Review of the Dragon Boat Festival at Sloane's Lake

I attended the Dragon Boat Festival for the first time on Saturday.  While we were only there for about 2.5 hours, I feel like I can give a relatively complete review on what I saw while I saw there. Here goes.....

Parking:  I started with this because, well, it's the first thing you have to do.  This was, perhaps, my only complaint.  Parking was atrocious.  Now I'd like to make a few points about it, though.  1-After we got in, we found out we could have gone to Sports Authority Field and shuttled in.  I feel like this could have been better advertised but have a feeling that this would have made the parking situation more doable.  2-It's a festival and parking is expected to be wonky.  3-We went on a Saturday afternoon when, I'm guessing, there was a peak number of people.  With that said, I think there should be handicapped options available (or better advertised if they already are).  I'm betting if we'd have gotten there first thing in the morning, there would have been more available parking.

Staff:  All of the staff that we encountered were great.  It was watched over carefully by the police and security.  There was a first aid tent that was located in a convenient location.  No complaints, for sure.

Food/Drink:  I have to say, this was one of the widest varieties I've seen at an event recently.  They passed on some of the traditional carnival/fair food to have a more complete array of appetizing food. There were still funnel cakes and berry kabobs but there was also chicken teriyaki and wobbly coconut drinks.  The food is still "fair" prices, though, so bring your pocketbook...and bring cash.

Vendors:  I was actually pretty impressed with the level of merchandise they had.  Instead of it just being tent after tent of Mary Kay, essential oils sold from home, and other work from home businesses, there were many hand made and unique options.  There was a massage tent as well as some tents from Denver's Fox channel and Comedy 103.5.

Entertainment:  We got to watch only a portion of the entertainment but it was definitely very neat.  The martial arts demonstrations were incredible.  The dragon "dances" (as I don't know what they're called) were absolutely amazing to watch.  It was a tiny step into a beautiful culture.

Favorites.....
Disciples of Funk were one of my favorites.  They were energetic and had so much pop in their step.  As a dancer, myself, I love to watch performances and their creativity and funk were enough to get everyone's attention.  We were able to watch their performance of dances through the 80s and 90s.  The neatest part was that they would show the dances (for those that didn't know how) and encouraged people to join in! Here is a link to their facebook page: Disciples of Funk

My other favorite was the AARP lip sync/karaoke tent.  We stood outside this tent over and over singing along with "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Shake it Off", "Let it Go" and other memorable tunes.  It was a fun and goofy way to entertain a crowd!

Recommendations:  Come early for good parking.  Bring cash as most of the vendors don't accept credit cards (at least the ones we visited).  Sunscreen, Sunscreen, Sunscreen! (I can't stress this enough with the Denver sun and hot weather) Either bring a parasol/umbrella or find shade regularly and STAY HYDRATED!  Have fun!

Review of "Sand in the City" in Arvada, CO

Yesterday, I attended the Arvada "Sand in the City" Festival in Arvada, CO.  Overall, it didn't live up to my expectations but I tend to think that it's because I wasn't sure what to expect.  It was still a nice little festival.  Here are my thoughts.....

*Inexpensive entry:  It was $5 for adults (13+) and free for kids 12 and under.  A percentage of the proceeds went to the Jeffco School system.  This was a MAJOR plus for me on both accounts.  Most of the "fun" was included in the $5 which makes it cheap, easy entertainment.....affordable entertainment is very, very nice.

*Vast array of local vendors for food, drinks and craft beer: Again, pretty affordable overall and a great assortment.  They had everything from barbecue to spicy sausages to homemade ice cream and everything in between.  Very, very impressed.

*Vendor tents:  I was very impressed with the vendor tents as well.  They were all well-arranged and the folks in them were incredibly friendly.  My favorite happened to be the airbrushed tattoos.  The gentleman inside was extremely pleasant and the tattoos were very affordable.

*Entertainment:  The band playing when we were there were truly great.  There was a big open area to spread out and watch them.  I recommend making sure to bring a big umbrella, canopy, etc to make sure that you can stay shaded.  If your kids are old enough and you feel comfortable with it,  you can stretch out and let them just check in after the other fun stuff.  What other fun stuff?  Bouncehouses, inflatable hamster balls, bouncy slides, and more.  Be prepared for LONNNNNNNG lines.  Even to get face painting done, there was an incredibly long line which made the airbrushed tattoos all the more worth it.

*Sand sculptures:  Okay so this is where my expectations were a bit skewed.  I expected there to be sand everywhere...a ton of sculptures.  There were nine total.  While that was strictly my overly excited expectation, it kind of skews the theme of "Sand in the City" when there are only nine sand sculptures.  It could have more easily been called "Beer and Brats in the City" for the sake of accuracy.  With that said, the sand sculptures were absolutely incredible.  With themes from "animals" to "minions" to "the three little pigs" with some "dragons" in between, it was absolutely amazing.  My personal favorite happened to be a dragon on a castle with glittery purple and green scales built in.  Hopefully another year there will be more of them.

Overall, I'd say that it's WELL worth the money to go and attend.  If you have very young children, my recommendation is to be prepared to prioritize because the lines will be long for entertainment.  If you have older children that are able to explore a bit "on their own" within the confines of the fair, bring something to shade yourself and enjoy the entertainment while they go and explore the inflatables and long lines.  I will be returning next year with different expectations but no less impressed with the beautiful sculptures!

Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum

I took a little trip to the "Wings Over the Rockies" Museum yesterday just to explore and ended up falling in love with the facility.  Here's why....

Facility:  It was clean, open and spaced well.  There were so many planes to look at and, yet, I didn't feel like I was crowded at any point or that I was unable to fully explore the details of the plane.  You may not be allowed to climb in to the cockpit but you are definitely close enough to get a very real understanding of how big and gorgeous these planes are.

Content:  I felt like there was an incredible variety of planes to look at.  The placards by them gave thorough information and very interesting little tidbits, as well.

Staff:  While I didn't have a ton of interaction on my self-guided tour, the interactions I did have were pleasant and very able to give me information, not only about the planes but about other exhibits that might peak my interest.

Bathrooms:  The bathrooms were clean and well-stocked.

Favorite exhibit:  By far, my favorite was the unexpected but awesome Star Wars X Wing fighter.  It was so cool to see in person and life sized!

Negatives?  I honestly can't say that there were any.  The admission was $12.50 for adults and they offer annual memberships if you want to frequently return.

Will I be returning..... Absolutely.  No question!

If you would like to visit, here is the website address to learn about the location, admission prices and more.....
http://wingsmuseum.org/