Circus Circus, Tahoe and High Sierra Snow (part 3)

Continuing the travel saga from the last 2 posts. part 1 - flights & hotels. part 2 - Nevada. Now, for part 3, Colorado. I'll get to some bus/car content next time.

Welcome to Denver?

hotel room view

We arrived at Denver International on Sunday, about an hour before the Broncos hosted the Pittsburgh Steelers in a divisional playoff match-up, while the Seattle Seahawks / Carolina Panther game was still being decided. We asked an information booth about mass transit (nope), and then called the hotel about a free shuttle (nada). Our options, according to the hotel, were to grab a cab or take a airporter shuttle van, either ran $50. We saw a shuttle at the curb, so we approached for a ride. The driver was overtly unpleasant and short-changed me $10 for the displeasure. The van already had 5 other people in it, so we got ourselves a tour of Denver on the way into the city center.

Bouncing along, I was keeping up to date on the Seattle game and shared the play-by-play as it appeared on my phone. The rude driver picked up on the conversation and put the game on the van radio. It turned out that everyone in the van was good with Seattle losing. Ha. This created conversation, though, and soon we learned that one of our fellow occupants had a ticket to the Denver/Pittsburgh game waiting for her. We tried to convince her to go, though I think she may have skipped it for needed rest.

All That's Missing Are the Tumbleweeds

Erbert & Gerbert's

We got checked in, dropped our stuff in the room and immediately set out in search of some city energy and some food. The streets were dead. Seriously, I could have laid down in the middle of a 3-lane one-way street for 15 minutes and not blocked a car. We walked around Lower Downtown (LoDo), past the 16th Street Mall, and around. The only other people we saw were 2 couples who appeared to be on their way to a rodeo, complete with pretty hats and their thumbs tucked behind their oversized belt buckles. Neat. Denver is clearly more "western" than the cities further west. We stopped in at Erbert & Gerbert's Sandwich Shop, and the locals behind the counter explained the empty streets: football. If you weren't at the playoff game, you were in front of a TV watching it. This sandwich shop, apparently, was one of the few places around downtown Denver that didn't have a TV, so it also didn't have any customers. Except us. We ordered 1 each of two different suggestions from the counter guys (Flash & Comet Candy). They were really good. On our walk back to the hotel, we started seeing more people. There were a few kids skating on a mall ice rink, and a few patrons of the 7-11 on the corner. Concluding it was half-time, we made our way back in time for the end of the game. T's friend R and his dad were in town after visiting UCD the day before, so we visited with them a little bit.

Colorado State University

CSU ceramics studio

We had allotted Monday, MLK Jr Day, to wander around Denver. After we got back to the hotel, T indicated that he'd seen enough to get a sense, between the long shuttle and couple of hours of walking. Instead, he wanted to see Colorado State University (CSU) in Fort Collins. Recognizing the upside of not over-scheduling things, I rented a car for the next day on the spot. The drive between Denver and Fort Collins is a straight-arrow shot up I-25 for about an hour. CSU was mostly closed for the holiday, but we were able to get into the art building and poke around. The building was small, but the students seemed very invested. Even on their day off, they were milling around, drawing and hanging out. Based on the installations, the multiple kilns and posters, the community looked very vibrant. Similar to UNR, there was considerable construction going on, and we had a hard time figuring out what was where. That morning, we had left Denver in a bit of a rush, and failed to eat anything, so by 2:PM, we were starving and couldn't think about schools any more. We stumbled upon Aloha Coffee and Grill. Coming from the west coast, my expectations for Hawaiian are pretty high, and Aloha didn't quite make it. The coffee was good, though. T left CSU glad we visited, but not too interested: far from snow and travel, but looked like some great programs. The drive back to Denver was highlighted by the discovery of the funniest convenience store name we'd ever seen: the Loaf 'n' Jug.

University of Colorado, Denver

CO has Rockies, but is also flat

Tuesday was our last day of the trip, and it was time-crunched. We had a tour at 10, had to check out by noon and had a 4:PM flight home. That's tight. We readied for the day, packed up the room and hit the coffee shop in the lobby (learned from yesterday) for some breakfast. Walking to the campus was only a few minutes away, so we were early for the tour. Unlike UNR on Thursday, this tour group was bigger, and the campus was having its first day of classes after winter break. It was teaming with people. The guide pointed out that this first week everyone comes in to get schedules, ID's, etc, so it was unusually busy. UCD is a commuter school with limited on-campus housing options. Still, there are dorms, and for a location, it's prime. The Pepsi Center, Coors Field, Mile High Stadium and all of LoDo is right there. Unfortunately, the school shares a campus with 2 other educational institutions, and it hasn't any sports teams, reducing the sense of community. The mostly-commuter student make-up further erodes that sense. There are lots of internship and corporate-placement opportunities, though, so for the prospective student who wants a degree and then a direct path into corporate America, UCD is a great option.

Homebound

CSU construction map

We detoured into Which Wich for a go sandwich on our way back to the hotel. They have an interesting model: your order slip is the paper bag in which your wich is placed and then given to you. Clever. And a pretty good wich too. We cleared out, checked out and walked across the street to the taxi stand where a line of cabs awaited. Now that the game was over and business had resumed, the streets were bumping again. Still, we had a quick and informative ride into the eastern plains where Denver International Airport awaited. Our cabbie had lived in Portland, so we talked about the marijuana legalization parallels and local music comparisons. T and I easily passed through ticketing, security and boarding. After 6 flights in as many days, we'd gotten pretty efficient at it. Boo met us at PDX, grinning at our huge smiles when we picked her out of the car queue.

We had a great trip. We saw 3 universities, visited with family and friends and tasted some snow. Most importantly, T had made his decision about which school was his first choice: UNR. He has learned since this trip that he was accepted, and so he is going through the process of determining costs so he can commit. Go T!

As always seems the case, there have been lots of things going on with cars, and such both before and after this trip, so I'll post on some of that here soon. As always, thanks for following along and Hapy Saint Patrick's Day!

CSU kiln and kiln construction materials