We arrived at the Grand Canyon, or what could be seen of it, around lunchtime and picked a campsite that looked like it shouldn't flood if the rain kept up! The camping ground at Desert View is quite small and works on a first come first served basis, it's usually full by early afternoon, so we were glad to get a spot. Weren't quite so glad to be pitching the tent (which we'd only helped Yong to pitch once before) in the drizzle, but we got there.
Of course the plan then was to go see some canyon. And see some we did. Some. The view from Desert View and the Watchtower there was impressive, despite all the fog. It almost made it seem grander as you could only guess at the true scale of it. Further round at the Grand View lookout all we could see was white; not so aptly named that day. Headed on into the village for a late lunch and everything cleared up suddenly and beautifully. Walked around the rim track heading west until the sun was going down (which meant we missed dinner back at the Desert View end). Spectacular. It's impossible really even to describe. I can say that the canyon is sooooo much bigger than I had ever imagined, as well as more colourful, intricate and precarious - there is nothing anywhere to stop you just wandering off the edge should you choose to do so. People have; there's even a book about it (slash deaths in the Grand Canyon in general) available for purchase from the souvenir shop. On our walk we encountered a chipmunk! And on the bus back to the village some elk were happily grazing right alongside the route.
The following morning we woke early to the makings of a gorgeous day, packed up camp and chowed down on a breakfast burrito before descending into the canyon a ways. Took the Kaibab trail as far as Cedar Ridge lookout (further than we intended actually; we were aiming for "Ooh Aah Point" but overshot). Then it was back on the road, this time destination: Las Vegas.
Thursday, 2 September 2010
Tuesday, 17 August 2010
Dinosaurs, deer and deserts (plus desserts)
Looking online for things to do for free in Denver, I came across Dinosaur Ridge - a site where several of the first dinosaur fossils and footprints were found, and only about 20 minutes away nestled at the beginnings of the Rocky Mountains. We headed over there on Thursday to check it out. It was pretty cool, with lots of information along the way about the geological history of the region. At one point it started to rain so we took shelter under a rock shelf formed from the indent of a brontosaurus' footprint!
On the way home we stopped and had a look around a tiny historic town, Morrison, that was bustling, then carried on Red Rocks which was also very busy that evening. It is named, unsurprisingly, for the huge red coloured rock formations in the area. Here they form a natural outdoor amphitheatre that has seen some of the biggest musical acts play including The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix. That night Jackson Browne was playing and a lot of people were arriving.
We walked one of the trails and saw lots of deer, including a couple of fawns, a skunk (minus the smell, besides maybe the scent of decay) but no rattle snakes despite many warnings around the place. No pumas either. Didn't stick around to hear the show, but headed back to Denver for Señor Burritos and Sweet Action Ice Cream!
The following day brought more Sweet Action Ice Cream as a quick break from packing before we picked up the rental car. It was a total nana car but that came in super handy later as we ended up not leaving Denver until around 5pm which meant it was dark when we reached Pagosa Springs. We had planned to camp around there but didn't fancy pitching the tent in the dark only to have to wake up really really early to take it down again so drove on to Sleeping Ute Mountain rest area and set up camp in the back of the car, discovering that all four back seats folded down completely flat to make a reasonably comfortable "bed". The drive before it got dark had been gorgeous, some of it winding through the mountains, a lot of it driving across mountain plateaus. Any thunderstorms thankfully missed us but we could see a couple in the distance and the lightning was spectacular (and maybe somewhat distracting for the driver).
Woke up with the sun after a few hours kip and hit the road again, this time headed for the Grand Canyon. Were treated to a gorgeous sunrise over a crazy desert landscape, with ravens flying off to rock formations that shouldn't have been passed over for the role of Mount Doom. It wasn't long before we left Colorado, passed through the very corner of New Mexico and came out in Arizona. Stopped to try see the Four Corners Monument (at the point where these states and Utah all meet) but it said it was closed for repairs and in fact the gates to the park it is in weren't even open yet at that hour of the morning, though there were already half a dozen or so cars parked up and waiting.
After several hours of driving we finally found a town just big enough to get some breakfast (only just, there were actually horses roaming the streets). The girl at Speedy's gas station recommended Golden Sands cafe, which we finally found after a detour several miles out of town in the wrong direction. There we breakfasted like kings on a stack of blueberry pancakes smothered in syrup, omelette with hash brown potatoes, biscuit with gravy and hot chocolates. We were the only non native americans in the place, and the decor was matched to its clientele. With our bellies full we headed on through more amazing terrain, and less amazing weather, to the Grand Canyon National Park.
*Sweet Action flavours we sampled:
Ginger Lemon Cookie
Vegan Mint Chip
Cherry Chocolate Chip
Saigon Cinnamon
Pistachio
Baklava
On the way home we stopped and had a look around a tiny historic town, Morrison, that was bustling, then carried on Red Rocks which was also very busy that evening. It is named, unsurprisingly, for the huge red coloured rock formations in the area. Here they form a natural outdoor amphitheatre that has seen some of the biggest musical acts play including The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix. That night Jackson Browne was playing and a lot of people were arriving.
We walked one of the trails and saw lots of deer, including a couple of fawns, a skunk (minus the smell, besides maybe the scent of decay) but no rattle snakes despite many warnings around the place. No pumas either. Didn't stick around to hear the show, but headed back to Denver for Señor Burritos and Sweet Action Ice Cream!
The following day brought more Sweet Action Ice Cream as a quick break from packing before we picked up the rental car. It was a total nana car but that came in super handy later as we ended up not leaving Denver until around 5pm which meant it was dark when we reached Pagosa Springs. We had planned to camp around there but didn't fancy pitching the tent in the dark only to have to wake up really really early to take it down again so drove on to Sleeping Ute Mountain rest area and set up camp in the back of the car, discovering that all four back seats folded down completely flat to make a reasonably comfortable "bed". The drive before it got dark had been gorgeous, some of it winding through the mountains, a lot of it driving across mountain plateaus. Any thunderstorms thankfully missed us but we could see a couple in the distance and the lightning was spectacular (and maybe somewhat distracting for the driver).
Woke up with the sun after a few hours kip and hit the road again, this time headed for the Grand Canyon. Were treated to a gorgeous sunrise over a crazy desert landscape, with ravens flying off to rock formations that shouldn't have been passed over for the role of Mount Doom. It wasn't long before we left Colorado, passed through the very corner of New Mexico and came out in Arizona. Stopped to try see the Four Corners Monument (at the point where these states and Utah all meet) but it said it was closed for repairs and in fact the gates to the park it is in weren't even open yet at that hour of the morning, though there were already half a dozen or so cars parked up and waiting.
After several hours of driving we finally found a town just big enough to get some breakfast (only just, there were actually horses roaming the streets). The girl at Speedy's gas station recommended Golden Sands cafe, which we finally found after a detour several miles out of town in the wrong direction. There we breakfasted like kings on a stack of blueberry pancakes smothered in syrup, omelette with hash brown potatoes, biscuit with gravy and hot chocolates. We were the only non native americans in the place, and the decor was matched to its clientele. With our bellies full we headed on through more amazing terrain, and less amazing weather, to the Grand Canyon National Park.
*Sweet Action flavours we sampled:
Ginger Lemon Cookie
Vegan Mint Chip
Cherry Chocolate Chip
Saigon Cinnamon
Pistachio
Baklava
Denver Delights
Last week in Denver! On Monday we explored the neighbourhood in a little more detail. Checked out some more of the residential area (love the style of the houses around there, especially the colourful ones) but mostly it meant walking up and down Broadway between 3rd and Alameda and going into lots of the many very cool shops along the way. Also got a 7-eleven Slurpee (for the cup), a chili cheese dog and tried to get KFC cornbread but no luck.
Finished up at the supermarket for dinner ingredients (and hugs from a stranger) to cook chili bean falafel for Yong and Lindsey. After dinner Yong showed off what his keyboard setup is capable of (when you know how to use it). Jon and I had a play around with it too!
Tuesday was Yong and Lindsey's last day before they jetted off to Costa Rica. They took us out for breakfast at Lucile's Creole Cafe and boy was it good! I had the Eggs New Orleans (fried eggplant, poached eggs, creole sauce and hollandaise served with grits, potatoes and a "biscuit" - a bit like a scone), the tastiest fresh grapefruit juice and we all shared a stack of the pancake special: carrot cake pancakes with cream cheese sauce. Jon ordered their famous Bloody Mary with his breakfast which deserved a picture.
After that we were really full and it was way hot (still at 5pm when we ventured out to the post office) so just vegged for a while. Wrote a couple more postcards and the rest of the day disappeared. In the evening Yong's friend Andrew came by and we got a pizza from the Walnut Room Pizzeria down the road, accompanied by Hazed and Infused that Jon and I picked up from a little bottle shop with a ridiculous range of fine beer to choose from, before Yong and Lindsey had to leave to catch their flight. Andrew is starting up a chocolate shop and had brought some tasty samples that we enjoyed for the next couple of days.
On Wednesday we spent the day, on everyone's recommendation, at the Denver Botanic Gardens. These are a 23-acre plot jam packed full of many different styles and themes of gardens, including a japanese garden, cactus, herb, "monet", all american and south african gardens as well as Henry Moore sculptures dotted amongst it all. A highlight was seeing a hummingbird on the Birds and Bees Trail. In the conservatory with all the more tropical plants was a display of colourful poison dart frogs too, and on the roof an example of a Green Roof garden (just imagine if all the roofs in New York, or Auckland for that matter, had these).
Just as we had finished looking at the outdoor gardens and were heading to the conservatory it began to rain, which was great timing to begin with but not so great when it was still pouring when we had to leave to catch the next bus from several blocks away. It was quite a long bus ride to our next stop, JC Penney, so had mostly dried out when we got there. We had a voucher from Jon's aunt to spend there and spend it we did, very successfully. Then it was home for a dinner of Pizza Rolls!
Finished up at the supermarket for dinner ingredients (and hugs from a stranger) to cook chili bean falafel for Yong and Lindsey. After dinner Yong showed off what his keyboard setup is capable of (when you know how to use it). Jon and I had a play around with it too!
Tuesday was Yong and Lindsey's last day before they jetted off to Costa Rica. They took us out for breakfast at Lucile's Creole Cafe and boy was it good! I had the Eggs New Orleans (fried eggplant, poached eggs, creole sauce and hollandaise served with grits, potatoes and a "biscuit" - a bit like a scone), the tastiest fresh grapefruit juice and we all shared a stack of the pancake special: carrot cake pancakes with cream cheese sauce. Jon ordered their famous Bloody Mary with his breakfast which deserved a picture.
After that we were really full and it was way hot (still at 5pm when we ventured out to the post office) so just vegged for a while. Wrote a couple more postcards and the rest of the day disappeared. In the evening Yong's friend Andrew came by and we got a pizza from the Walnut Room Pizzeria down the road, accompanied by Hazed and Infused that Jon and I picked up from a little bottle shop with a ridiculous range of fine beer to choose from, before Yong and Lindsey had to leave to catch their flight. Andrew is starting up a chocolate shop and had brought some tasty samples that we enjoyed for the next couple of days.
On Wednesday we spent the day, on everyone's recommendation, at the Denver Botanic Gardens. These are a 23-acre plot jam packed full of many different styles and themes of gardens, including a japanese garden, cactus, herb, "monet", all american and south african gardens as well as Henry Moore sculptures dotted amongst it all. A highlight was seeing a hummingbird on the Birds and Bees Trail. In the conservatory with all the more tropical plants was a display of colourful poison dart frogs too, and on the roof an example of a Green Roof garden (just imagine if all the roofs in New York, or Auckland for that matter, had these).
Just as we had finished looking at the outdoor gardens and were heading to the conservatory it began to rain, which was great timing to begin with but not so great when it was still pouring when we had to leave to catch the next bus from several blocks away. It was quite a long bus ride to our next stop, JC Penney, so had mostly dried out when we got there. We had a voucher from Jon's aunt to spend there and spend it we did, very successfully. Then it was home for a dinner of Pizza Rolls!
A weekend in the Rockies
For the last weekend in July, Yong planned to take us camping. Initially we were to go to Rocky Mountain National Park but there was an arts festival on in Crested Butte so that became our new destination. Jon and I spent much of Friday waiting to leave, hanging out at Yong's out of the sweltering midday heat. Discovered The Creeps which kept us entertained. I managed to stub my toe really badly, pretty certain I broke it in fact. Perfect timing.
Early evening we headed for our campsite at Taylor Park Reservoir, just on the west side of the continental divide. Got there just as it was getting dark, set up camp and Yong heated up some Tamales over the campfire for dinner, accompanied by Pinot Noir in Solo cups (the keg party cups from the movies!). Was surprisingly cold up in the mountains given we were at an elevation of 9400 feet (2865m). Even needed woolly hats.
On Saturday we woke to a spectacular view across the reservoir to the mountains beyond! After an instant oatmeal breakfast we went down to the reservoir for a quick paddle (warmer than expected) then drove to Crested Butte, about an hour away following a river with plenty of rafting, fishing, climbing and horse trekking along its banks.
The festival in Crested Butte was pretty extensive, with artist stalls stretching for several blocks which I hobbled along. Stopped for a drink (Dale's Pale Ale, certainly flavoursome), a bite (including the most delicious cob of corn, brushed liberally with melted butter, amongst other things) and a listen of some blue grass. Hobbled the rest of the way through the stalls then it looked like rain so we made for the car. The rain came faster than my hobbling could keep up with and the first of it beat us back to the car, but thankfully we were already driving by the time the hail hit!
Back at camp it was drier but drizzling fairly persistently. Think it stopped enough for a while to contemplate the idea of finding a short walking track, not that my toe ever made that a real possibility as Jon wouldn't have coped walking that slowly for long. So instead we sheltered in the tent, Yong and Jon sleeping soundly and me dozing in and out. The rain didn't let up all evening but hunger eventually got the better of me so Jon and I heated up the next batch of tamales after dark over the gas stove next to the car while we huddled inside! (no carbon monoxide poisoning for us). They were deliciously messy. Yong woke up for a dance party - headlamp strobe, cellphone speakers and the last of the wine. Woo Saturday Night.
Sunday we breakfasted, packed up camp and headed back to civilisation. There we napped, booked rental cars for our upcoming departure and were fed a delicious saffron rice dinner.
Early evening we headed for our campsite at Taylor Park Reservoir, just on the west side of the continental divide. Got there just as it was getting dark, set up camp and Yong heated up some Tamales over the campfire for dinner, accompanied by Pinot Noir in Solo cups (the keg party cups from the movies!). Was surprisingly cold up in the mountains given we were at an elevation of 9400 feet (2865m). Even needed woolly hats.
On Saturday we woke to a spectacular view across the reservoir to the mountains beyond! After an instant oatmeal breakfast we went down to the reservoir for a quick paddle (warmer than expected) then drove to Crested Butte, about an hour away following a river with plenty of rafting, fishing, climbing and horse trekking along its banks.
The festival in Crested Butte was pretty extensive, with artist stalls stretching for several blocks which I hobbled along. Stopped for a drink (Dale's Pale Ale, certainly flavoursome), a bite (including the most delicious cob of corn, brushed liberally with melted butter, amongst other things) and a listen of some blue grass. Hobbled the rest of the way through the stalls then it looked like rain so we made for the car. The rain came faster than my hobbling could keep up with and the first of it beat us back to the car, but thankfully we were already driving by the time the hail hit!
Back at camp it was drier but drizzling fairly persistently. Think it stopped enough for a while to contemplate the idea of finding a short walking track, not that my toe ever made that a real possibility as Jon wouldn't have coped walking that slowly for long. So instead we sheltered in the tent, Yong and Jon sleeping soundly and me dozing in and out. The rain didn't let up all evening but hunger eventually got the better of me so Jon and I heated up the next batch of tamales after dark over the gas stove next to the car while we huddled inside! (no carbon monoxide poisoning for us). They were deliciously messy. Yong woke up for a dance party - headlamp strobe, cellphone speakers and the last of the wine. Woo Saturday Night.
Sunday we breakfasted, packed up camp and headed back to civilisation. There we napped, booked rental cars for our upcoming departure and were fed a delicious saffron rice dinner.
Thursday, 5 August 2010
Closer to the clouds
On Tuesday Yong was going to take us to see Boulder in the afternoon so we had the morning free to go lie in a park. Denver has something like more than 300 parks within its city limits. We walked to one about 15 minutes from here that was pretty sprawling, even had a lake you could fish at or go boating on. Found a shady spot (we needed it, I still managed to get sunburned, for the first time this 'summer' though) and wrote some postcards.
When we got hungry we walked back to Pearl St, a good place for eats around there, and found a little cafe "La Belle Rosette" with possibly the friendliest service ever. Five stars. The food was great too, especially the homemade fresh ginger lemonade.
Rendezvoused with Yong and off we went to Boulder, which is about half an hour north-west, nestled up against the mountains. He drove us right up to the Flagstaff summit where we climbed up on a rock for a great view of the town and the plains of Colorado. There is a cool little amphitheatre up there as well as a big picnic area. Probably lots of nice walks too and good rock climbing/bouldering (can see all the chalk marks on the popular climbs on the way up). Saw a chipmunk! And a fox on the drive back down.
Back in town we strolled through their lovely pedestrian mall, lined with more interesting shops than in Denver. Saw a guy with a curly moustache flick an entire pack of cards off his arm and catch the whole deck in one hand. Then Yong took us for dinner at a great, authentic Italian place in Boulder, Il Pastaio (hiding in a nondescript strip mall). I had the gnocchi with pesto and cream and it was rich!
On Wednesday we checked out the Denver Art Museum. It has an older building that looks a little like a castle and houses the more traditional art, and an attached contemporary building that is all angles. Went to the King Tut exhibition that was on at the time, lots of ancient Egyptian artifacts including things discovered in Tutankhamun's tomb, and the accompanying 3D film. Had the leftover gnocchi for lunch outside near a park, then had a look around the rest of the contemporary gallery, lots of interesting stuff. After that we only had time to go see the photography exhibit in the other half of the gallery. Tried to see the bamboo art on the way out but were too late. Great place and you could easily spend several days there to see it all. The public library building next door looked interesting too.
Had a look at the plaza/park across the road where a squirrel displayed its impressive acrobatic ability for us. From the plaza you can see the state capitol building, the 13th step of which is one mile above sea level. Didn't go stand there though. Instead went back to Yong's and got a tasty selection from Señor Burritos around the corner for tea. For the evening's entertainment Yong had tickets to an intimate Jazz concert at a music school nearby. It was incredible. The pianist was Kenny Werner, apparently the best pianist of that style performing in the U.S. at this time. You can wiki him. He was accompanied by local musicians on drums, double bass and trumpet and they performed some original pieces (of Kenny's and the trumpet player's) as well as a few familiar, but highly improvised, ones (Tears in Heaven, Blackbird and their take on Hedwig's Theme - yes, Harry Potter's Hedwig).
The next day we were to partake in America's National Passtime - going to a baseball game! My first ever. The Rockies were set to take on the Pittsburgh Pirates at Coors Field. I came downstairs ready to go and Jon told me I shouldn't wear yellow (Pirates colours). Oops. We went, it was great. Missed out on the really cheap bleacher tickets but we got some good seats for not too much more. Ate lots of junk food (peanuts, cracker jacks, a corn dog) and drank Coors Light. Applied and reapplied and reapplied sunscreen - started out ridiculously hot, but the cloud came over thankfully. The Rockies did awesomely. Broke their losing streak with a triumphant 9:3 win, including a couple of home runs! Fowler should definitely have been awarded player of the day if they do that kinda thing. And in just under 3 hours it was all over. My education was complete.
After the game, ignoring the fact it was threatening rain, we walked down to the park alongside the river on the far side of town (not that we took the most direct route to get there, walking along a freeway for much too long with lost grasshoppers for company) and followed it round to close to Market St, walked through the Union St train station to the bus stop and home.
When we got hungry we walked back to Pearl St, a good place for eats around there, and found a little cafe "La Belle Rosette" with possibly the friendliest service ever. Five stars. The food was great too, especially the homemade fresh ginger lemonade.
Rendezvoused with Yong and off we went to Boulder, which is about half an hour north-west, nestled up against the mountains. He drove us right up to the Flagstaff summit where we climbed up on a rock for a great view of the town and the plains of Colorado. There is a cool little amphitheatre up there as well as a big picnic area. Probably lots of nice walks too and good rock climbing/bouldering (can see all the chalk marks on the popular climbs on the way up). Saw a chipmunk! And a fox on the drive back down.
Back in town we strolled through their lovely pedestrian mall, lined with more interesting shops than in Denver. Saw a guy with a curly moustache flick an entire pack of cards off his arm and catch the whole deck in one hand. Then Yong took us for dinner at a great, authentic Italian place in Boulder, Il Pastaio (hiding in a nondescript strip mall). I had the gnocchi with pesto and cream and it was rich!
On Wednesday we checked out the Denver Art Museum. It has an older building that looks a little like a castle and houses the more traditional art, and an attached contemporary building that is all angles. Went to the King Tut exhibition that was on at the time, lots of ancient Egyptian artifacts including things discovered in Tutankhamun's tomb, and the accompanying 3D film. Had the leftover gnocchi for lunch outside near a park, then had a look around the rest of the contemporary gallery, lots of interesting stuff. After that we only had time to go see the photography exhibit in the other half of the gallery. Tried to see the bamboo art on the way out but were too late. Great place and you could easily spend several days there to see it all. The public library building next door looked interesting too.
Had a look at the plaza/park across the road where a squirrel displayed its impressive acrobatic ability for us. From the plaza you can see the state capitol building, the 13th step of which is one mile above sea level. Didn't go stand there though. Instead went back to Yong's and got a tasty selection from Señor Burritos around the corner for tea. For the evening's entertainment Yong had tickets to an intimate Jazz concert at a music school nearby. It was incredible. The pianist was Kenny Werner, apparently the best pianist of that style performing in the U.S. at this time. You can wiki him. He was accompanied by local musicians on drums, double bass and trumpet and they performed some original pieces (of Kenny's and the trumpet player's) as well as a few familiar, but highly improvised, ones (Tears in Heaven, Blackbird and their take on Hedwig's Theme - yes, Harry Potter's Hedwig).
The next day we were to partake in America's National Passtime - going to a baseball game! My first ever. The Rockies were set to take on the Pittsburgh Pirates at Coors Field. I came downstairs ready to go and Jon told me I shouldn't wear yellow (Pirates colours). Oops. We went, it was great. Missed out on the really cheap bleacher tickets but we got some good seats for not too much more. Ate lots of junk food (peanuts, cracker jacks, a corn dog) and drank Coors Light. Applied and reapplied and reapplied sunscreen - started out ridiculously hot, but the cloud came over thankfully. The Rockies did awesomely. Broke their losing streak with a triumphant 9:3 win, including a couple of home runs! Fowler should definitely have been awarded player of the day if they do that kinda thing. And in just under 3 hours it was all over. My education was complete.
After the game, ignoring the fact it was threatening rain, we walked down to the park alongside the river on the far side of town (not that we took the most direct route to get there, walking along a freeway for much too long with lost grasshoppers for company) and followed it round to close to Market St, walked through the Union St train station to the bus stop and home.
Tuesday, 3 August 2010
Mile High
Colorado! Yong and Lindsey came to pick us up from the airport (which was great, were not excited to try navigate multiple buses with cumbersome luggage). Arrived at their lovely place where Jeremy and Hagino were staying too. They were off to have big, backcountry adventures in Yellowstone National Park the following morning but was very cool to see them for the evening.
The weekend we arrived there was the Underground Music Showcase happening in Yong's neighbourhood. It was a pretty big deal. Walked the couple of blocks to where it was all taking place (in every pub, restaurant, carpark and even a church in the area) but most of the bands were just finishing up for the evening (found out much later that there was a late show at the movie theatre just around the corner). Enjoyed wandering around to see what was going on though and got a soft taco which was a first for me.
Sunday was pretty much filled with UMS action, after a sleep in (finally!) and very lazy start. Saw a bunch of bands/artists across a whole range of styles and sounds, from folk to dance to melancholy musings interspersed with almost stand-up-comic banter. Saw: Bela Karoli, Tyler Potts aka Buddy Holiday, Nathaneal Rateliff (/+ The Wheel), Snake Rattle Rattle Snake, a little of Treeverb and the start of A Shoreline Dream before we started falling asleep and decided we'd best go home. Yong and Lindsey saw some of the bands too and in between we grabbed some pizza slices from Famous Pizza.
We got a sleep in again on Monday! Bliss! Then took the bus the 16 blocks to downtown. Walked through the 16th St pedestrian mall, which Dunedin should totally emulate with George St. The shopping was pretty standard but the atmosphere was great. Loads of buskers and pianos in the mall i think anyone could sit down and have a play on. The only traffic allowed, besides cross traffic, are the free, quiet (hybrid) mall buses.
The mall ends around the Market St station (central bus terminal, underground and unobtrusive) where you're now in LoDo - lower downtown, the historic district of Denver, which started out as a gold rush town. Got quite excited at my first view of the Rockies. Walked around LoDo a bit and stopped for a late lunch at The Market, Yong's wonderful suggestion.
Walked around some more, trying to stick to the shady spots, and found the Hyatt. On the 27th floor there is a bar with a panoramic view of the city, surrounding plains and mountains! Beautiful, though you need a strong stomach for their express elevators. Worse than any ride at Kings Island.
Caught the bus back to Yong's again and had a quiet evening. Got acquainted with an iPad. More specifically some pretty cool games on Yong's one. Totally addicting.
The weekend we arrived there was the Underground Music Showcase happening in Yong's neighbourhood. It was a pretty big deal. Walked the couple of blocks to where it was all taking place (in every pub, restaurant, carpark and even a church in the area) but most of the bands were just finishing up for the evening (found out much later that there was a late show at the movie theatre just around the corner). Enjoyed wandering around to see what was going on though and got a soft taco which was a first for me.
Sunday was pretty much filled with UMS action, after a sleep in (finally!) and very lazy start. Saw a bunch of bands/artists across a whole range of styles and sounds, from folk to dance to melancholy musings interspersed with almost stand-up-comic banter. Saw: Bela Karoli, Tyler Potts aka Buddy Holiday, Nathaneal Rateliff (/+ The Wheel), Snake Rattle Rattle Snake, a little of Treeverb and the start of A Shoreline Dream before we started falling asleep and decided we'd best go home. Yong and Lindsey saw some of the bands too and in between we grabbed some pizza slices from Famous Pizza.
We got a sleep in again on Monday! Bliss! Then took the bus the 16 blocks to downtown. Walked through the 16th St pedestrian mall, which Dunedin should totally emulate with George St. The shopping was pretty standard but the atmosphere was great. Loads of buskers and pianos in the mall i think anyone could sit down and have a play on. The only traffic allowed, besides cross traffic, are the free, quiet (hybrid) mall buses.
The mall ends around the Market St station (central bus terminal, underground and unobtrusive) where you're now in LoDo - lower downtown, the historic district of Denver, which started out as a gold rush town. Got quite excited at my first view of the Rockies. Walked around LoDo a bit and stopped for a late lunch at The Market, Yong's wonderful suggestion.
Walked around some more, trying to stick to the shady spots, and found the Hyatt. On the 27th floor there is a bar with a panoramic view of the city, surrounding plains and mountains! Beautiful, though you need a strong stomach for their express elevators. Worse than any ride at Kings Island.
Caught the bus back to Yong's again and had a quiet evening. Got acquainted with an iPad. More specifically some pretty cool games on Yong's one. Totally addicting.
Chicago: you light up my life
En route to Chicago we made a couple of stops in Indiana, one to get fireworks from this massive fireworks warehouse right on the border with Ohio, the other for a dinner picnic in West Lafayette. Got to Chicago with a night view of the downtown district, accentuated by frequent flashes of heat lightning in the clouds, and checked into our hotel out by the airport.
In the morning (after giant waffles) Kuem dropped us off close to town (around the Chicago versions of Little Italy and Chinatown) before heading on her way back to Ohio. We made our way to Michigan Ave and then followed it towards town, going pretty slowly as it was around 34C and humid as all get out. Got as far as Grant Park then collapsed on the grass near the planetarium and aquarium with Lake Michigan at our feet and our packed lunch plus a Chicago style hot dog (very messy, though not nearly so bad as a Chilean style one if you recall that debacle).
Stayed put for a good couple of hours before we could consider moving again and then only to find a little beach nestled in beside the planetarium where we paddled in the extremely refreshing (read: freezing cold as ice) waters of Lake Michigan. I honestly don't know how people were in any further than about ankle deep, though you did go numb pretty quick and it was ridiculously hot not in the water.
Walked through Grant Park proper (Lollapalooza will be held there soon, sigh) to downtown. Went briefly into the foyer of the Art Institute, came out and the air was even hotter and heavier for a moment and then came the rain! It poured. And thundered (the loudest, closest thunderclap either of us had ever heard - it literally hurt the ears) and lightning split the sky. So of course we decided to get as close to the Sears Tower as possible, the tallest building anywhere around, and the tallest office building in the USA. I feel like some life lesson I should have learned is not to seek out the tallest structure when there's that much electricity in the air, but i figured it would get hit not us if anything, and anyway nothing that dramatic happened.
Since the storm kind of ruled out any other outdoor activity ideas we decided it must be time for dinner so, trying to dodge the weather as much as possible (Chicago downtown does not provide much shelter e.g. in the form of shop awnings etc), we made our way several blocks to Lou Malnati's deep-dish pizza place that had been recommended to us by a friend of Jon's. It was super packed and we were told to expect an hour and a half wait, which was fine by us as it was dry, there was beer and it was earlier than we'd intended getting dinner anyway. As it turned out the wait was less than an hour until "The Lou". Delicious, and a perfect dish for drying out to.
Caught the train back to the airport/hotel and prepared for our sneaky fireworks mission. Thankfully it had stopped raining, but once again the lightning was putting on a spectacular show. We had half a dozen mortars and a box of buzzy bees to set off without drawing any unwanted attention to the illicit activity (although fireworks are perfectly legal to buy at any time, they're not necessarily legal to set off). Scoped out a quiet, relatively dark carpark around the corner from the hotel and let them fly! It was exhilarating. These were REAL fireworks.
On Saturday we hung around the Wicker Park area/neighbourhood. Wicker Park was pretty nice, a good spot to eat our pizza leftovers, before all the sunbathers came out in force. The area was recommended to us by the same friend as it has some cooler shopping, quite a few vintage places and great wee gift/knick knack shops etc. There was also a block party happening on a side street which was cool to stumble upon, as well as some big urban scavenger hunt so lots of people running around frantically in silly costumes, asking people to take pictures of them doing odd things! Got to see behind the scenes of one of their tasks at "The Boring Store" where they had to write a haiku then shoot targets with suction darts. Good old fashioned fun, but in that heat? no thanks.
After demolishing a scrumptious choc-chip cookie-pizza with vanilla bean ice cream from another Lou Malnati's on the train platform we had to leave to catch our (rather turbulent) flight to Denver. Wasn't cancelled like many flights that weekend and only delayed an hour. Before we left the whole sky turned purple. Thanks Chicago.
In the morning (after giant waffles) Kuem dropped us off close to town (around the Chicago versions of Little Italy and Chinatown) before heading on her way back to Ohio. We made our way to Michigan Ave and then followed it towards town, going pretty slowly as it was around 34C and humid as all get out. Got as far as Grant Park then collapsed on the grass near the planetarium and aquarium with Lake Michigan at our feet and our packed lunch plus a Chicago style hot dog (very messy, though not nearly so bad as a Chilean style one if you recall that debacle).
Stayed put for a good couple of hours before we could consider moving again and then only to find a little beach nestled in beside the planetarium where we paddled in the extremely refreshing (read: freezing cold as ice) waters of Lake Michigan. I honestly don't know how people were in any further than about ankle deep, though you did go numb pretty quick and it was ridiculously hot not in the water.
Walked through Grant Park proper (Lollapalooza will be held there soon, sigh) to downtown. Went briefly into the foyer of the Art Institute, came out and the air was even hotter and heavier for a moment and then came the rain! It poured. And thundered (the loudest, closest thunderclap either of us had ever heard - it literally hurt the ears) and lightning split the sky. So of course we decided to get as close to the Sears Tower as possible, the tallest building anywhere around, and the tallest office building in the USA. I feel like some life lesson I should have learned is not to seek out the tallest structure when there's that much electricity in the air, but i figured it would get hit not us if anything, and anyway nothing that dramatic happened.
Since the storm kind of ruled out any other outdoor activity ideas we decided it must be time for dinner so, trying to dodge the weather as much as possible (Chicago downtown does not provide much shelter e.g. in the form of shop awnings etc), we made our way several blocks to Lou Malnati's deep-dish pizza place that had been recommended to us by a friend of Jon's. It was super packed and we were told to expect an hour and a half wait, which was fine by us as it was dry, there was beer and it was earlier than we'd intended getting dinner anyway. As it turned out the wait was less than an hour until "The Lou". Delicious, and a perfect dish for drying out to.
Caught the train back to the airport/hotel and prepared for our sneaky fireworks mission. Thankfully it had stopped raining, but once again the lightning was putting on a spectacular show. We had half a dozen mortars and a box of buzzy bees to set off without drawing any unwanted attention to the illicit activity (although fireworks are perfectly legal to buy at any time, they're not necessarily legal to set off). Scoped out a quiet, relatively dark carpark around the corner from the hotel and let them fly! It was exhilarating. These were REAL fireworks.
On Saturday we hung around the Wicker Park area/neighbourhood. Wicker Park was pretty nice, a good spot to eat our pizza leftovers, before all the sunbathers came out in force. The area was recommended to us by the same friend as it has some cooler shopping, quite a few vintage places and great wee gift/knick knack shops etc. There was also a block party happening on a side street which was cool to stumble upon, as well as some big urban scavenger hunt so lots of people running around frantically in silly costumes, asking people to take pictures of them doing odd things! Got to see behind the scenes of one of their tasks at "The Boring Store" where they had to write a haiku then shoot targets with suction darts. Good old fashioned fun, but in that heat? no thanks.
After demolishing a scrumptious choc-chip cookie-pizza with vanilla bean ice cream from another Lou Malnati's on the train platform we had to leave to catch our (rather turbulent) flight to Denver. Wasn't cancelled like many flights that weekend and only delayed an hour. Before we left the whole sky turned purple. Thanks Chicago.
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