Big group, big laughs, and big fire trucks!  We had a wonderful day!

Both carpools met for coffees, hot chocolates and snacks, then we went quickly on to  our 11:00 tour of the Inter Canyon Fire Protection District fire station,  near Conifer.

Of course the mountains are beautiful right now with the blanket of snow and with the blue skies.  No one was upset about heading to the mountains for the day.

Our tour was fantastic! Chief Skip  was our guide. He is a warm, enthusiastic, and all around good guy. He encouraged questions and there was one from JM right off the bat. “What is the best thing you like about your job?”  Skip’s reply came quickly and easily. He said it was days like today. “Sure I love to go and fight fires but more importantly it is touching the lives of the people in his community and making their day just a little bit better.” I have no doubt that he meant it.

He told us about the fire engines and the ambulance that are housed at  that particular station, the cost of that equipment , about the protective garments that are worn by the firefighters, the number of men and women that are served in the district, and told some funny anecdotal stories about 911 calls that they have responded to.  E asked about the number of calls  they respond to daily, D asked about the lighting on the outside of the trucks, and when Skip invited anyone in our group to get into one of the trucks E, T, P, and D were enthusiastic volunteers.

We asked where the dalmatian was which prompted Skip to tell the group about the link between fire departments and dalmatians back when fire trucks were drawn by horses. He also told  a story about the beginnings of volunteer fire departments and who started them. That person was Benjamin Franklin which got a big squeal  from JM. Franklin  is a Philly native which always brings great pride to her.

We had allowed for about an hour for the tour  but things were going so well that we actually spent about an hour and a half there. Skip gave each of us a patch that is sewn onto the uniform of every emergency responder at inter-canyon. Apparently there is a long history of emergency responders trading these patches across the country. Skip told us we could take that patch to any fire station in America and be welcomed as family. Pretty awesome!

We needed to head over to Kittredge for lunch but not before each and every person in our group expressed such gratitude to Skip for a great tour.

Lunch was at a favorite of out and about, in Kittredge, at the Blackbird Cafe. It was a big group but our waitress handled it easily and just about everyone was part of the Clean Plate Club. Because it was a big group there were conversations going on between two and three people rather than across the table as a whole so I can’t give you tidbits from everyone,  but I know that there was a lot of gabbing going on. D spent some time getting to know Steve,  and JM was getting a kick out of D’s quick wit.

From there the two carpools split into groups for the return trip down the hill and back home. J and I joked  about  being so close to his home on Quebec  yet the traffic  was slowing us down  so very much.  I told him that we were close enough that he could probably walk , but I wouldn’t make him . He laughed and said “oh thanks , I am glad you don’t say here get out I want to show you something then  zoom off !” E  quickly came to my defense  and said  “she would never do that !”  Then T said “oh yeah! ?! ”  Ha ! E,  D,  T and I had a really interesting and heartfelt conversation about the homelessness in Denver, each expressing an opinion about whether or not to offer money, food, or nothing at all. Each had some really interesting and well-thought-out opinions and T, in particular, was very interested in knowing what each person in the car had to say, and in his own way was able to say that he may not agree but wanted to hear their viewpoints.  It was fun for me to listen to this conversation yet not be involved or facilitate it.

It was a really great day that went by very quickly.