Rocky and Roll

Nothing is ever easy when I travel, and yet I am intrepid. I carry on. I’ve shared my trouble getting to Costa Rica. As well as the dramatic in the worst way the first day of my trip to the Emerald Isle ended. I was just traveling west for my Fall Break. Not a big deal, right? Well, when it comes to planning and logistics, I’m usually flying blind (guy McSqueezy).

I was originally supposed to visit and stay with a friend in Colorado Springs. She called me a few days before my trip to tell me she had Covid. So I had to try and come up with an itinerary and figure out logistical things like how I was going to get around and where I’d lay my head at night. One of those I handled well. One I did not. Thankfully, my oh so kind and also dramatic sister agreed to meet me in Denver the day after I arrived.

I had a layover in Houston. I was supposed to have enough time to get dinner there before flying on to Denver. I don’t understand the friendly skies, but there was not a gate available for us when we landed. So we had to wait for almost an hour. I was getting very close to missing my connection, so for the third time in my life, I went running through George Bush International Airport. I got to my gate in time for them to say that we’d begin boarding in five minutes because they had to finish cleaning the plane. Well five minutes turned into fifty. Could I have gotten dinner? Yes. Was I afraid to in case they started boarding and I didn’t know? Also yes. So there I sat. Waiting.

“It’s fine. I’ll get my rental car and go through a drive thru when I get to Denver. No problem.” I got to Denver and went outside to wait on the shuttle to get my rental car. I sat. And I waited. And I sat. And I waited.

I finally pulled up my confirmation email. The rental car place closed at 10:00. It was 11:03 at this point. Uber to the rescue. I paid too much for a stranger to drive me to a relatively stabby hotel near the airport. I didn’t care. I just needed somewhere to take a shower and lay my head. It was about 1:00 in the morning in Atlanta, and I never got dinner. So as I was walking to my room, I passed a vending machine. I threw caution to the wind, and swiped my card to get a PopTart. I just needed something. Anything. Then I saw the date when I retrieved my “dinner”.

The good people at Kellogg said that you probably shouldn’t eat this confection past July of 2013. I shouldn’t have eaten that PopTart when I was in grad school. So my question is when was it made?!? Needless to say, I did not partake. My mother’s words of encouragement? “Have I taught you nothing? Always pack snacks!”

Anyway after a night at the Denver Econo Lodge that I’d rate 3.75 knives out of 5 in terms of stabby-ness, I picked Caroline up, and we ended up having a nice trip of delicious food and nature.

One of my only demands was to visit Rivers and Roads bakery and coffee shop because Paleomg talks about it all the time. It’s gluten free, and Caroline lost her mind on gf goods. If you’re ever in Denver, I HIGHLY recommend.

And my other demand was to hike through the Garden of the Gods.

We also ended up visiting the Olympic Museum. It was really impressive, and how many of YOU can say you’ve seen Kristi Yamaguchi’s skate? Show of hands.

We took a road trip to Breckinridge. Apparently, I have a lead foot in a hybrid, so Caroline took over driving once we safely made it there. It was a balmy 37 degrees, and we were unprepared as you can tell by our yoga pants. But the town is very cute, and it snowed. So we listened to Christmas music. In October.

We drove from Breckinridge to Boulder

and did some hiking in El Dorado State Park. I am VERY much like my mother, but after spending uninterrupted time with Caroline, SHE. IS. PAULA. There was more than enough room to the edge of the hiking, and this was her.

I won’t go into detail about Southwest cancelling thousands of flights and the silence that ensued when we thought Caroline was going to be stuck in Denver for an additional night. I will leave you once again with the coconut French toast at Syrup and tell you that God really outdid Himself when he made Colorado.