The week of February 1st brought a barrage of travel and more time spent on planes and in airports than I care to recall. But knowing that my job often lends itself to this type of travel craziness, I just buckled in for the long week ahead. First stop, one night in Indianapolis and three hours of training delivery on Wednesday, lather, rinse, repeat in Dallas on Thursday and finally on to Orange County, CA for double time training delivery with the staff there. So far so good, right? All my planes were on time, no one asked me a question I couldn't answer and I only had to get snippy with one snotty curmudgeon who thinks because he's a fossil he's allowed to push me around verbally. Those of you who know me know just how far he got with that line of thought.
But there is always a travel catch. This one came in the form of the SNOWIEST winter DC has ever seen. I was originally scheduled to fly back United Airlines through Denver on Saturday morning. I made it to Denver and that was where I stopped. But that was fantastic! Because two of Ben's and my most favorite people in the world just moved back to Denver from DC in August - Michelle and Gustavo (hereafter referred to as Muchtavo).
On arriving in Denver, Michelle picked me up in her happy little blue Civic and drove us straight up into the mountains to the cute little town of Idaho Springs for lunch. Idaho Springs, and Beau Jo's in particular, I'm told, is where skiers and boarders in the know stop to grab some grub before heading to the higher elevations of Breckenridge, Loveland, etc. We cruised into Beau Jo's, got a table right in front of an old model-T and proceeded to order the BEST, again, the BEST, pizza I've ever had in my life!!!! Beau Jo's serves "Colorado Style" pizza that you order by pound, rather than small, medium or large. Michelle and I chose a 2-lb mountain pie with whole milk mozzarella, pepperoni, green and red peppers and Italian seasoning. According to the Beau Jo's menu, a 2-lb pie is suitable for 2-3 people or a half-dozen mongeese. We ordered it thinking that we'd have plenty left over for Gustavo. And then we put away all but two small slices. Oh, and did I mention the best part of the mountain pie? They hand roll the crust, so when you're done with the pie you can spread honey on the delicious puffy crust. AMAZING!
This was only the beginning of a fabulous Denver visit with great friends. On the way back down to just a mile above sea level, Michelle and I stopped to look around Red Rocks. While this is an amphitheater and the venue in which many concerts are played in the Denver area, it's the fact that it is an entirely natural formation that provides gorgeous views, beautiful hiking trails and amazing acoustics that really sets it apart. Sadly, I didn't have my camera with me. But check out the website for some great pics of the splendor that is this national park and concert venue.
We spent the rest of the afternoon checking into my hotel, chatting, checking out Muchtavo's place and more chatting. Gustavo met up with us for dinner just in time to visit Torres, their favorite family Mexican establishment in Denver, a restaurant I've been hearing about since Muchtavo's DC dwelling days. Inexpensive and family friendly, I got to enjoy a chicken and bean burrito smothered with green chili! Tastiness.
Since I had a hotel downtown, Muchtavo opted to stay with me that night. That let us hit one of their favorite downtown brunch locations, The Delectable Egg, on Sunday morning. Potatoes, good. Eggs, good. Cheese, good. The Idaho scrambler was a tasty breakfast selection. And again we passed an enjoyable meal chatting and catching up. I love these people and miss them so much, it was so nice to get "stuck" in Denver with them.
By now my flight had been re-scheduled, canceled, re-scheduled again, and then re-scheduled a third time for a better, direct flight on Monday when everyone in the DC area was hopeful the airports would finally be open. But all the time I spent on the phone with the travel agent aside, we spent the rest of the afternoon in another haze of chatter and laughter, with Muchtavo teaching me all about the neighborhoods and things to do in the Denver area (for when Ben and I come back in the summer!). By mid-afternoon we somehow decided we were hungry again. Really, I don't know how, but we were. So before heading over to Michelle's parents house to watch a great Super Bowl game, we stopped off at the Spicy Pickle for a tasty sandwich selection. While this is a chain, it's a yummy, healthy one that doesn't exist in my area, so I was happy to try it out! For the fourth time in two days, Muchtavo didn't steer me wrong. The Santa Cruz sandwich was great and left me happy and full to meet Michelle's family.
Fast forward a few hours and everyone is cheering for a Saints victory, Michelle's brother's crazy dog keeps making me laugh, Michelle is doing the end-zone victory dance every time the Saints score and I am totally comfortable and enjoying Michelle's great family. We took off on the early side since it had begun to snow and I had an early flight the next morning, but even with an early departure the night was fantastic and I'm thankful to have been included in it!
Overall, I could not have asked for a better trip to Denver. With the weather as it was, we didn't get to enjoy all the beautiful scenery Denver offers, but as I told our wonderful friends, I was much more interested in the company and I couldn't have asked for better!
yum yums. :) glad you got "stuck" in a desirable location with pals.
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