Tour Governor’s Residence at Boettcher Mansion | Tuesday through Dec. 2 | 400 E. Eighth Ave., Denver; free, no reservations necessary; 303-866-3682
For the past eight years, workers have labored to return the 1908 landmark to its original splendor. Tour the home, once occupied by the Walter Cheesman and the Claude K. Boettcher families.
Women’s writing retreat
“Writing the Sacred” with Colorado poet and fiction writer Sandra Dorr | St. Benedict’s Monastery, Snowmass, Jan. 4-7| Registration required by Dec. 1; $225 for retreat, lodging donation of $40 per night; e-mail retreat@rof.net or call Brother Chuck at 970-927-1162; Sandy Dorr at sandydorr@bresnan.net, 970-257-1498 or womenswildernesswriting.com
Explore the relationship between writing and the spiritual. Writers of all levels will have hours alone and in a supportive group to do writing exercises and discuss readings of ancient and modern literature inspired by the sacred. Attendees also can meet with the resident monks, attend vespers or Mass, use the meditation chapel and snowshoe or hike on the 400 acres of the grounds.
Holiday celebration
Bent’s Old Fort comes alive| Bent’s Old Fort National Historic Site, Colorado 194, 8 miles east of La Junta or 15 miles west of Las Animas | 6:15-9:30 p.m. Friday and 9:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday; $3 for visitors 13 and older, and $2 for those ages 6-12; visit nps.gov/beol or call 719-383-5010.
Take guided candlelight tours and allow living history interpreters to introduce you to life at the fort on Friday night. Stay for caroling and authentic treats from the 1800s. Scheduled Saturday activities include toy making, children’s games and storytelling. Events culminate with a piñata break and a yule log hunt. The park will close at 4 p.m., then reopen at 6:15 p.m. for the candlelight tours.
Art exhibit open house
A Moment in Time: Paintings of Breckenridge Past & Present by Ann T. Weaver | Barney Ford House Museum, 111 E. Washington Ave. | Open house from 5-7 p.m. Saturday. The exhibit continues through July 2, 2007; suggested donation; 970-453-5761 or barneyfordhousemuseum.com.
Weaver moved to Colorado 15 years ago, and since then has captured numerous landscapes and architectural details of towns and wildflowers in her watercolors. Thirty-five new works of art showing historic and present day Breckenridge will be for sale.
