After our stop at Mushroom Rock State Park, which involved a lot of dirt-and-gravel road driving in the 101 degree hot sun (we had the AC on in the car, but at one point Colin accidentally hit the "recirculate" button and we were both choking on the dusty air we'd kicked up from the road), we drove straight through Kansas to Colorado on I-70. Kansas was pretty boring--lots of rolling prairies, grazing cows, windmills and oil rigs. We ended up stopping at Prairie Dog Town, not because of all the billboards we passed boasting the "world's largest prairie dog," but because we needed gas and Prairie Dog Town happened to be right next to the gas station. It was more of a small zoo with lots of prairie dogs running around and popping in and out of their burrowed holes. The place also boasted a five-legged cow but we didn't see it. Oh, and the world's biggest prairie dog was a giant statue. False advertisement, if you ask me, but the whole thing just made me sad to see all the animals in cages cooking out in the hot sun. (Aside from a variety of birds, there were foxes, bobcats, donkeys, bison, and your standard farm animals.)
From there, we had a more-or-less monotonous drive through the rest of Kansas into Colorado. (Fun fact: There's a town in Kansas near the Colorado border called Kanorado.) We were , however, driving into a gorgeous sunset, properly punctuated by "Welcome to Colorful Colorado" sign as we crossed the border. I half expected to be suddenly stunned by the beauty of the landscape as soon as we entered Colorado, but as it turns out, the southeastern portion of Colorado looks a whole lot like Kansas.
Unfortunately, it was dark as we approached Denver, so we didn't get a spectacular view of the Rockies driving in. I didn't care--I was so excited to be in Denver for the first time since January 2008. I was particularly looking forward to the new experience of one of my favorite cities in the summer season.
Our friends Janessa and Luke were kind enough to let us stay with them for a couple nights. It was so nice to see some friendly faces besides each other's! Janessa had off from work the next day so we were able to go out to breakfast and then on a hike near the town of Evergreen, about a 20 minute drive outside the city. We hiked to a waterfall and climbed a lot of rocks. I enjoyed taking pictures of all the baby pine cones. The woods here are predominantly coniferous which gives them a different look, feel, and smell from the ones back home.
After we got back from the hike, Colin and I went to visit his friend Ryan who lives in an apartment in or near center city. I took this photo from his rooftop:
Denver's proximity to the mountains--or rather, the idea that you're in a city and you can see the mountains right outside your window--was something that really struck me the first time I was here, and I found it no less astounding five and a half years later. Denver's beauty stretches beyond the physical: the people are, on the whole, friendly and kind, with a palpable neo-hippie culture (which, for me, gave the city an even more warm and beckoning feel). There is a pervasive sense of social and environmental responsibility, underscored by the prevalence of health-conscious eateries boasting fully organic, non-GMO menus with lots of vegan and vegetarian options. Everything we've eaten here has been fantastic, from the vegetarian brunch at Watercourse where it took us forever to decide what to order because EVERYTHING looked so good, to the dollar tacos at Vine Street Pub and Brewery, to the gourmet sausages at The Uber Sausage that combined the superior sausage quality of Germany with the American fondness for an abundance of toppings and flavors.
Colin and I both agreed that we could've easily spent a week in Denver. The charm of the city sucks you in and makes you lose sense of time and responsibilities (what few we have when unemployed and traveling). Combine that with the fact that the cost of living isn't nearly as high as California or back home and we both were considering scrapping the whole California bit and coming back to Denver after visiting with Kevin at the end of our trip to look for jobs here. Colin was pretty much sold on the idea, but something pretty big was standing in the way for me. I had heard about Denver's pit bull ban and even watched part of a documentary that confirmed it for me: in 1989, the city of Denver enacted a law that effectively banned all pit bulls or any dog that showed predominantly pit bull characteristics, leading to a mass euthanization of the dogs. (I only watched part of the documentary because Colin turned it off when I couldn't stop crying.) The law is still in place today. During my time in Denver, I couldn't help but notice the abundance of dogs out and about--Denver seems to be an otherwise dog-friendly city, with dogs frequently accompanying their owners to dinner at the many restaurants offering patio seating --but I didn't see a single pit bull. Janessa said she's seen a few since she moved to Denver in March, and I've read that there are some people who choose to keep their pit bulls illegally (unregistered with the city), running the risk that if discovered, their dog would be confiscated and killed. I could never live with that fear. It's safe to say I won't be returning to Denver with my beloved Lucy anytime soon, which is really a shame because it is such a lovely place to visit and, I imagine, to live.
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