Tour Diary - Day Seven
Nov. 8th, 2016 12:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
waitingmanWe've been in the USA for a week... I am afraid to go anywhere near a set of scales, but it's been a lot of fun so far...
Monday 10th October - Boulder, Denver
Up a little earlier today - 8.45am. It's to be another shopping day, with some sightseeing added in where we can. Maybe. Gary offered to drive Travis around for us, so I got to try out the passenger seat & Julia took a back seat
Trying to find the right kind of brown western boot for me is turning into a bit of a quest for the holy grail. We tried 4 different places in Boulder & the surrounding area, but despite a couple of close ones, nothing really fitted the bill exactly. Being male, that many shoe stores in one day was waaay more than enough, so we'll try again in Las Vegas... San Francisco... Los Angeles... or give up & go to RM Williams when we get home
Lunch at Burger King, where they have a new range of hot dogs which are a good size (small) & quite tasty for a fast food chain. We're still sticking to the 'One Meal, One Burger' approach to avoid getting supersized. I hope it's working... Back into Travis with Gary still at the wheel, we thought we'd head home, then head out to see some sights, but due to some crossed wires, we unexpectedly headed for Red Rocks Amphitheatre. This caught both of us by surprise, but Julia more so, as she hadn't brought her camera. I had my point'n'shoot, but Julia only had her iPhone - which actually turned out to be the best thing for the job, as the only way to really capture the whole place is with a panorama shot, something the iPhone does really well. No, we are not sponsored by Apple. If only we were...
Plenty of people were there, to see the place, feel the atmosphere, or to run up & down the rows of seats for aerobic & calisthenic exercise... & a little kickboxing. There were even a few amateur musicians down on the stage - a couple of guitarists & a xylophone player, adding the venue to their musical CV. I thought I should head down to the stage & belt out the 1st verse of 'My Way', so I too, could claim to have performed at Red Rocks. Time & the thought of another climb down & up those seats & stairs dissuaded me. A stunning location though - a natural amphitheatre, bordered on 3 sides by, well obviously... giant red rocks. Acoustically amazing - even though the aforementioned musicians were unamplified, you could hear them quite distinctly all the way up at the back of the amphitheatre, which was nice with the xylophone, but not so much for the two guitarists & that's not standard musician bitchiness talking... entirely. Being an open-air venue in the Rocky Mountains, there are no shows after October, as it starts to get a bit cold & snows regularly. The seats are nothing more than wooden benches, so if you're thinking of seeing a show there, it's bring your own cushions... raincoat... blankets. Down in the Visitors Centre, there are posters & memorabilia of many bands & performers who have appeared there, including a dream double bill, for me, of Tool & King Crimson about 10 years ago... Dammit!!!!!
From there, we headed back into & around Denver to make the climb to Buffalo Bill's grave - about 7500ft above sea level & a dramatic winding road up to it. Wonderful, slightly vertigo-inducing views of Denver & beyond & today's sky was full of great clouds, but mostly blue, so visibility was pretty good... though not good enough to see all the way to Kansas, apparently. Of course, when you get to the grave, it's... a grave. Bill & his wife are buried side by side, with their foster son John buried a little way down the path, close to the inevitable Gift Shop - obviously not their favourite kid then... Some postcards & a fridge magnet & we were on our way home, via a few shops, including the by-now-familiar Walmart, for supplies & a gift card for our gracious hosts
How the Coors Brewery gets its water...
Home to freshen up & it was time to head out for dinner. Gary & Kathy had mentioned there was a Chinese Buffet place not far away & that was that - we were going. It was pretty good actually... & quite empty on a Monday night, so we didn't have to fight our way to the good stuff & could also have a quiet conversation, instead of shouting pleasantries across the table at each other. 4 food babies accompanied us back to the car afterwards, but no complaints
Back to Boulder & finishing packing, washing, drying, more packing, testing 2-way radios that Gary is bringing, then filling up with petrol & more packing - including a nice Navajo-style western shirt from Gary's wardrobe that doesn't fit him any more, but sits pretty well on me!! I always thought Gary was the kind of nice guy who'd give you the shirt off his back...
Final preparations for a (very) early start tomorrow morning - the sleep-ins are over! Ellie seemed to know that her two extra adorers were leaving in the morning... I think we'll be missed
Monday 10th October - Boulder, Denver
Up a little earlier today - 8.45am. It's to be another shopping day, with some sightseeing added in where we can. Maybe. Gary offered to drive Travis around for us, so I got to try out the passenger seat & Julia took a back seat
Trying to find the right kind of brown western boot for me is turning into a bit of a quest for the holy grail. We tried 4 different places in Boulder & the surrounding area, but despite a couple of close ones, nothing really fitted the bill exactly. Being male, that many shoe stores in one day was waaay more than enough, so we'll try again in Las Vegas... San Francisco... Los Angeles... or give up & go to RM Williams when we get home
Lunch at Burger King, where they have a new range of hot dogs which are a good size (small) & quite tasty for a fast food chain. We're still sticking to the 'One Meal, One Burger' approach to avoid getting supersized. I hope it's working... Back into Travis with Gary still at the wheel, we thought we'd head home, then head out to see some sights, but due to some crossed wires, we unexpectedly headed for Red Rocks Amphitheatre. This caught both of us by surprise, but Julia more so, as she hadn't brought her camera. I had my point'n'shoot, but Julia only had her iPhone - which actually turned out to be the best thing for the job, as the only way to really capture the whole place is with a panorama shot, something the iPhone does really well. No, we are not sponsored by Apple. If only we were...
Plenty of people were there, to see the place, feel the atmosphere, or to run up & down the rows of seats for aerobic & calisthenic exercise... & a little kickboxing. There were even a few amateur musicians down on the stage - a couple of guitarists & a xylophone player, adding the venue to their musical CV. I thought I should head down to the stage & belt out the 1st verse of 'My Way', so I too, could claim to have performed at Red Rocks. Time & the thought of another climb down & up those seats & stairs dissuaded me. A stunning location though - a natural amphitheatre, bordered on 3 sides by, well obviously... giant red rocks. Acoustically amazing - even though the aforementioned musicians were unamplified, you could hear them quite distinctly all the way up at the back of the amphitheatre, which was nice with the xylophone, but not so much for the two guitarists & that's not standard musician bitchiness talking... entirely. Being an open-air venue in the Rocky Mountains, there are no shows after October, as it starts to get a bit cold & snows regularly. The seats are nothing more than wooden benches, so if you're thinking of seeing a show there, it's bring your own cushions... raincoat... blankets. Down in the Visitors Centre, there are posters & memorabilia of many bands & performers who have appeared there, including a dream double bill, for me, of Tool & King Crimson about 10 years ago... Dammit!!!!!
From there, we headed back into & around Denver to make the climb to Buffalo Bill's grave - about 7500ft above sea level & a dramatic winding road up to it. Wonderful, slightly vertigo-inducing views of Denver & beyond & today's sky was full of great clouds, but mostly blue, so visibility was pretty good... though not good enough to see all the way to Kansas, apparently. Of course, when you get to the grave, it's... a grave. Bill & his wife are buried side by side, with their foster son John buried a little way down the path, close to the inevitable Gift Shop - obviously not their favourite kid then... Some postcards & a fridge magnet & we were on our way home, via a few shops, including the by-now-familiar Walmart, for supplies & a gift card for our gracious hosts
How the Coors Brewery gets its water...
Home to freshen up & it was time to head out for dinner. Gary & Kathy had mentioned there was a Chinese Buffet place not far away & that was that - we were going. It was pretty good actually... & quite empty on a Monday night, so we didn't have to fight our way to the good stuff & could also have a quiet conversation, instead of shouting pleasantries across the table at each other. 4 food babies accompanied us back to the car afterwards, but no complaints
Back to Boulder & finishing packing, washing, drying, more packing, testing 2-way radios that Gary is bringing, then filling up with petrol & more packing - including a nice Navajo-style western shirt from Gary's wardrobe that doesn't fit him any more, but sits pretty well on me!! I always thought Gary was the kind of nice guy who'd give you the shirt off his back...
Final preparations for a (very) early start tomorrow morning - the sleep-ins are over! Ellie seemed to know that her two extra adorers were leaving in the morning... I think we'll be missed
