Magic of the Jack O'Lanterns

Last week the kids and I checked out a new to Colorado Halloween experience: Magic of the Jack O'Lanterns! 

Imagine 5,000 hand carved jack o'lanterns and pumpkin sculptures glowing in a beautifully lit garden setting as spooky music fills the air. Sounds like a Halloween dream, right? Well, it's a dream come true and you can experience it all at Magic of the Jack O'Lanterns. 

Magic of the Jack O'Lanterns makes it's Colorado debut this year at Hudson Gardens & Event Center in Littleton, just south of Denver. It's a wonderful family friendly event to add a little color and magic to the spooky season and definitely one you need to check out for yourself if you're in Colorado.

Let's take a look...

Halloween Fun In & Around Denver

The spooky season is here, so today I'm sharing some of my favorite Halloween events around Denver and the surrounding area. Pumpkin patches, corn mazes, haunted houses, spooky shows... There's something for everyone here no matter how spooky (or spookless) you like the season to be.  

Let's take a look...

Street Wise Boulder 2021

Ok, by now you know I'm a big street art fan!

One thing that really surprised me when we moved to Colorado is the wealth of street art here. Both Boulder and Denver have some really great murals and if you been following along here for a while (or on Instagram) you're sure to have seen a lot of fun murals popping up in my posts. When we moved here from the Bay Area I honestly thought we'd be saying goodbye to colorful walls, but it's been such a fun surprise to find so much creativity and color here in Colorado. It's not all hiking and mountains!

In fact, street art is such a big part of the culture here in Colorado that there are several street art festivals held each year. In the past I've shared Colfax Canvas, Babe Walls and Crush Walls here on the blog (and lots on Instagram), and today I'm sharing another street art festival and one that's a little closer to home. It's Street Wise Boulder!

Mural by @hieroveiga

Mural by @chelsealewinski

Mural by @adamraiola and @kaitlinorin

Mural by @lizzymahervelous

Mural by @bunnieluvrocks

Mural by @mjlindo

Mural by @oneiromancy and @lindeezimmer

Mural by @reveryart

Mural by @pin.pusher and @chrishaven

Mural by @jasontgraves

Mural by @jcbl1

Mural by @remoteroc and @chromaj

Mural by @chelsealewinski

Murals by @hieroveiga and @chelsealewinski

Mural by @ozjuahsepia

Mural by @mi_moegram

Street Wise Boulder is a week long "ARTivism" festival run by Street Wise Arts in September each year. Since it's beginning in 2019, the festival has added a ton of color to the walls of Boulder, but that's not all it has added. The festival and the murals have a strong focus on social justice, celebrating cultural diversity, and making art accessible. The artists involved come from a multitude of backgrounds and cultures. 

Immersive Van Gogh Exhibit Denver

Last night I was lucky enough to get a chance to take a sneak peek at the Immersive Van Gogh Exhibit in Denver which opens to the public tomorrow, September 30th. 

I've been seeing this exhibition pop up all over my social media for months now as friends have checked it out for themselves in various cities across the country, and I've been super excited for it to open up here in Denver. If you've seen it on social media too (which I'm sure you probably have by now), let me just say that it's even better in real life! I knew it was going to be amazing, but I had no idea just how magical it would feel being in the room with all the paintings coming to life around me as classical music played. I really felt like I was transported to another place and time. 

If you're not familiar with the Immersive Van Gogh Exhibit, be prepared to wowed! This exhibit features 500,000 cubic feet of projections of Vincent Van Gogh's famous paintings including Starry Night, Sunflowers, Bedroom in Arles and The Potato Eaters. The projections come to life on the walls, the floor, and various mirrored sculptures throughout the exhibit. The sculptures add a little extra magic to the experience with the projected images appearing on the mirrored surfaces from all angles. 

Let's take a look...

Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front National Historic Park

Today marks the one hundredth birthday of the National Parks Service's oldest active park ranger, Betty Reid Soskin. One hundred years old and still working to share her wisdom with the community! What a woman!

In honor of Betty Reid Soskin's milestone birthday, I figured today would be a good day to finally get around to sharing our visit to the national park where she works. Do you know which one it is? You can probably tell from the title of this post! It's Rosie the River WWII Home Front National Historic Park in Richmond, California. 

Did you know that there are National Historic Parks as part of the National Parks Service? While many national parks serve to preserve natural landscapes for generations to enjoy, the historic parks serve to share important historical locations and moments in our history. We've been to a few different National Historic Parks including Rosie the River WWII Home Front, San Francisco Maritime, Boston National Historic Park which includes Paul Revere House and the Freedom Trail, and Klondike Goldrush National Historic Park, which contrary to the name, is in Seattle. 

 

Rosie the River WWII Home Front National Historic Park pays tribute to the civilians who worked tirelessly on the home front to support America's troops during World War 2. With men going off to fight in the war it was up to women to keep the industries that supported America's war efforts afloat. Over the course of World War 2, some six million women joined the workforce, many of them coming to work at the Kaiser Shipyards in Richmond where 747 ships were built during the war years. It was here that the iconic Rosie the Riveter character came about. There was no one particular Rosie, rather the character represents the resilience and can do attitude of the women who took on the work in the shipyards and surrounds. Betty Reid Soskin was one of these women who went to work at the Kaiser Shipyards, although due to segregation, as a black woman she was give menial tasks like filing index cards, and never worked on the warships with the white women. Along with other "Rosies" Betty Reid Soskin shares her story of working on the home front with visitors to the National Park.