So back in Falls Church, VA we packed up all his belongings into the 16' truck and headed to the Dogfish Head Ale House for some dinner, beer, and the first of the Caps' losing games. Afterwards, we came back home to clean the house, shelves, and appliances one last time.
With all the dust, cat dander, and pollen, I felt absolutely miserable! Keep this part of the story in mind when I get to describing Denver. So the next morning I said goodbye to the miseries and we headed off into the Appalachian mountains starting our 2 1/2 day trek across America with it's diverse landscapes and people.
Western Virginia and West Virginia were nothing much to take note of other than the horrible 7.1 MPG the truck was getting climbing the hills. Kentucky was much the same other than the gentle rolling hills and the bourbon distilleries. What was quite the surprise though was going through Illinois and parts of Missouri was the flooding and how massively swollen the rivers were. We were mesmerized by farms that appeared to be sitting in the middle of a lake like a surreal painting. The rivers were so full they were just about touching the bottoms of bridges, and their banks seemed to be several football fields wider than what was normal. On top of all this, we saw a bit of tornado damage after passing St Louis.
As we forged onward, the land became more and more flat. Most of it was the gentlest of rolling hills you've ever seen, but flat none the less. Eastern Kansas was actually very green and quite beautiful, until we reached the western side. FLAT, flat as ever can be! Especially once we crossed into the Eastern part of Colorado, we were definitely in the high planes. Up several thousand feet, arid, flat, and desolate. The last time I saw this was in Eastern New Mexico.
We carried on until finally reaching Denver. At first civilization began to reappear, then we vaguely made out the massive Rockies on the horizon, then finally the actual downtown area popped up on the horizon.
So after arriving, meeting Bret's landlord/roommate DeAnna, unpacking, and resting, we began exploring the city. Checking out the food, excellent local beers, and wandering around the largest REI (these people love their outdoors). The rest of my time here for the most part was organizing boxes, eating and drinking notable local brews, and wandering the mountains.
Before my first trip up into the mountains, I saw that Bret's friend John had snow shoes in the back of his van. I could see from the neighborhood the snow covered mountains, but I didn't think that they'd be totally necessary in May. More on this later. So we headed up to the Flatirons in Chautauqua Park.
After a few days of my body trying to acclimate to the higher altitude, we embarked on a 1,500 vertical ft hike that took us up to 7k ft. Man was I sucking wind! We made it to a saddle between peaks and had a rest and snacks with an amazing overlook onto the next ridge.
The next day we set off to Rocky Mountain National park. We were lucky that there were enough roads open. Yes, open as in not covered in snow! Much of the park's roads were covered in 14' of snow! After a bit of driving to scenic overlooks with spectacular views of Long's Peak, we drove up to Bear Lake. This tiny lake that sits at 10,000 ft was totally covered in snow and ice.... and I had on my trusty pair of FiveFingers (basically barefoot). We did some minor walking about the lake since the snow was still a few feet deep.
So, Denver... How was it?
Spectacular! If you like the outdoors, beautiful scenery, 300 days of sun, local micro brews (that are top notch), very warm and inviting people, then it's definitely worth at least a visit! And to top it off, my allergies were basically nonexistent. My only word of advice to those of you that live near sea level such as myself... Don't do anything too strenuous the first few days, drink TONS of water (it's very arid), and alcohol hits you a bit harder a mile up as well!
