Tiki and Private Pinball

 Longmont, CO

Donna and I at Swaylo's Tiki Bar in Longmont CO

Add Another Tiki Bar to The List

Today we drove about 40 minutes north to Niwot CO to visit another Disneyland couple we have been friends with for years and years.  While Donna was reading the Denver Post she learned of Swaylo's Tiki Bar in Longmont CO.  It is a newly opened Tiki Bar that took over a closed Outback Steakhouse.  The article talked about independent businesses opening up in closed chains.  We made the plan right then and there to visit.  Longmont is only 10 minutes from Niwot so we swung by Bob and Michelle's place and Bob joined us on our Tiki adventure.  

The entrance

They had a case full of swag

The bar section is in the hull of a ship

The décor was really cool

Cool decoration inside the ship

The bar inside the ship

My drink

Donna's Drink

Cool glass parrot lamps

Birding with Bob

After our drink and a snack Bob took us to a few birding locations near them.  We saw 20 species including 7 that were new for us in Colorado.  Bob took us to a Great Blue Heron rookery and we saw quite a few nesting Great Blue Herons as well as Osprey gathering nesting materials and building a nest.  

There was a storm on the horizon but not coming towards us

Dinner and Pinball

After birding Bob drove us back to their place and we got a tour of their house (they were living in St. Louis MO last time we visited them) and then we went down to the basement and his pinball collection had expanded.  We hung out in the basement and played pinball and chatted.  It's really nice playing pinball on private machines because they are so smooth and well kept.  

Donna doing her thing on Rush

It was my first time playing Rush.  It was really great.

After pinball time we ate dinner in their garden.  It was a really nice evening and it was great catching up.  We have a few more events planned with them this month and we are looking forward to getting back together.

Enjoying dinner and a drink in The Garden

One last thing about Bob's house.  He has a very familiar painting that I love.  I stopped at stared at it and he asked if it was familiar.  I said yes but I didn't 100% remember why.  He reminded me that I had taken a photo and he liked it and asked if he could use it for a painting and I said yes.  It's a fantastic painting and I am happy to see my photos get used to inspire other art.

The inspiration was "Wet walk to work this morning"

Here is Bob's fantastic painting inspired by the photo

Want to read about our visit to the Botanic Gardens yesterday?  Check it out here.