Denver, Steamboat, and back to Denver, CO

Wow it's been a while! We've got a lot of catching up to do! Get comfy...this one's going to be a marathon! (Like the Denver Marathon, that I was almost going to be doing this weekend....except actually not at all like that. But anyway...)

To start out with, poor Jody had a rough introduction to camping in Colorado. I knew we might be in trouble when the clouds were starting to clear. As beautiful as the weather was while light out, it was looking like a cold night.

However I didn't realize just how cold. We woke up to not just frost but everything being completely iced over. It was a cold, cold night. Like that night so long ago in Burlington, VT where I nearly froze. Only probably colder.

I got Jody all the blankets I could but she still didn't look too comfortable. Being used to camping in the cold I fell asleep right away, but every time I woke up and looked at Jody she looked awake and miserable. I don't think she slept much at all!

To add to it, the highway noise never quit, and there was a train passing just a bit away on the other side of us. I slept decently well. Jody was a trooper and stuck with it until about 5:00 when I woke up to pee. I stayed up with her after that and we tried to stay warm until the sun came out enough to get up and get going.

I think both of us were pretty excited to get out of there and in to Denver. It was really fun to have a chance to show Jody one of my towns, though it was really hard for me to feel "at home" there right away. I drove her around some of my regular spots, and a couple of the places I used to live. I also took her to my Brueggers that I used to go to all the time, even though she claimed she didn't like Brueggers. I wanted to go there because I knew they had internet and I wanted to do some research on stuff going on in the area. Well, the internet was out, so that didn't work...but we both got a good breakfast out of it. (I think Jody liked it but she may not admit it since they don't have the "right" Detroit kind of bagels).

We then went to the library to get internet, and discovered that the library computers really really suck. But it was functional internet, so it did the trick.

I had to go to an Urgent Care to get a new prescription written. Such a horrible pain, but at least this time they were really quick about it. The dr. I saw was super helpful, and Jody got to sit in the lobby watching endless news about "Balloon Boy". We were both shocked to learn that apparently CNN had nothing else to talk about!

Unfortunately, Walgreens had to undo any amount of good time we were making. They told me it would only take 30 minutes but apparently they actually meant an hour and 30 minutes. Not even I can stay entertained in Walgreens that long. Jody and I did have some fun in the toy aisle, playing with this crazy squishy ball thing, but I ended up grumpy and bored. Thankfully Jody is amazingly wonderful and patient and put up with a big chunk of the day's Denver tour taking place inside of Walgreens.

The joyous tour continued with a hunt for a hotel room. I tried my usual cheap spot in the DU area but they had nothing. I decided to be stubborn and try to find somewhere on my own rather than check the place the woman at that hotel told me about (too far south) or go to one of the places listed in my magic coupon book (too far north). As I drove around I realized that I had no real idea where I was going since most of the places I was thinking of I'd stayed with my parents and I really couldn't afford them on my own. And I was exhausted and tired of driving, so after a point it just seemed like wandering aimlessly.

So I finally decided just to head up to the place listed in the book. We found an....interesting...hotel in North Denver. The place didn't seem too bad when we first came in, but our room was horrifying! It seemed just a little strange at first as we noticed tons off color parts and putty marks on the walls, as well as a piece of the smoke detector sitting on one of the beds. We then noticed a big chunk of the base of the shower plastic missing. And the stucco ceiling was apparently raining, leaving chunks of white everywhere. But the clincher was when we sat down on one of the beds and the entire end of it fell to the ground. Yeah, not going to work!

We went to the front desk to complain, and the woman (who just barely spoke english) questioned us extensively, seeming to think that we had caused the damage since we'd had the room an hour before asking to switch. But, when she finally got us a new room, it was waaaaaay nicer than the first. Even if the first one hadn't been falling apart, it still wouldn't have been as nice as the new one. It wasn't luxury or anything, but it was plenty decent and had a mini-fridge so big it was almost a full-sized fridge!

And the even better news is that we weren't far at all from the light rail station to head downtown. I got to show Jody all around 16th street and take her to my most favoritest restaurant in the world (Rodizios). I called Rosalba to go with us since it just seemed wrong to go without her, but she had already eaten dinner. So sad!

After a wonderful dinner at Rodizios, we walked all over 16th street and enjoyed the absolutely beautiful night.

The next morning I made a valiant effort to get up early, but it was a struggle. We snuck into the hotel breakfast at the very last minute, and then finally got on the road. Sort of. We were all set to head north and drive through Rocky Mountain National Park. But we noticed a small note on the map saying that the one and only road across the park closes in the winter. Not knowing the dates they call winter, I called my Dad to look it up for me. He got me the ranger station phone number from the website so I could call. (Thanks Dad!) The ranger I talked to said that though the hikes on either side of the park are still open, the road was in fact closed. Since we were planning to go to the park on our way to Steamboat, a closed road really wouldn't work for us.

So instead we took the trusty direct route through Silverthorne. After a quick stop for Good Times (ah wonderful burgers and fries that I've missed so much!) we were heading in to the second stop on the towns Lacey's lived in tour. It was AMAZING for me to be back in Steamboat. Steamboat Ski Resort, and apparently the downtown area as well, went through a huge rennovation right after I left so everything looked totally different. I dragged Jody around to see the ski hill, sit on the new lift, and check out the new map. It was very cool to see and made me want to ski really really badly. It really made me want to ski Steamboat too. I miss that place! It's unfortunate that my instructor job didn't go better there, because I do love the area and the town.

We checked in to our hotel and then went to explore downtown. Our hotel, the Steamboat Inn, was interesting. It was far cheaper than any of the other options, and quite a bit nicer than any of the other budget hotels I've seen (except for the Rabbit Ears, but that place has gotten expensive!). I think it used to be the Super 8 but it was bought out and turned into a semi-tacky but nice western themed place. I don't know if it was local or still owned by a chain but it had a nice local feel to it.

Anyway, on to downtown. I had a few scares at first when it appeared that a couple of my favorite stores (Off the Beaten Path and All that Jazz) appeared to have gone out of business. Instead it turned out that both had been so successful they'd moved into bigger places. Unfortunately Felix and Fido (the most amazing store for pet stuff) really is going out of business and was holding their final sale. It was almost empty in there. Soooo sad! A lot of the buildings along Lincoln Ave. (Steamboat's main street) had been added on to or completely redone so a lot of places looked totally different. It was really bizarre and a bit sad to walk through. I've always loved Steamboat's rustic downtown, and for the most part it's its same beautiful self, but some of the new, fancy, bright colored buildings are way, way out of place.

After lots of random wandering and window shopping, we went to dinner at Rio Grande, one of my favorite restaurants downtown. After dinner we went up to the Strawberry Park Hot Springs. It was totally dark by the time we got there, so we got to do all sorts of random, complicated wandering trying to figure out where to change and where to go. You couldn't just get in anywhere because there were random people hanging out in many of the random dark corners. And it was very, very dark. I thought I remembered there being at least little lights along the stairways, but no such luck.

We found the bathrooms to change, and then made the FREEZING cold journey out to the pools. We only had to make it a few steps from where we left our stuff to the nice hot water, but the rocks we were standing on were painfully cold and the handrails felt completely iced over. I held the flashlight while Jody went first, and for what might be the first time ever I heard some not nice words coming out of her mouth! For those brief moments she was not too happy with me! I'm sure she was wondering what the hell I'd gotten her into, but thankfully she soon reached the beautiful hot springs water and all was forgiven.

I had pictured us having a nice, quiet evening under the stars. However I forgot it was Saturday night. A huge, drunken group of college students also thought it'd be a nice night for a soak. With clothing being officially optional after dark (that's written on the official sign), it was definitely interesting. We still got our nice night under the stars, it was just punctuated with some often entertaining shouting and an occaisonal brush with random naked (and non-naked) people made nearly invisible by the darkness.

Though it was a struggle, I made myself get up semi-early the following morning (this morning) so we could get to Winona's (the most amazing breakfast in Steamboat, and possibly the world) before the church rush. We managed to get in with no wait and Winona's did not disappoint. I got eggs benedict with artichoke hearts, spinach, and tomato, and Jody got some sort of bacon and crab scrambler thing that was a bit too odd and bacon-filled for me to try but she gave it a good report.

I was feeling exhausted, but in a surprise turn of events Jody wanted to be active and go hiking, and convinced me to get up and moving. When we were still in the planning stages, Jody told me she was worried about keeping up with my usual level of activity. Instead, without her I may have just slept the day away! Of course I have no idea where I would've slept since we had to check out of our hotel room, but I would've found somewhere. Instead, we drove down to Rocky Mountain National Park (much easier to access from the west side) and went for a hike. We hiked a total of 2.54 miles up to a waterfall, a beautiful meadow surrounded by snow-covered mountains, and many other beautiful river and forest sites. It was a great day to be outside. Of course, being us, we stopped often to take pictures, chat, and just hang out contemplating nature. Jody did amazing, especially considering it was her first hike at altitude, experiencing the wonders of shortness of breath in Colorado's mountains. (I was definitely feeling it too. I've been too low for too long!).

After our hike we were back on the road through the beautiful scenic drive through Winter Park and down to I-70. As much as I hate having to drive that road in the winter amid hurried ski traffic, it really is beautiful. The fall colors were great, and everything was just beautiful. Around every corner was a new view of the mountains that seemed to go on forever. It made me realize how much I love my mountains, have missed my mountains, and how I really really really can't wait to ski! But I think I mentioned that already. Maybe Jody will come visit me and ski with me this winter. I'm still working on that.

By the time we made it back to Denver it was almost dark and we had reached the point of complete giddy exhaustion. We both laughed ourselves to near tears as we were finding and checking in to our hotel room. Once in our room, I got to witness Jody going into one heck of a giggle fit. I was so sad that I didn't have my camera on me to video it. She was lying on the bed in full hysterics (snorts and all) over something that really hadn't been all that funny. But of course, the more I watched her laugh, the more I had to laugh too. Ah the joys of over-exhaustion.

I looked online and discovered that there was a Noodles and Company nearby...one of my favorite restaurants even though it is a chain. I was so excited to go there but unfortunately my usual just wasn't that good. So, so sad. I guess that's what I get for cheating on my regular Denver Noodles with one from Lakewood. Lesson learned. It was decent...just not its usual amazingness.

We decided that since we were so tired it would make sense to stick with a hotel on the western edge of town rather than dealing with driving through the city and searching for places. It's a good thing we did because we found a super nice Hampton in way west Lakewood for way cheap. This place is super nice....beautiful lobby and hallways, plush beds, and they even folded a towel and washcloth into the shape of a shirt and tie. For those as easily entertained as we are, that's about as awesome as it gets! So we're happily tucked in for the night and I am very, very, very ready for bed.

I've got a couple of surprises up my sleeve for tomorrow. I'll let you all know how that goes tomorrow. :)