn’t help but feel this was antagonistic. On the same day, many people were protesting the “stay at home” orders, including hundreds in Denver. I felt this growing sentiment of not just people wanting to do their own thing, but an aggression towards those who feel differently. It made me want to get home quickly.

I’m proud to say that a side-effect of the virus has been the way we use food in our household. We have been cooking every meal at home and really eating all of the leftovers. Food waste used to be a big problem for us, but we are using everything. I can’t say that we are eating healthier, as this week included homemade pizza, baking a cake, curry night with fried pompadums, and gnocchi with bolognase sauce.

Dan received an order of goodies from The British Food Depot and I got to try a Wagon Wheel. Wagon Wheels are similar to Moon Pies, but smaller and tastier. I love British snack food!

We started in on a new bag of coffee from Boca Java, my favorite roaster. I’m sharing because the bag has a funny and appropriate label. Also, Boca Java recently suffered a terrible loss when a fire destroyed their roasting facility. They are struggling to get back on their feet. It’s enough that we are all dealing with the virus, but a fire on top of that is a huge setback.

Cooking wasn’t our only project: Dan turned our gorgeous Timothy Oulton light pendant, into a floor light. Dan added the base. It is too heavy to hang, but having it on the floor is actually a great addition to our living room. We also took part in the third Timothy Oulton Los Angeles Lock Down event, where we were treated to a preview of new products.

We went on many walks, always sporting our bank robber bandana masks. Yesterday, cows congregated at the fence near our house, so we went to visit them.

We celebrated Earth Day this week and if there is one positive result of Covid-19, it is in many places the environment is healing. It seems to be healing in ways that simply wouldn’t have happened if we had not been forced to change our behavior.

The weather has been beautiful, but since our garden is still just dirt, we have been staying inside. I read a ton and Dan played video games. We Skyped with the kids. We watched more Schitt’s Creek, currently on season 3. We did a double-movie Saturday with Guy Richie’s The Gentlemen (great, worth watching, very funny) and The Impractical Joker’s Movie. We are huge fans of The Impractical Jokers, but the movie is a stinker. They have a few challenges like on their show, which are amusing, but it also has a strange storyline, which was totally unnecessary.

As I mentioned before, we are lucky and grateful for everything that we have, but that doesn’t mean that we are not allowed to feeling disappointment. If Covid-19 hadn’t happened, we would be in Las Vegas right now. This is actually the first time in Dan’s career that he has missed the NAB trade show and I have gone with him every year, since we have been together. When it was cold this winter, I was dreaming of our April trip, especially sunbathing poolside with umbrella drinks. I was looking forward to having the Chinese Chicken Salad at Chin-Chin and hanging out with my friend Cath. I know it’s just a trip to Vegas and we’ve been to Vegas a million times, but it is a disappointment. In light of that, here are some of my favorite pictures from previous Vegas trips, including our Aria Wedding.

And as usual, I will end with a picture of our two fur-babies. Now that we are always home, I’m not sure how they will handle it when we are finally allowed to start traveling again!