Colorado Day #1: Been up high in the Rockies, under the Evergreens...
Our flight to Dallas didn't take off until 11:30 this morning, and didn't start boarding until 11, but Sara and I were at the gate in the airport waiting for it by 9:45. We don't play around when it comes to catching planes. The traffic that we saw from our place to the airport was unbelievable! Today is our city's first home game of the football stadium, and there were already huge lines of cars of people waiting to get into the stadium and tailgate. I'm glad we'll be out of town for that craziness. The flight to Dallas was so short that the captain said, "This is not a drinkin' flight, it's a guzzlin' flight." He also said "blah blah blah" at the end of one those long safety speeches they have to give. It was a good way to get everyone's attention. Sara and I both looked at each other like, wait, what did he just say?
The Dallas airport is so nice and a lot easier to navigate than the one in Denver. There was a sculpture hanging from the center ceiling of airplanes, mixed in with clouds and every flying creature you could imagine (birds, geese, ducks, bumblebees, butterflies). There was also an art gallery, and we strolled through it while waiting for our connecting flight to Denver. Their current exhibition was the winners of the annual Dallas Trinity River Photo Contest. There were a lot of photos of the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge, which is really cool-looking.
After that, Sara logged into the airport's free WiFi and scrolled through bad Titanic fanfiction. HBO has been showing that movie a lot lately, and she wanted to know if there was any Jack/Fabrizio slash. For some reason, my phone couldn't log into the WiFi, but I'd brought along a good book to read (Fangirl) to pass the time.
Our flight from Dallas to Denver had some turbulence, especially coming down. I was sooo close to finishing the easiest Sodoku puzzle in the SkyMall magazine, but things got so bumpy that I had to put it away before I could. We had to take a train like a subway to get to the main terminal, where Athena was waiting for us. We were SO happy to see her! What better person to spend a vacation with?
I kept staring behind us driving away from the Denver airport because man, is it strange-looking. Apparently it's supposed to look like the snow-capped Rocky mountains, but the locals refer to it as a circus tent. For some crazy reason, this airport has a number of conspiracy theories around it, claiming that it's the headquarters for the New World Order or something.
Athena wanted to take us to Red Robin to eat, but we drove all up and down Denver and never could find one, so we went to a Wendy's instead. I started getting kinda dizzy and light-headed in the car (a combination of the altitude, the twists and turns, and the cigarette smell) but I felt much better after I ate something. And Wendy's has brought back their pulled pork sandwich! They were offering it around this time last year, and I used to eat one every weekend after I left the animal shelter (there's a Wendy's down the street from it, and running around with those dogs always builds up an appetite). It was as good as I remembered. Then we went grocery shopping at a King Sooper, which is apparently what they call Kroger in Colorado, and set out for Athena's place.
There are really no words to describe how remote Athena and Josh's house is, or how far away they are from any sign of civilization. They live about two hours west of Denver, at the very end of a looong, narrow, twisty dirt road through the forest way, way out in the mountains of Colorado. We saw a few deer on the side of the road, and rabbits kept scurrying across it.
I don't know what it is about me. I guess I was just meant to live in the city, because the drive out to their house was really nerve-wracking for me. It was turning dark and cold, and the further and further into the wilderness Athena drove, the more nervous I got, and the more certain I felt that something awful would happen. Just as I started wondering why I'd even taken this trip at all, we finally, finally pulled up to Athena's house. As soon as we got out of the car, Sara said, "Um, I think I smell a skunk." Athena: "No, that's weed."
We got settled into their blue spare bedroom, where there's a murphy bed that pulls down from the wall, which we'd never seen before and thought was pretty cool. We spent the evening watching Fear, a hilariously bad, hokey '90s movie. Apparently all the Wal-Mart bags in Colorado are gray, not white, and Athena has saved a bunch of them for me. I'm planning to make some cell-phone holders and other small stuff that I can fit in my luggage.
The Dallas airport is so nice and a lot easier to navigate than the one in Denver. There was a sculpture hanging from the center ceiling of airplanes, mixed in with clouds and every flying creature you could imagine (birds, geese, ducks, bumblebees, butterflies). There was also an art gallery, and we strolled through it while waiting for our connecting flight to Denver. Their current exhibition was the winners of the annual Dallas Trinity River Photo Contest. There were a lot of photos of the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge, which is really cool-looking.
After that, Sara logged into the airport's free WiFi and scrolled through bad Titanic fanfiction. HBO has been showing that movie a lot lately, and she wanted to know if there was any Jack/Fabrizio slash. For some reason, my phone couldn't log into the WiFi, but I'd brought along a good book to read (Fangirl) to pass the time.
Our flight from Dallas to Denver had some turbulence, especially coming down. I was sooo close to finishing the easiest Sodoku puzzle in the SkyMall magazine, but things got so bumpy that I had to put it away before I could. We had to take a train like a subway to get to the main terminal, where Athena was waiting for us. We were SO happy to see her! What better person to spend a vacation with?
I kept staring behind us driving away from the Denver airport because man, is it strange-looking. Apparently it's supposed to look like the snow-capped Rocky mountains, but the locals refer to it as a circus tent. For some crazy reason, this airport has a number of conspiracy theories around it, claiming that it's the headquarters for the New World Order or something.
Athena wanted to take us to Red Robin to eat, but we drove all up and down Denver and never could find one, so we went to a Wendy's instead. I started getting kinda dizzy and light-headed in the car (a combination of the altitude, the twists and turns, and the cigarette smell) but I felt much better after I ate something. And Wendy's has brought back their pulled pork sandwich! They were offering it around this time last year, and I used to eat one every weekend after I left the animal shelter (there's a Wendy's down the street from it, and running around with those dogs always builds up an appetite). It was as good as I remembered. Then we went grocery shopping at a King Sooper, which is apparently what they call Kroger in Colorado, and set out for Athena's place.
There are really no words to describe how remote Athena and Josh's house is, or how far away they are from any sign of civilization. They live about two hours west of Denver, at the very end of a looong, narrow, twisty dirt road through the forest way, way out in the mountains of Colorado. We saw a few deer on the side of the road, and rabbits kept scurrying across it.
I don't know what it is about me. I guess I was just meant to live in the city, because the drive out to their house was really nerve-wracking for me. It was turning dark and cold, and the further and further into the wilderness Athena drove, the more nervous I got, and the more certain I felt that something awful would happen. Just as I started wondering why I'd even taken this trip at all, we finally, finally pulled up to Athena's house. As soon as we got out of the car, Sara said, "Um, I think I smell a skunk." Athena: "No, that's weed."
We got settled into their blue spare bedroom, where there's a murphy bed that pulls down from the wall, which we'd never seen before and thought was pretty cool. We spent the evening watching Fear, a hilariously bad, hokey '90s movie. Apparently all the Wal-Mart bags in Colorado are gray, not white, and Athena has saved a bunch of them for me. I'm planning to make some cell-phone holders and other small stuff that I can fit in my luggage.