Monday, April 21, 2008

Casa Bonita Family Fun

TASTE THE GREATEST SHOW IN DENVER! - great Mexican food PLUS over 30 attractions - cliff divers, escaping gorillas, cowboy shootouts, lost caves and caverns, amusement arcade and more Photography © by Casa Bonita Casa Bonita has been the funnest AND tastiest place to eat in Denver for nearly thirty years. Few can resist the excitement of the live shows combined with our all you can eat dinners. Check out our menus and our entertainment and see for yourself how great Casa Bonita is! Visiting Colorado was always a treat for our young family. Seeing Grandma and Grandpa at "the big house" and going to the mountains to their place on Grand Lake with trips taken on their pontoon was a blast! We went to Elitches Amusement Park, Lakeside Park, the zoo, the Mint, the Capitol Building...you name it and we had an outing there. However, a perennial favorite was going to Casa Bonita. So many of us wanted to have our celebratory Mom "send off" at this restaurant before we all re-entered our back home lives. It was an evening I'll always remember...and, once again, you can check Linnea's blog for her take on this event, too. Vintage John (4), Linnea (9) and Anne(8) on the bridge by the waterfall/diving area.
Casa Bonita in 1990 with my parents. Please note that my perm/mullet hair years were a mistake.
Right: This year with the Mariacchi band. They, too, have updated their look!
Though we ALL had been to Casa Bonita with Mom and Dad, we had never gone as this big of a group. We had to split up seating, but by the end of the meal, we all were together...loving every minute of the memories. The cliff divers, the schmaltzy show, the mediocre morsels, the delicious sopapillas, the silly puppet show - all were new again as we watched through the eyes of Cal and Ava.
Here the group of Grands and Greats gather before heading into Black Bart's Hideout Cave. All can remember being scared witless as kids here...I remember John and Anne turning back many times before the end was reached! Now Cal and Ava have experienced the same feelings. Time can be very sweet.

5 comments:

Linnea said...

Wow, I love the vintage pics-what a treat! Thanks for finding them. I remember that Anne and I insisted on our most nearly matching clothes and identical hairstyles...and I'd bet money that I was wearing "Jellies" shoes in that picture.

Linnea said...

Also, on the bridge, I'm on the right, yes? :)

Lindahl News 2 said...

Yes, you are...I guessed I goofed on the word order by the picture.

But, isn't it something how much the two of you looked alike at that point in time?

(And, yes, I think you BOTH were wearing "jellies" - the current hot shoes would be crocs, don't you think?)

Linnea said...

It is pretty amazing. I think I'm even wearing her dress in that pic. I had to put a link in my blog, to your blog! Crocs are definitely hot here...they are made in Boulder, I think every kid (and many adults) here is wearing them!

Linnea said...

Oops, I dominated your comments for this one! I sent my mom the link, and she got a kick out of it too.
I love how Ava is kicking out her foot in the bottom picture!