4 January 2026

Oh my! There’s so much that has happened and that hasn’t happened in the last two weeks. This is a long post. Thanks in advance for reading it all.

Unfortunately, the one thing that hasn’t happened is that I was never able to get an appointment with the Spain consulate in a Los Angeles. That means that I’ll go back up Valencia in a couple of weeks and renew my student visa for one more year. (I hadn’t thought that would be possible.) Once that is done, I’ll try again to apply for a resident visa and plan another trip to the US and to the LA consulate. My attorney is confident that we’ll be able to get this done. I hope he’s right.

So, that leaves lots of sharing memories with friends and making new ones over the last two weeks.

Since my last post, here is what I’ve been up to.

For the week before Christmas, highlights including celebrating a Mike’s birthday, catching up with Tom and Kris, some last minute Christmas shopping and then celebrating the holiday.

I love staying with Kelly and Ray. And it was lovely to celebrate their son-in-law Mike’s birthday on the 24th, along with their daughter Kate. Granddaughter Heidi and Kelly’s dad, Jim.

On Christmas Eve, I enjoyed a beautiful dinner with my dear friend MK, and her new girlfriend, Bobbie.

They decided at the last minute not to go to midnight mass with me. I was disappointed. But I still enjoyed a beautiful service and seeing friends from St John’s Cathedral.

After a delicious breakfast with Kelly, Ray and family, I joined MK and Bobbi again on Christmas Day for a traditional turkey dinner with all the trimmings. We concluded the day by watching the Denver Broncos beat the Kansas City Chiefs.

On the 26th, I moved to my friends, Ken and Pab’s house for the duration of my stay.

They welcomed me to the Grotto, their intimate basement gathering place for cocktails.

They have converted this old storage space into a magical corner for gathering with friends. There’s something special about this space where conversations flow with openness, humor and vulnerability.

On Saturday, Vicente arrived from Valencia. It may take a few days to recover from the crazy schedule we kept from the moment he landed.

Pab has suggested that I could make a sign to greet him. I took on the artistic challenge and he loved it. I played Stars and Stripes Forever on my mobile when he entered the arrivals hall.

I had rented a car for the week and needed to pick up a cable to connect my phone to the car system. So Vicente’s first stop was Walmart! His immersion into American culture was just beginning.

Even though he had been traveling for two days, we drove almost an hour to the home of Jack and Micaëla in Longmont. They prepared a delicious dinner. We played a card game. And had a grand time catching up.

Now, the odd thing in all of this is the weather. It has been sunny and mild with temperatures in the 60’s, to near 70.

I tell you this because we got home, fell asleep and then woke up early to a light and beautiful snow fall.

Vicente was like a kid in a candy store! Pure joy! It felt like Christmas all over again!

I had thought about taking Vicente to Colorado Springs or to Estes Park for the day. But he wisely said, let’s take it slow.

So after a delicious breakfast with Ken and Pab, we went to downtown Denver for walking and sightseeing.

We walked along the 16th Street Mall, we stopped for a coffee at the Hilton, we explored the architecture and art of the Denver Library. We went to the Art Museum and saw an impressive exhibit of the art of Claude Pissarro. And we went into the new Populous Hotel.

That evening, we met a MK and Bobbi for dinner at the Buckhorn Exchange, the oldest restaurant in Denver, complete with liquor license number “1” for the state of Colorado.

We enjoyed bison, elk and pork ribs, along with a starter of “Rocky Mountain Oysters.” Vicente loved it all.

On Monday, my friend a Mike met us and we drove up to Loveland Ski Resort for a fun day of skiing and boarding.

Given that the snow was almost all man made, we still had a fun and exhausting day.

On the way home, I mentioned that Vicente wanted to see an Army Navy Surplus Store, something we’d seen in the TV series, Stranger Things. We had fun exploring the treasures there.

That night, Ken and Pab joined us for dinner at a restaurant called 7 Leguas, named for Pancho Villa’s horse!

On Tuesday, we had lunch with my friend Jyll. She’s always a delight!

That night, we went to the home of Susan and Mike. We had a great time experiencing Mike’s immersive sound system, a lovely dinner and lots of fun conversation.

Wednesday was New Year’s Eve. Vicente had to get some shopping done. We walked to the Cherry Creek Mall and then stopped for a coffee afterwards in the warm Colorado sun.

That afternoon, I spent over an hour trying to connect the TV to Spain’s televised NYE celebrations. With minutes to spare, we watched, counted down and participated from Denver at 4:00 local time/ 12:00 Spain time!

Let me explain. In Spain, the tradition is to eat one grape for each tolling of the bell at midnight. If you can eat all of them in that time period, you’ll have good luck for the year. Unlike my experience the first year, when I did it with large, seeded grapes (not the way the locals actually do it), Vicente brought two small cans of 12 peeled and seeded grapes. We had no problem…and no shortage of fun!

That evening, we met Mike for our “annual tradition” of Chinese food for New Year’s Eve. Last year, Mike had come to Valencia for the holidays and the three of us went to a Chinese restaurant for dinner. Who knew then that we could repeat the fun one year later in Denver!

To actually bring in the new year, Vicente and I ventured to an event called Bearracuda…a gay dance party.

It wasn’t exactly our scene. But the guys there were friendly and we still had a good time.

For New Year’s Day, we went to Meow Wolf. Fortunately, my friend Susan and her son Eric joined us. Eric had worked at Meow Wolf. So we enjoyed his tour of interesting explanations of the exhibits. If you’ve never seen it, it’s difficult to describe. Vicente called it an “intellectual fanfare.” It’s an artistic expression of what would happen if four worlds collided and blended together.

Later in the afternoon, we went to Kelly and Rays for dinner. The whole family was there. I was thrilled they had the chance to meet Vicente. It was a scrumptious and jovial gathering.

That evening, we got home in time for Ken and Pab to join us for the Blossoms of Lights at the Denver Botanic Gardens adjacent to their home.

Friday brought another chance for outdoor Colorado adventuring.

Mike met us at the house and after breakfast, we drove to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park.

The day was a bit blustery and cold. And as we drove and then hiked up the mountain trails, it got cold!

We hiked from Bear Lake, up to Nymph Lake, to Dream Lake. By the time we got to our destination, Mike estimated winds at 40-50 miles per hour. We didn’t stay long there!

After our hike, we went back to town and had a great lunch at the famed Stanley Hotel, the hotel that inspired Stephen King to write the book, The Shining.

We got home, got cleaned up and enjoyed a quiet evening.

Saturday was Vicente’s last full day in Colorado.

After breakfast, we drove to Red Rocks. It was another warm beautiful day.

Vicente is a music lover. So he loved seeing the venue, as well as the listing of artists who have performed there over the years.

From there, Vicente and I drove back to Denver and met my former work colleague Jason and his wife Jessica for lunch. I love hearing how he’s thriving in a new job.

That evening, my friend Sue joined for a cocktail in the Grotto. It was a delightful visit!

Sunday (today), we finished Vicente’s whirlwind tour by going to Casa Bonita!

This iconic Denver restaurant was bought a few years ago by the guys who created the South Park TV series. They’ve done great work at reviving and making it the kitschy, fun place it’s been known to be over the years.

Vicente is now flying home. I’ll have a less hectic, but no less interesting week ahead.

I’m so grateful to each of you who read this blog and especially when you comment or I get to hear from you. This trip is proving one thing: as much as I love my life in Spain, I miss people like you.

Have a very Happy and Blessed 2026!