Three beautiful things from my trip to Denver:

1. My coworker Julie and I went to dinner the middle night we were in town. We wandered around a little bit before ending up at the place she’d eaten the night before — renowned for its fish. (I know! In a land-locked state!) We chattered away through quite a bit of delicious food (she had prime rib and I had nut-crusted sole) before we eventually toddled back to our respective hotels to crash. Actually conversing with someone during a meal made a pleasant change from the rest of the trip when I read my book as I ate.

2. Frontier Airlines offers satellite tv for a nominal cost. Since I am cheap, own an iPod, and wasn’t going to be on a plane for too, too long, I hadn’t planned on spending the money. Yet when my neighbors’ screens all went dark, mine continued broadcasting and I will fully admit to having watched all sorts of retro shows (like Gunsmoke and Speed Buggy) without pointing out to a stewardess that I was ripping the airline off. I just hope the passenger who had sat in my seat earlier in the day doesn’t get charged twice.

3. My hotel was only a couple of blocks from the touristy pedestrian mall in downtown Denver. Yet it was nice to know that it was a safe place to walk at night, and I enjoyed watching them prepare for the upcoming holiday season by stringing lights on the trees and hanging dangling snowflakes from buildings. I found the local independent bookstore (the Tattered Cover), several restaurants serving tasty morsels (from crepes to tacos to a pear-date salad), and enough Starbucks to keep you caffeinated for weeks. I wandered the street several times each day.

I spent far too much time sleeping (I’m blaming the altitude), but from what I saw, Denver was a lovely city. They seem to have a rampant youth homeless population, but the city was clean, there were lots of bicycles and clean-energy buses, and the food was delicious. I’d like to go back to visit when I don’t have to work and when I have the ability to get out of city boundaries to the scenic mountains.