Thursday was our final day full day in Colorado before heading home Friday morning. In the morning, Ryan and I headed over to Bruegger's Bagels for some coffee and breakfast, took showers and relaxed in the room for a bit. Later on, we met up with Thomas and walked around Denver for a bit. Photos from our walking tour are below:
The three of us hit the Ship Tavern (pictured below) at the historic Brown Palace Hotel, which was very cool.
Also noteworthy on our tour were the number of medicinal marijuana stations. I was unaware but marijuana is clearly legal for medicinal purposes in Colorado. The newspaper ads for these places listed the prices and the types of marijuana which was very interesting. Also, we learned that these dispensaries actually outnumbered the Starbucks in Denver. Wow.
We then headed to the Kona Grill for yummy sushi (yes, it was good even in a landlocked state!), cosmos and margaritas for happy hour. We later had dinner and another fantastic evening with Pete and Thomas at some local establishments before jetting out Friday am. We had a great time in Colorado - thanks to our hosts, Thomas, Pete and Eric! We can't wait to come back!
Our first time....
As sunset was upon us.
Another view.
Many of you may have seen the corporate video about teamwork that featured the Pike Place Fish people or you might have just seen them on the Real World. Basically, when they get an order, they throw the fish and yell in unison. Pretty fun to see in person!
They have this crazy looking monkfish on a string and pull it back and out to surprise the people passing by.
There was also entertainment each day...
Check out the flowers...only $15!
The produce was amazing with equally amazing prices. What I wouldn't give to have a market like this close to us. The sign on the apples above cracked me up....watch out for the "applanche"!
There were pigs all over Pike Place. I had to give one of them a squeeze!
Post Alley. We hit some neat places for drinks and the like down here.
Here I am at one of these places...the Kells. We had baked brie with soda bread and fruit. True Irish style!
Ryan and I ...downtown by the water. 
We rode on a fairly empty monorail to get there.
Funny enough, the "Experience Music Project" was supposed to be pretty cool. You can play all of these instruments and create your own video. However, there was a large group of middle schoolers on a field trip that swarmed the place and made it a bit difficult to navigate. Ryan was able to get a room with an electric guitar, keyboard and drums all amplified for about 10 minutes before the tweens started knocking on the door.
Believe it or not, the Science Fiction Museum ended up being better solely due to the Jim Henson exhibit. We snuck a photo in of Bert, Ernie and I before the photo police came to get us. There were also Fraggles there, too!
Next stop, Space Needle! Pretty quick and pricey trip but worth it to experience at least once.
A view from the top....
I had to give a shout out to 2 other places. First was our hotel, the Fairmont Olympic. Sounds and looks and was super expensive...but, since I always book my hotels on Hotels.com, I get alerted when they are having a sale and I got our room for 50% off plus I had a $50 coupon from a previous visit. All in all, we got away with one of the cheapest hotels we have ever stayed in and it was also the nicest! Fantastic service and a huge room with a comfy bed.
And, on our last night in Seattle, we had dinner at The Taphouse. Great beer selection (160 on tap, holy cow!) and martinis. The food was also fantastic (sushi, pasta, burgers, etc. etc.). It is on 6th Ave just a few blocks from where we stayed. 
Grant asleep after a long walk in downtown Portland.
Owen up bright and early with Uncle Ryan. He came up between 6 and 6:30am every day and crawled into bed with us. We could only convince him to let us sleep an extra 20 minutes or so until he started tugging at Uncle Ryan's sleeve to come and have cereal with him, which of course, he was more than happy to do! After cereal, they would go out back and play basketball. Too much fun!
Dinner time for Grant!
Our trip to the Niketown Employee store. Look at those future athletes!
Owen...in a tree! Multnomah Falls.
And, I had to throw in another pic of Gracie. We missed Cood so much but she was a pretty darn good substitute!
Thanks to the west coast McCagues for another fantastic trip! Can't wait to do it again!
Here is Uncle Ryan blowing up a ton of balloons the night before!
Phew, the guys and gal (Bondi the dog) were pooped after all the party prepping
Uncle Ryan and Owen fill up the Loch Ness monster pool for the festivities.
The cupcakes. Check out the cute labels that Cathy made. Can you tell what the theme was?
The morning of the party...Grant opening his gifts mailed from all over.
Sometimes you don't realize what a good photo you have until you get home and blow it up. Look at little bro Grant looking up at his big bro, Owen. So cute!
Grant and I on the big day!
Mom and Dad helping Grant with his Birthday cupcake.
And....a happy Birthday boy with some cupcake on his chin! Happy First, buddy!
This was a photo taken on an old highway on a detour to the falls. Pretty amazing view!
