Sunday, August 29, 2010

Denver, CO

As most everyone is probably aware, I am not exactly what you would call a prototypical friend. I’d like to think that I perform admirably in most of the usual characteristics that are asked of friends. Save one… If you are someone who believes two people need to talk to each other regularly in order for there to be a legitimate friendship, then I am not the friend for you. Never have been. High School. College. DC.




Fortunately, I have surrounded myself with a large group of like-minded people. Or rather, friends who don’t mind too much if I make a disappearing act… In fact, many of my closest friends are folks who I may not connect with for months on end. If I am in DC or Maine for an extended period then, obviously, I spend the majority of social time with friends there. There will be a phone or internet conversation with people from time to time. But I am also, sadly, not the best on the phone… I am, however, great at traveling. So whenever I am planning to visit a place, I make it a point to get in touch with friends in the area to see if we can meet and reconnect.



One such friend is Susan. Susan and I became friends as Resident Advisors in adjacent Halls at Virginia Tech. I spent 3 years as an RA and enjoyed it, even if my philosophy and style for undertaking the position was often not the same as the administration… Susan, however, was what I would eventually come to dub, a “lifer”. After graduating she accepted a position to run one of the buildings for another year at VT. Then 2 years as in the graduate program at University of Denver and, finally, a full time post at UNC. Obviously not the tar heels, same initials though… It confused me too.



So when I knew that our trip was going to take us through the Denver area, who better to get in touch with than Suz! It worked out great because we really didn’t have anything specific we wanted to see in the city and Suz was really excited to be our gracious host and tour guide. Any time I either emailed or texted her, I got a reply or excited phone call almost immediately. Her car, however, was not excited about our arrival. It proceeded to begin having fits the same day we were due to arrive… But we have an RV so no worries!



After a night of catching up, we awoke early and headed into Denver! Suz showed us her old UD neighborhood before getting on the light rail towards downtown. Once there we took a great walking tour of the city which included an awesome old bookstore, lunch at Suz’s favorite spot, and both the City and State Capitol buildings…













We reached the mile high mark on the steps of the State Building…



Denver has a young and vibrant feel to it. Suz showed us her favorite museum buildings and outdoor art…













We continued our loop around the city and then jumped back on the light rail to head back to the RV. But the day wasn’t over! The one sight we really wanted to see was the Red Rocks park and amphitheater, just outside of Denver. There wasn’t a concert that night for us to see, but we still were able to walk around. Such a cool idea and design!









And we got to see some local wildlife too…



Suz also let us in on the secret. If you go to participating Colorado visitor centers and ask for it, they will give you a sweet Colorado trucker hat for free!! So of course we had to do it. When we went in to ask about them though, I panicked… It felt weird going into a visitor’s center and just asking for the free hat, so on the spur of the moment I asked the lady if she could also give us information on Rocky Mountain National Park, our next stop. Suz had already told us all about it and all the hikes that we should do… Oh well.



To get the free hat, you have to give them your email address and fill out a three question survey. I read the first question… “Was the free hat your reason for visiting today?” Ummm. I look at the nice lady and ask, “If I answer this question incorrectly, does that mean that I won’t get the hat??” She says no. So I proceed to answer, Yes. The next question… “Have you been to a Visitor Center before?” Yes. Last question… “After your visit today, will you be using other Visitor Centers in the future?” Yes. Although we stop at visitor centers all the time, so…



Awesome. The person who reads my survey will now know that I have been to Visitor Centers before and, therefore, will visit them again regardless. And the only reason I went to this specific one was because I heard I could get a free hat… Welp. There ya go.



Megs couldn’t believe I answered Yes to that question…



Hey, I cannot tell a lie… Sure I went all the way up there to see Red Rocks. But the only reason we stepped foot in the building was to get our sweet hats. It’s not my fault that their questions weren’t specific…



Good times. Back at Suz’s place. Another home cooked meal. Relaxing and watching the vastly underrated movie Stardust. Birthday cake ice cream. Showers in the morning…



Definitely a great way to get ready for two and a half days in the wild wilderness of Rocky Mountain National Park!

1 comment:

  1. Sounds like my kind of place... if it's free go for it. Keep truckin'!

    Love,
    The Heppies

    ReplyDelete