Denver road trip to South Dakota – day 0 prelude

Our Denver road trip really started Wednesday night when I picked Elana up at Denver International Airport – she flew in from Newark, New Jersey (EWR) and was already ready for our Denver road trip and American adventure to begin. That night, since most restaurants nearby my new condo on Josephine Street had closed, we walked to Colfax looking for alternatives. We found a pizza place (Marco’s Pizza) but it had just shut down its ovens (Denver closes before 11PM). As we walked back to the 7-Eleven to stock up, we were chased by the Marco’s Pizza guy up the street, and were given coupons for free pizzas for the next time. Elana commented that this would never happen in NYC – people were way too nice in this part of the country (Denver)!At the 7-Eleven, the cashier was busy stocking food. So we asked him if he could ring us up. He looked us deadpan in the eyes and said “Yeah, but give me 20 minutes to finish this.” Then he let an awkward pause go by as we exchanged skeptical glances and said “Just kidding. I’ll ring you up now.” As he was ringing us up he made fun of us for believing his joke about stocking, and then asked us if we were European. Was that a compliment? I’m as boring an American as they come, so it must have been the Elana factor – given that she is half Egyptian (via Syria) and half German. She also has the lanky (somewhat tall) European look. We concluded that he was probably high (we are in Denver, anyhow).

Elana got some snacks and we went back to the apartment, and begin what turned out to be her never-ending quest to become full – something that eluded her for the days to come on our Denver road trip. After she had a small nosh, we pretty much crashed outright.

The next day I had to unfortunately get up early AND work from home so I sent Elana on the bus to 16th Street Mall and a day of Denver adventure. By the time I picked her up at 4PM she had walked the mall 4 times, had gone to the Denver Museum of Contemporary Art, to The Brown Palace Hotel (and the Ship Tavern bar), and had a healthy organic lunch nearby. We got back to my condo and I prepped the place for the movers (they were delivering a shipment of furniture and personal effects from my house in Washington, DC – now that my relocation to Denver was permanent). We caught up over a glass of wine and complained about all the crap with our corporate jobs and had fun recounting some of our favorites travel experiences (in anticipation of another one beginning the following day in the form of our Denver road trip).

We then took the rest of the night watching them move (while having wine and pizza), unpack, and put furniture together. One of the moving guys was Israeli so Elana had a nice chat with him about her experiences living in Israel and a future decision involving another potential move. They were done around 11PM (after taking over an hour to assemble an IKEA daybed), and the house barely had a square inch of space leftover – boxes and furniture strewn everywhere. We went to bed with our Denver road trip adventure to start the next morning…and my packing adventure would have to wait until later the following week.

CJ

About therestlessroad

The tar in the street starts to melt from the heat And the sweats runnin’ down from my hair I walked 20 miles and I’m dragging my feet And I’ll walk 20 more I don’t care And I’ll wander this world, wander this world Wander this world, wander this world all alone I’m like a ghost some people can’t see Others drive by and stare A shadow that drifts by the side of the road It’s like I’m not even there And I’ll wander this world, wander this world Wander this world, wander this world all alone Well I’ve never been part of the game The life that I live is my own All that I know is that I was born To wander this world all alone, all alone Some people are born with their lives all laid out And all their success is assured Some people work hard all their lives for nothin’ They take it and don’t say a word They don’t say a word Sometimes it’s like I don’t even exist Even God has lost track of my soul Why else would he leave me out here like this To wander this world all alone And I’ll wander this world, wander this world Wander this world, wander this world all alone –Jonny Lang, “Wander This World”

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