Denver, Not What You Think

Denver was fine. It's one of those places where it's not what you expect. Even though I have been through the airport before, I still pictured large snow capped mountains. Nope. Flat. Not Iowa flat, but flat.

We drove to Spokane the night before our departure since our flight was at 6:30am. On the way to Michelle's I had a little snow, on the higher elevations. It was raining at her house. We left her house a bit later than I would have liked and hit snow in a construction area on Highway 95. Did a little skid due to a construction barrel in the middle of the highway. Thank goodness the guy behind me was a ways behind me and I was going quite slowly. We pulled over to move the barrel -- it's amazing how light those are -- then kept on going. Once we got away from that hill, it was just rain into Spokane.

We checked into the hotel and couldn't get to sleep. We had about 4 hours before going to the airport. After a layover in LA (boy does that airport suck), we got to Denver, very easily found our hotel, went to a mall with only the anchor stores (Target, Dillard's and Mervyn's) open and the rest permanently closed down except for a few sketchy places. Went back to the hotel and ate at a restaurant across the street. The menu was so bad that I had a chicken Caesar salad (I know!), a beer and a piece of "cheesecake". Michelle had some pasta with shrimp, a beer and "cheesecake" and both of our meals were the same price. With tax and tip, it was $54! For a frickin' salad and unidentifiable dessert!

The next morning we had breakfast at the hotel then went to find shopping malls. We found a lot, but since it was Sunday, nothing opened until like 11:00. We went to the outlet stores about 30 minutes away and spent about 2 1/2 hours there. I bought a t-shirt at the first store and then was pretty much finished. We ate lunch at a nearby Chili's and then went downtown Denver for a beer at Wynkoop's Brew Pub (oldest one in Colorado). OK, first their t-shirt merchandise selection sucked (I liked the ones the bartenders had on, but they weren't for sale). Someone should teach them about marketing. And secondly, downtown isn't open on the weekends. Brew pubs and restaurants were, but none of the shops. So much for tourism.

We went back to one of the malls that had been closed to go to the Old Navy and then to Outback for dinner. Much better than the previous night's meal. I had steak and baked potato and a beer.

The next morning, after breakfast and checking out of the hotel, we went to the Museum of Nature and Science. I thought Michelle wouldn't last long since there were several school groups and she's definitely not a kid person, but it got better after a little while. We ate lunch at Applebee's and then went to the airport. On the shuttle from the car rental to the airport, there was a graduate from WSU. How funny!

After a layover in LA again, we landed early in Spokane and drove home, slowly for slick roads -- no snow. After dropping Michelle off at her house, I got home at about 2:00 and after waiting for my cat to get home (where was she doing out that late?), I went to bed and got four hours of sleep before work the next day. That being said, I was surprisingly awake yesterday.

So, here it is two days since we got back and we've decided that the next girl's weekend will be in Kansas City. Mmm, barbeque.