Two days on...

OK, let's start this entry with...WOW!!! Opened the curtains 19/09/04 and there they were - the American Rockies. They certainly look a lot better in the daylight than when we came in on 18/09/04. But go out the room and to the end of the corridor and you have an even more impressive scene - the Flatirons. In case you don't know what they are...let's just say that it kinda looks like someone ripped the side out of the mountain then tipped that ripped part on it's side, kinda jutting out the rest of the mountain. The pics will clear that up for you...when I get them posted.

Breakfast was spent at Le Peep just around the corner from the hotel. Very good food - omlettes, links, coffee, OJ and iced water. Not too unreasonable a price aswell.

The majority of the day was spent in the area of Boulder known as Pearl Street Mall. Quite an ecclectic mix of shops, boutiques and other places. Popped into Borders to pick up a CD by Big Head Todd and the Monsters - Riviera. Given that the band are from Boulder it seemed unreasonable not to look for said CD in a shop in Boulder. You may ask why I went into Borders. Well, 'tis the same reason that I use MS Windows...go figure!!

Popped into Ben & Jerrys for a Strawberry Cream Smoothie - mmmmm!! And then into one of the local adventure clothing emporiums to buy a pair of adventure sandals. Ended up buying a pair of Nikes at 40% discount only 'cos the other brand coming in at a 40% discount came from Israel.

The other place that we visited was a little chocolate shop at 1634 Walnut Street called Belvedere. Very small, very friendly and...well, all you chocoholics know what I mean. Oh, just in case you need to know how to get there try this.

Back to the hotel for an hour or two after that so we could get ready to go out for dinner. We decided upon a place called the Walnut Brewery. 'Tis a microbrewery that serves food - you can see all the brew equipment from wherever you sit in the main area. I got Buffalo Fajitas with the Indian Peaks Pale Ale, whilst Mary had Mahi Tacos with St James Irish Red Ale. Good food, good beer. In fact, food so good that we both were unable to finish our platters. Left feeling VERY satisfied.

Ended the day at the bar in the hotel - Newcastle Brown Ale and a Vodka and Orange. But - horror of horrors - the Broon was only being served in 12oz bottles!!! Just wonder why the USA can't standardise on the Imperial pint or the litre...then to bed.

[As an aside, gas/petrol costs $1.79/gallon here. Not much variation. But remember that a US gallon is 16 fl oz.]

The next day (20/09/04) we had breakfast at Le Peep again. We then went up to Rocky Mountain National Park. Yea, Uncle Alan was flying solo again in the car (this time a Toyota Camry) with Mary, no brother in sight. Came out the the hotel, turned right, hung a left onto Route 36 West/28th Street, and then zoomed (well, not quite - might've been gotten for speeding...if there had been any speed cops about) up to Lyon and then across to Estes Park, where we stopped for a stretching of the legs and spending of monies on souvenirs. Saw some elk in the middle of Estes Park grazing in a field. (Incidentally, Estes Park is at 7796 ft).

Proceed in an upwards direction to a maximum of 12, 183 ft, a lot of the last section being driven through cloud. Had looked at the weather reports on the local stations before coming up - said that there was a chance of snow, but we saw nothing much to speak of when up there. Though I will say that driving in the cloud was very un-nerving. Took lots of pictures on the way up, but the d*mn camera battery went dead halfway up the mountain trail, Trail Ridge Road. We eventually made it to the Alpine Visitor Centre but, as you might imagine, not a lot could be seen 'cos of the cloud. However, that's wasn't a bad thing 'cos by now Mary and I were feeling distinctly lightheaded and dizzy. So food was purchased and eaten in the centre and then we drove back down the road and all the way back to the hotel, stopping occaisionally to take pictures of nice things.

Finally, went out for an Indian this evening to a place called the Yak and Yeti. Actaully, it's Nepalese but the food was Indian. Went there with Mary & Mike and Mike's friends Lori, Bjorn & Jocelyn. 'Twas good. Only problem was driving back to Boulder. Now, I can drive on the right and I can drive in the dark but driving on the right AND in the dark??!!! Well, suffice it to say that I managed to make it back with the help of Bjorn and his wife - just convoyed into Boulder and took the appropriate exit. Mike was supposed to be driving back to Bjorn's with Lori but they "got lost" and ended up at the hotel where we had a beer with them.

Well, gotta go'cos it's 0018 local time and Mary's already asleep. Might see you sometime tomorrow - we fly from Denver International Airport to Pittsburgh tomorrow afternoon.