Skip to main content

Day 58 - Denver

Today was a city day. The weather forecast at Rocky was high of 50, 20 mile-per-hour winds and rainy, and I had plans for dinner and drinks with a friend in Denver, so I decided to drive back to Denver and go to the movies. 

I saw Ex Machina, an excellent sci-fi thriller staring three unknown-to-me but exceptional actors, and telling the story of an engineer sent to a remote estate of a brilliant Google-like tech company CEO to evaluate the artificial intelligence of a robot. I loved this film.

And for the double-feature I saw Mad Max Fury Road, a distopian-future, two hour long car chase of a movie I thought I wouldn't enjoy but was captivated by. The visuals, the lead acting by Charlise Theron, and the stupendous, ever-escalating action stunts never got old to me. I found myself exhausted by the end of this movie-good exhaustion. 

I then drove to two parks in Denver, Confluence Park, where the rivers were overflowing their banks (pic), and Washington Park, a small but peaceful joggers park. I then met a friend, Georgia, at her house near the last park and we drove downtown to Biker Jim's Gourmet Hotdogs to try a Rattlesnake and Pheasant Hot Dog topped with roasted cactus and curry jam scallions!  It was surprisingly delicious and will hopefully ward off future rattlesnakes. 

We then ate ice cream at a famous Denver joint and drove back to Georgia's house were I crashed on Her comfy futon. Denver must be the gateway to the West because Georgia says countless wanderlust, vagabond friends come visit and stay with her.   So many in fact, she was thinking of naming her house "hobo house".  I guess that officially makes me one of the hobos.


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 51 - Canyonlands Needles Pt 3

A deep connection to the nature surrounding you comes from the solitude of solo travel, but sometimes it is nice to have a companion!  I ran into David, a retired telecom exec from Canada a few days ago on the Syncline Loop trail at Canyonlands Island in the Sky. Then I ran into him again halfway through my Chesler Park hike two days ago, then again later in the hike, finishing the last two miles together.  David hiked his favorite trail, the Peekaboo trail yesterday, and said I could join him, but my heart was set on confluence trail, so we hiked separately. We did share a campsite though and exchanged travel stories. David was 55 and had retired at 50 from a high-level international job with Nortel and was now traveling full-time. We instantly bonded over our solo travel style. He outclassed me by leagues. He had trekked one month in Nepal, then another month in India, then some months in Asia. He had hiked and skied and adventured all over the western U.S.  and Canada....
1 comment
Read more

Day 40 Escalante Hole-in-the-Rock Road

I woke up late following a lovely slumber in a REAL bed-- such a luxury. I stayed in bed reading my maps and guidebooks, trying to put a plan together for the next months travels. I decided I would spend two more weeks in Utah and add on two weeks in western Colorado instead of spending all four weeks in Utah-- I was starting to tire of the desert and Colorado seemed like a good mix of backcountry beauty and civilization proper.  The last must do in Escalante was Coyote Gulch, so I read and reread the route description in my guidebook and went to the visitor center to get my permit. I was going to do a loop down Hurricane Wash to Coyote Gulch to the Escalante River and then up Crack-in-the-Wall overland back to my car. Permit in hand, I lingered by the Outfitters wifi emailing and blogging and then drove out Hole-in-the-rock road forty miles to my trailhead. The road was dirt but well graded in most parts. A high-clearance vehicle was recommended for the last five miles but my Dodg...
Post a Comment
Read more

Days 89 and 90 - Waterton

I started my journey north to Canada today. My plan was to head to Waterton Lakes, just north of Glacier, then to Calgary, then the Canadian Rockies parks of Banff, Jasper, Yoho, Glacier and a few others, then to Vancouver and finally to Seattle, all over the next several weeks. But first I needed the Internet!  I drove south out of Many Glacier to a place I remembered having cell reception.  I did some emailing and calling back home, did some research for my Canada trip and watched the final three episodes of Game of Thrones--wow, the final two episodes were sensational. This rainy, dreary day was perfect for such activities. I then drove into Canada late in the evening and to a campground set in the cloudy mountains at Waterton.  The weather cleared a bit the next day and I was able to do some hiking around this scenic alpine lakes district.  Waterton Lakes district from a high hill called Bear's Hump: The chipmunks at Bear's Bump were very interested in the conten...
Post a Comment
Read more