Tea Tour

This afternoon we decided to do something we have wanted to do for a long time. We went to the Celestial Seasonings tea factory. We drink their tea all the time – Marina’s favorite is Sleepytime Vanilla. We checked in for a tour and had about half an hour to wait. So we sampled some of the teas they had there. We both liked the Emperor’s Choice blend, which is only available at the factory.

We still had more time before our tour, so we checked out the store until it was time to line up. For the tour, we had to wear hair nets. Marina and I had a tough time getting them on. The factory was not operating while we were there, but we still got to see all the equipment.

The whole factory smelled so good. Marina’s favorite part was the peppermint room. After the tour we went back to the store where we picked out several boxes of tea to take with us including Emperor’s Choice and Sleepytime Mint, which we had never seen before. .

A Day Downtown

My sister and I have discussed taking Marina and Cameron to the Denver Mint many times. I was fortunate to get us a reservation for today. We all headed downtown and found a parking spot close to the Denver City and county Building - just  a block away from the Mint. After going through security, we looked at displays of money from around the world as we waited for the tour to start. Marina seemed very interested in that.

Once the tour got started, she didn't seem quite as engrossed. She looked a bit at all the machines, but didn't spend a whole lot of time with it. Apparently the Mint sounded more exciting than it was! She really liked the gift shop, however. It took a while to convince her to leave.

My sister had an errand to run while we were downtown, so I took Marina and Cameron to Civic Center Park. They were mildly interested in the amphitheater there. However, when we came upon a shallow fountain with kids playing in it, they were really excited. Marina immediately started wading in the water and checking out the statues in the fountain. Cameron wasn't too interested at first. He sat with his feet in the water and watched her for a while. But eventually he joined Marina in the water. They were quite disappointed when my sister was done with her errand and it was time for lunch!