GinohnNews
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26 MAY 2006 |
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G: [shamelessly stolen
from journal entries - ed.]
Sunday: It seems like a lot
has happened already and we are having a great time. We got up at 5am
after going to bed around 1:30am, and it's 11:30 pm east coast time so
you'd think I'd be collapsed like John is right now...
Uneventful flight to Atlanta, where we had a long layover and I tried
to nap. Heard announcement that upgrades to business class were $35 to
$75, so decided to see how much it would be for us. $50 each; we
decided to splurge. I hadn't ever been in business class before, and we
hadn't paid anything for the tickets to begin with, thanks to airtran's
remarkable ability to screw us up whenever we are on our way home. We
paid for the upgrade and waited some more. When it was almost time for
our flight, J went to check up on things at the counter because they
had moved the gate one over on us. Wanted to make sure we were in the
right place. The guy there told him it was a good move to upgrade
because they had to change the airplane we were going to be on to one
with 20 fewer seats, and they were bumping a bunch of randomly chosen
rows. J said if we hadn't upgraded, we'd've prolly been bumped and
continued our new travel method of never paying for another flight,
just getting screwed on each one and earning another for the
screwyness. I think I'm happier that we finally got going after our ~4
hour layover.
So, the extra leg and butt room was nice, but the seat backs had a very
definite shape to them where the headrest kinda sticks out into, oh, I
don't know, the curve at the base of your neck if you are the exact
right height for it. It pushed my head forward and stuck J in the
shoulder blades. That improved a lot when we were able to recline the
seats. Other perks were, like, the entire can if you got a soda, and a
little bag of cookies, your choice from about 6 different kinds. And
that was about it. Well, that and the extra room made it easier to nap,
which we both did. With no little kid kicking the back of my seat!
There is a whole lotta nothin' (Kansas) to look at on the way into
Denver, but so far it (Denver, we'll have to see about Kansas, Meg) has
a lot to recommend it.(Actually I was fascinated and horrified at the
sheer coverage of farmland as we cruised in. It looks really cool, all
the miles and miles of squares and rectangles and those neat circles,
but, geez, I saw almost no trees or anything that looked like a park or
somewhere just wild.) We got our rental car (How come, okay I know how
come, but how come if you want to rent a small, fuel efficient car, and
you "reserve" one, they never have any? Since J has been renting from
National for a long time through work, he has preferred status. They
showed us a parking lot filled with SUV, two huge cars, and one medium
one that someone was already taking. We went to their other lot and got
a Chevy Malibu, which the worker claimed was the most fuel efficient
car they had. Sheesh.) and drove to my bro Grant's. We hung around
there about an hour then he took us to the base of the mountains, at
Red Rocks. Wow. We had a fabulous hike. It was so beautiful. We saw
deer. They look different from east coast deer. They were not very far
away and not afraid at all. We saw rolling rolling foothills. There
were rocks. COOL rocks. Big rocks that were red and sticking out of the
ground at odd angles. There were rocks covered in lichens. Cool. There
were flowers everywhere. And some small cacti and birds and short
pretty evergreens. I think the running I've been doing paid off on this
hike because I didn't really get tired. It was great. There were other
hikers and runners and many very manly looking men on mountain bikes.
Then we went to a Vietnamese restaurant, and the food was fantastic.
Tuesday: Yesterday
when we got up I started puttering around the (Grant's) house -
cleaning mostly. The floor of the laundry room needed sweeping and
stuff needed straightening. John played online poker all morning. After
Grant got up he joined in the cleaning for a while. I suggested seeing
the town so we started walking. I didn't realize how far we were going
or I wouldn't have worn my teva-like sandals. Turns out we were going
about 5 miles.
We got a couple of blocks out when Grant realized he was wearing two
different shoes. They were both white and blue running shoes and we
told him to keep going, no one would notice, but he insisted on turning
back. Then we went off in a different direction to walk to downtown
Denver and see Grant's office at the University of Colorado at Denver.
We walked through very nice neighborhoods and some not so nice. We
stopped at a Greek restaurant for lunch. We went through Cheesman park
and I met a squirrel. He was nearby and seemed unafraid so I got out a
nut and made kissy noises at him. He bounded over and I tossed it to
him. He looked exactly like an east coast gray squirrel except his fur
had red undertones, and was slightly larger. I gave him another nut and
took some pictures. There are going to be hundreds of pictures by the
time we get back.
We walked and walked and walked. As we neared downtown, my feet were
beginning to hurt. We got on a free bus that took us through downtown
and when we got off again my feet felt even more tender for a while. It
was only a few more blocks to Grant's building though and we made it
with my feet intact (I was worried about blisters but they seem fine
today) and without getting hit by lightning (there was a lightning
storm headed our way).
We stayed there until Grant's friend Catherine showed up to give us a
ride home, where we hung out and chatted. Then Grant started making
Mojitos, and boy, were they good. They are way up there on my list of
favorite drinks now. He'd read that they were Hemingway's favorite
drink at that famous bar in Key West (Sloppy Joe's) and had ordered one
at a bar when he saw it. Then he started making them and we are all in
love with them. Look up a recipe, you'll see that it would taste good.
So we enjoyed many mojitos and whiled away the evening.
Today Grant got up when we did and hurried us out the door to go do
something. I looked at Chris's advice for a day trip and we decided to
try Garden of the Gods. It was a bit over an hour away. But it was very
cool and beautiful and even though I had a fully charged battery in my
camera it went dead when we were at the last attraction we were seeing
there (Balancing Rock) and on our way to Pikes Peak (At 14,110 feet it
is one of Colorado's 54 fourteeners). Grant takes way fewer pictures
than I do but we got some once we drove to the top. It was really cold
and windy up there.
We stopped four places on the way home to find an extra battery for my
camera, but we got one. Now I will be able to take my hundred a day or
so! :)
Friday: Tuesday night we
(me, John and Grant) went out to a lounge/bar with a pool table. We
each got a beer and played cutthroat. The barmaid gave us a round of
Alabama slammer shots (yummy) and gave me a rose. Grant said they do
that there. After the last game Grant did an imitation of the Star Wars
kid with the pool cue.
Wednesday we got a little bit of a late start and had a bit of a time
trying to decide exactly what to do. We headed off to Boulder and ate
lunch at the Sunshine Cafe, an all organic food place. Grant had some
ideas of where to go hiking, but he asked the waitress and she
recommended a park called Chautauqua nearby. We walked up and down the
ped mall once, and there were lots of interesting looking shops, but we
didn't have time to stop in many. We did check out the kite store and a
science store. Then we drove to the park. It was at the base of the
foothills of the flat irons, and we started hiking up after choosing a
trail. Even the part that looked fairly flat leading in required more
effort than I expected. At the foot it was a rocky path with lots of
trees. When we got to the head of the Royal Arch trail, it didn't look
too bad. But it turned out to be a very steep climb and we were huffing
and puffing and stopping to rest a lot. It was beautiful though, with
the trees and rocks and mountains and chipmunks and flowers and a
lovely pine smell that I could get addicted to. There were two summits
on this hike, and when we finally got to the first one we were so
exhausted we thought we wouldn't do the rest. Some young women came
along and said it was just five minutes to the other summit, so we
decided to go after resting a while. They lied, but it wasn't too much
further and worth the hike. There was a cool stone arch and a fabulous
view of Boulder. You could also see the high rises of Denver. Going
down was not that hard on the lungs but hard on the legs and I felt a
bit shaky at times. But we were all glad we did it and we got such a
workout. I really liked Boulder from what little I saw.Will see more
next week.
We went back to Grant's and Catherine came over a bit later. Grant's
dinner appointment fell through and the four of us went to a tapas
restaurant downtown. John suggested tapas after Catherine said she
didn't like to eat, she only liked to snack.
The 9th Door was fabulous. There was a bed just a bit inside the door,
and couches; I guess it was exotic seating/lounging. John and I sat
against the wall on a high backed booth bench, and Grant and Catherine
sat across from us on tall ottomans, but they were a little short still
for the table. I got a taste of the white sangria and had a glass. The
food was all delicious, and it didn't hurt that we were pretty ravenous
after our strenuous hike that day. The most interesting tapas was the
flash deep fried avocado half, my favorite was a ball of rice with
marinated and sauteed mushrooms on top. And the chocolava cake! I
stuffed myself silly.
We were useless by the time we got home and saved packing up for Kansas
for the morning. So Thursday I tried to hurry John along to get ready
and we left around 10. All the plans we made did not account for the
fact that in Kansas it's an hour later than Colorado, at least the
parts we were in, because we were all unaware of this. So when I called
Meg to say we were leaving it was 11 for her. And then it took 7 hours
of driving instead of 8 like yahoo maps claimed, I guess because of the
hour difference, or they don't expect you to go so fast. Anyway we got
here (to Spearville) a little earlier than anybody thought, which is
usually nice. And it was this time. First thing out of the car Billy
and Leo took us to see the goats, who are adorable. They we started
walking around looking at the farm. It's very nice with many more trees
than I imagined. We got the tour and ate some lettuce and spinach from
the garden on our avocado sammitches. They I got out our kite and we
flew it in the field while walking around to see some of the property
with the whole Naab family. Then we were all attacked by mosquitoes.
Meg says they weren't around 4 days ago.
We went for a drive to see the parts of the giant wind turbines that
are being put up and to get some beer. At the Conoco there was a older
farmer guy with his giant three wheeled bike. I have never seen such a
big bike. It was longer than the minivan we came it and painted bright
green with lots of chrome. The farmer's name was Kermit. No lie. Meg
and Joe talked with him for a while.
We came back watching a lightning storm to the west and south of us.
Then we sat on the porch and watched it and saw some amazing lightning
displays. We ate jalapeno potato chips that John bought (and I ate dill
pickle flavored sunflower seeds that I bought). We think they did a
number on our tongues, we both feel like we burned them today.
Speaking of today, the two older boys woke us up in the RV when they
were ready, so we got up. Meg made vegan pancakes with banana in them
for us. There was a lot of hanging around and then we went to Dodge for
lunch. We got salads at a great salad bar in a grocery store (Joe and
the boys had fried chicken and fried chicken gizzards). They we drove
all over Dodge (HA HA) to get all the ingredients for mojitos, which we
plan on making tonight, and inducting the N family into the "we love
mojitos" club.