coloRADo

After spending a good, solid week at the new house and not accomplishing much of anything, work whisked me away to spend a few days in the wild, wild west. On the agenda for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday was the biannual ASTM (american society of testing and materials) conference where all of the "cool" sporting goods engineers put on their best short sleeve dress shirts and try to impress with their knowledge of physics, biomechanics, epidemiology studies, and laboratory testing procedures. I actually counted this time, and I saw a total of four...yes, four women during the entire conference. To say I was out of place is a gross understatement, but I'm sure they love having someone around who can always say, "wow, you've been coming to these meetings before I was even born". I'm sure they love that. This time, the convention was held in Denver, so I was super pumped to have a cool place to go explore when I didn't have a meeting to attend.

8 Things I learned about Denver:

1. It's really hard to get comfortable outside. If you are walking in the shade, it's too cold, so you put on a jacket and it's too warm, so you go walk in a sunny spot sans jacket and you're sweating. Pick one.
2. Denver is flat. Like really flat, I don't think I encountered a single incline of any degree while walking around downtown.
3. No fat people
4. All of the homeless people live in the grassy area that lies between the capitol building and the US Mint.
   
   
5. No black people either
6. Punk is still alive and well in Denver. I saw many a mohawk in many a color.
7. There is a Starbucks or a Chipotle on every corner. Mmm, burritos and coffee. Actually though, my first experience at Chipotle was not a good as I had hoped, but the second, third, fourth, and fifth experiences were top notch.
8. Always be prepared for rain. Don't know if this is always the case, but in the week I was there, it rained a little almost every day.


So that was downtown Denver. Since the conference ended Wednesday, I decided to spend the rest of the week in CO to visit a couple of friends I hadn't seen in awhile. I spent Thursday and a good part of Friday with Brian, aka BK and the rest of Friday and Saturday was spent with an old friend from high school, Mike.

Brian was a gracious host even if his car did not want to cooperate with the weather. Like I said above, it rained a good bit while I was there and BK drives a Jeep Wrangler that isn't covered in the back. It was probably the most entertaining part of the trip, to see if you could avoid the water that was coming at you from everywhere. As long as you were moving it wasn't bad.

BK drove me to see just about everything you could see in Denver, we even stopped by to say hello to Buffalo Bill.




Red Rocks



Unfortunately, I forgot all about taking pictures when I went to chill with Mike in Boulder. I liked Boulder, but I'm pretty sure I could never afford to live there. Mike lives in a little run down house that costs more in rent than my mortgage. Mike showed me all the cool spots including his favorite bike route, Pearl Street, and his various workplaces, my favorites being the bakery and the bike shop.

The one picture I took in Boulder





And who was waiting for my arrival back to K-town Saturday night? Brooke? Cleo? Feedy? Coach!? T-Mad? Awwwww, you guys.




Yes, I do have cornrows in that picture. That's how I roll.