Bringing the Rain

Destination: Denver, Colorado
Total Miles: 1,500 Miles (approximately...driving...I flew)
Total Cost: $350 (approximately)

This trip will be broken into multiple blog posts that will be coming out over the next 3-4 days (due to the excessive amount of ground I covered in the last 5 days...literally).

My trip to Denver actually started a year ago when I visited my friends in Colorado. I knew from day 1 that I would be going back (most likely in the summer) because there was SO much that I did not get to do or see.

The trip to Denver was fairly uneventful. Besides being x-rayed (which has happened to me pretty much every time I've flown), security was not too bad. I was looking forward to seeing the Rocky Mountains again!

But when I landed in Denver, all that could be seen were rain clouds. My friend, Caroline, picked me up...apologizing for the rain, but saying how thankful she was that it was raining and that I must have brought it with me.

Glad I could accommodate everyone...and if I had known, I would have come sooner! We have been getting lots of thunderstorms here in the Upstate of SC, and I was more than happy to bring the rain with me (my contribution to helping put out the fires they have had out West). :)

It rained most of the rest of the day on Friday. Thankfully the forecast for Saturday was 60% sunshine.

Saturday was filled with a trip on the light rail to downtown Denver. Caroline, her sister (Grace), and myself were joined by another friend of Caroline's from nursing school, Jasmine.

We spent the better portion of the day wandering around 16th Street.

Our first stop was at the Capitol buildings (which were closed for the weekend) and the library (also closed until the afternoon). Of note: there is a statue in front of their Capitol building...a statue of a War of Northern Aggression soldier (aka: Civil War soldier). Apparently, even though Colorado did not officially become a state until 1876, men from the territory chose to fight in the war. It did not state which side they fought on (probably wise).

We stopped for lunch at the Cook's Market (or something like that), and all had fresh made sandwiches. Then we walked down to Larimer Square to do some window shopping. After admiring the decor, we headed to the Tattered Cover Book Store (where we spent tons of time browsing used and new books). I probably could have spent a week looking at books, smelling the freshness of new books mixed with the aromas of used books, reading tidbits from various books, and just meandering among the shelves.

Unfortunately, that is slightly not practical. So after a sufficient amount of time enjoying the store, we headed to a cool little-big bridge that went over the railroad tracks. Then we hopped on a light rail and headed back to Lakewood (stopping in Englewood to get Caroline's car and some Jamba Juice-a West Coast addiction of mine that I wish would become popular on the East Coast).

Denver is huge. And there is so much more to see! Which, as we all know, means (hopefully) another trip.

Sunday it was overcast and rained some. Which was ok while we were in church, but not so much ok as we headed to the mountains in the afternoon for a road-trip-within-a-road-trip camping trip. But...more to come on some exciting camping adventures! Stay tuned!!!!!