Colorful Colorado Part 1

Now, I stayed in this house once before when I was 7 or 8 years old and saw the Burden family once for a night when I was 12. I have not seen him since. Two things gave me the courage to ask him if we could stay: 1. Of my father’s friends (a posse of ex-hippies), he was my mother’s favorite. 2. He recently friended me on Facebook. So screw anyone who says Facebook is alienating. And for a brief moment in our trip, we were part of a legitimate, functioning family. Jo-el made us spinach salad and the best quesadillas of my life at 10:30 at night. We stayed up until 1AM talking about our trip, photography, our respective families. Russel gave us some great advice on our itinerary. We learned about paragliding from his garrulous son, Nick, who has grown into this handsome adventurer since the last time I saw him when he was 2 years old. WE SLEPT IN BEDS. Blissful sheets and mattresses. I had forgotten about them. The next morning Jo-el spread out this amazing breakfast and I just felt like I wanted to stay there for another week. I soaked in the comforts of climate control and blueberry scones, and we hit the road.

Downtown Denver, or LoDo as the locals call it, is too adorable and too clean for both Jill and I to feel completely comfortable. In order to fit in we got Iced Chai Tea Lattes from Starbucks. I felt a tad authentic only because Kerouac stayed at the Windsor at 18^th and Larimer, which is now a revamped condominium.

The highlight of Denver was the Buckhorn Exchange. Jill discovered this gem by watching Man v. Food on the Travel Channel. It is the oldest restaurant in Denver. It has an oak bar dating back to 1893 and behind it is Colorado’s 1^st Liquor License. It was also taxidermy capitol of the world. Jill ordered slabs of buffalo meat on bread that she dipped in some kind of meat juice (it may have been blood). I ordered a salad. But it had mandarin oranges on it. Meaty mandarin oranges.

Then on I-70! Toward Dillon, near Brekenridge to the Dam Brewery where we had some DAM GOOD BEER. Extra Pale Ale, Irish Stout, Golden Brown Ale, Dam Straight Lager. In the back of the bar we saw a guy brewing. I was fooling around with my camera and decided to take a fateful close up of Jill. Behind her head appeared a pair of fingers making bunny ears. They belonged to a 56 year old man named Rick who was driving cross country with his wife, Vicki. They have been on the road for about six years, just riding around in the RV. Vicki assumed they would spend another five years on the road before they settle down. Thus, they knew every road in America and were able to draw maps on cocktail napkins and old business cards. They bought us our drinks and were perhaps sent by the god of travel to guide us through the back roads of Utah. He said we were traveling at the perfect time. The mid-to-end-of-August becasue, "All the students are goin' back to school and all the ole people haven't come out yet. You'll probably see some Japanese, but other than that the park will be all yours." 

Perfect. Can't wait.

Liz: All we've been missing out on is sleep.

Vicky: You can sleep later...you can sleep when you're old.

Jill: I can sleep when I'm dead.