The first day, I did laundry, bought a charger that actually worked with all my USB devices, and got groceries. I tried to catch up on this blog, but instead argued about racism on my Facebook wall. Not a waste of time, I think, but not the most relaxing.
I don't remember exactly what happened on each day, but I believe the second day involved a last-minute TED Adventure. TED, as in TED Talks (no idea what TED stands for), apparently runs "adventures" that are meant to be the experiential version of a TED lecture. TED Adventures can apparently be anything from cross-country skiing to visiting art museums, but this particular event was straight up my alley: dinner, hosted by a group called "Slow Food" whose mission is to bring back communal meals as a cornerstone of community and general human connection. Frankly, while I'm all for the concept, I didn't get the sense that the idea was very well implemented. Fittingly for TED, it seemed like the idea was more about convincing ourselves that we were breaking new ground than it was about actual exploration. What mattered was that the people around the table were really great, and the food, fancy Mexican style and accompanied by good Spanish wine, was delicious.
The next day I rode to the legendary Red Rocks amphitheater and back. Red Rocks was appropriately amazing, but I didn't get to go into the actual theater due to a sound check for whatever concert was occurring that night. I considered hanging with some of the early tailgaters, but instead went back and stopped at a few of the many breweries in town, sampling a few beers including one brewed with sake. The most interesting bar was called Grandma's Place, and was appropriately themedto the last detail with crochet and antique furniture everywhere. While there, I met a German couchsurfer and her local host, which was sort of the opposite of my current arrangement. They invited me to join them for dinner, which I did. Then they invited me to join them for booze, which I did. I stayed there until about 1 AM playing drinking games and observing Rocket League (essentially cars with jet engines playing soccer) on their TV, after which I got back to Angela's place and tried to let myself in as quietly as possible so as not to disturb her or her cat, Mitzi.
The day after that -- yes, I stayed at Angela's a while -- I mainly rested and watched Legend of Korra, the sequel to Avatar: The Last Airbender which I had finished back in Lander. Importantly, I also got to lob a long-dead Christmas tree off Angela's seventh-story balcony, which was very satisfying. The story of the Christmas tree is a surprisingly long one: Mitzi enjoyed hanging out beneath the tree, so Angela left it a little after Christmas. Once she went to get rid of it, she found several large eggs beneath it. These eggs were laid by Lucy, a Canadian goose, who ended up living on Angela's balcony for quite a while before finally abandoning her unfertilized eggs. Lucy had left only a short while ago and thus didn't need the tree anymore, and a building beneath the apartment was being demolished, so she requested that I chuck the tree into the rubble that had to be cleared anyway. Happily, I obliged, and watched the wind catch it and take it around the corner of the building - the better to conceal its source. That probably confused the demolition crew.
Here's Mitzi, and a few images from Red Rocks and the trail I took to get there. For some reason, Mitzi loves being near strawberries. Not eating them, just being near them.
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