Colorado October 2005 - Rainy Weekend

He guys - well, it's been cold and rainy most of the
weekend so I opted for an urban weekend instead of
going to the mountains. Also, still having breathing difficulties from that asthma/allergy attack I had.

Winter Park and Estes Park are another 2000 feet higher so
I decided I better just stay in the low lands - its
ONLY 5,200 feet above sea level here in the city!!!!

Yesterday, I went to the University of Denver and just
walked around the campus and checked out the library.
When the downpour came, I headed for a movie. I found
Denver's artsy fartsy movie theatre (Dallas friends,
think Inwood) and saw the film NINE LIVES. My review
is this: Don't bother. Boring, boring, boring.

This morning looked like a nice day to begin with, so
I headed downtown - the LODO area to be exact - lower
downtown. I had scoped out a diner and a bookstore I
wanted to check out. The diner was OK - really way
too big to be called a diner, but it's in a neat old
building. I'm still on a quest for french toast and
hot chocolate (my favorite breakfast) as good at what
I had in Oak Park, IL last year. Not even close
today.

The bookstore, TATTERED COVER, happened to be
right next door - again in another great old builidng
- a real architecutural gem. Two levels - beautiful
old staircase - lots of little nooks and crannies with
big old chairs you can curl up in. Book collection was
huge, but you know the truth is they didn't have
anything that Barnes and Noble doesn't I really like
the independent bookstores but they just can't compete
with the chains anymore. I spend a lot of money on
books so that B&N discount card is worthwhile. So, I
just bought one book on a notorious murder case here
in Denver in 1911 at the grand old hotel, the Brown
Palace. I was hoping this store would be like CITY
LIGHTS in SF - with out of print books and first
editions, etc. Still, though, you just can't go wrong
spending a lazy, rainy Sunday morning in a bookstore.
(Barbara, have you ever been to Larry McMurtry's store
in Archer CIty? I have always wanted to go there -
maybe we can do that some weekend when I am home. It
is supposed to be really fabulous - several blocks
long).

After the bookstore, I just wandered around downtown
some more. They have a great Union Station here - got
a picture of it and then was trying to take a picture
of some college kids who were all painted up
(something to do with a football game I think). I was
actually trying to take a pictue of a picture in the
window of a Russian art gallery when they came along.
They were acting goofy and wanted me to take their
picture, but I realized the battery was now dead on my
camera. I missed several good photo ops today.

There is a major highway here called Santa Fe and I
thought it must be part of the old SF Trail so I
decided to hop on it and see where it went. It first
took me through the "adult" entertainment section of
Denver (though it looked very tame compared to the one
in Memphis I had to go through everytime I went to the airport). Then suddenly I was in a very nice suburb, Littleton. It all looks very new and when I came upon a nice outdoor mall, I decided to check it out.
(Susan, there was a Talbots there. You know that pink
checked jacket I bought in Atlanta and paid full price
for? Well, I got the blue one here - 75% off!!!!!)
The whole way I was driving along this road (about 30
miles), I was running parallell to the railroad tracks
(Jamie, I saw BNSF cars, but no UP). Also, the Denver
rail system runs out there and those track are ABOVE
the regular tracks.

I saw a lot of housing developments in this suburb, as
I have in others since I've been here. Hundreds of
house all jammed up together like you see everywhere
now. But the strange thing here is that even though
there are so many of them, there is still a LOT of
open land and you never really feel like you're in a
dense urban area like you do in the 'burbs surrounding
Dallas and Houston.

Ok - it's pouring down rain now so I think I'll just
hole up here in the hotel for the rest of the night
and get some work done. I'll see some of you this
weekend.