Denver, CO

Hello again,
One of my favorite computer games growing up was Where in the World in Carmen Sandiego? The premise of the game was pretty simple- you are a sleuth who travels the world searching for clues that will help you apprehend Carmen or one of her henchmen.  I can remember spending hours at school and at home playing this game (and watching the TV show for that matter- remember Rockapella?)  That said, I can't help but find it amusing and somewhat ironic that these days I get to play the grown up version with my family and friends known as "Where in the Hell is Bill this Week?"  Well, the answer to that question for the past month has been... HOME!  Home, where the temperatures reach 118 and we were hear things like "it's going to dip down to 105" at night.  Home, where I don't have to show ID when I check-in.  (Yes, Aly still recognizes me.)

With that said, Aly and I did get to take one trip this month.  At the end of June, we headed out to Denver, land of 85 degrees, this weird stuff called rain, our friends Myron and Erin, and of course this...

The Hempmobile

Aly had to work on Friday, so we had to take an evening flight to the Mile High City, arriving after 11pm local time.  Thankfully, Myron was willing to pick us up from the Denver airport (AKA the airport that is nowhere near Denver- seriously, look it up) and drive us over an hour back into the city to drop us off at our hotel.  Thanks Myron.  Feeling as tired as a GEICO commercial (with the exception of the camel one), we checked in, tossed our suitcases on the floor, and crashed.

Fortunately, our plans with Myron and Erin didn't begin until after noon.  This gave us a rare opportunity to... get this... sleep in!!!  No work, no alarm clocks, no exercising- seriously, nothing but uninterrupted sleep.  I highly recommend it.  All good things of course must come to an end, so we eventually got up, enjoyed some breakfast in the lobby, and strolled around downtown before meeting our friends near the ballpark for lunch at Ignite and (what else?) a baseball game.

Coors Field

 Now, Myron and Erin recently got their first puppy, a cute little Chocolate Lab named Naga.  Being a puppy, Naga loves chewing on shoes, the corner of the refrigerator, and basically else puppies loves to chew on, so Erin had to head back to the house after lunch to take care of her while the three of us headed to Coors Field to watch the Giants take on the Rockies.  I definitely enjoyed Coors Field- views of the Rocky Mountains, pleasant fans, and perfect weather.  Matt Cain pitched a great game for the Giants, giving up only one run over seven innings, but unfortunately the Rockies won 2-1 on a walk-off single.  Even though we lost, it was a good game.  Afterwards, Myron showed us some of the sights downtown, including the 16th Street Mall for dinner, dessert, and an unexpected show.

Lady taking picture with the llama.  Love the dollar bills stuffed in the sash.

Dinner was at this cool little restaurant called Cafe Colore.  I had the Seafood FraDiavolo (linguini with scallops, shrimp, and mussels in a spicy red sauce (definitely recommend it). Aly opted for the braised short rib, while Myron went with the lasagna.  Both looked great.  Dessert was at a funky little candy shop that had every type of candy you could imagine.  From Bueno (my favorite candy bar from Europe) to Butterfinger, Scorpion on a stick to salt water taffy, this place had it all.  We ended up buying a large bag of salt water taffy which two weeks later we are still working on.  Finally, the unexpected show I am referring to was this random guy just walking around downtown with his llama.  Yep.  You read that correctly.  Just walking his llama down the street.  What can I say, this guy is living the dream!  With that, we knew it was time to head back to the hotel.

Adding to the collection

The next day, Myron, Erin, Aly, and I took a short drive to the town of Evergreen for a light lunch and to do a little wine tasting at Creekside Cellars.  We were not aware of the fact that Colorado even had any wineries, but it does.  In fact, many of the wines we tasted were actually pretty good, so we decided to buy a couple of bottles to bring home.  From there it was off a nearby lake for a scenic walk and some catching up.  Naga relished in all of the attention she received from every passerby who noticed her and couldn't resist the urge to pet her, while the four of us (AKA Naga's entourage) shared stories and discussed what we had been up to for the past couple of years since we had last seen each other.   

At the lake

That brought us to the end of our short trip.  It was great to get out of the Vegas heat for a few days to catch up with friends (and meet Naga too).  We need to make plans to do this again, and not wait so long this time.  On that note, it's almost time to start packing again.  Our busy season at work is about to start.  Where the hell am I going this week?  Well, it's off to the Kagan Summer Academy at Disney World.  Mickey is waiting, after all!

Wouldn't want anybody to get in now, would we???