Colorado's Nice
Posting's been thin, but that's been because I was busy this past month. Busy at work in a way that's generated a lot of frustration and stress, but also busy because I took the first vacation in probably close to a decade that wasn't just staying-in and resting. I reached out to friends in Colorado and they generously and happily allowed me to visit.
Weather and phone issues1 kept me from hitting up everything on my itinerary, but I managed to get out and see the downtown areas for Golden and Boulder, attempted to get a hike in at Chatauqua2, and made it to the Denver Zoo to see their Zoo Lights display. I highly recommend that last there - the animals are largely out-of-sight, so they string the zoo in pastel Christmas lights and set-up a bunch of colorful displays, several of which are animated.
Mostly, I am just glad to have gotten away from home and seen friends. Two of them I hadn't seen since before I moved from Florida a few years ago and the third I only knew online. I think they were concerned I didn't get to do as much as I might have wanted to, but honestly? It was nice enough to see and chat with friends. Between my own nature as a shut-in and a frequently busy job, I've not gotten out nearly as much as I'd like to, and any chance to visit friends is welcome.
All-in-all, a great way to spend my Thanksgiving! Here's hoping I can carry this good mood forward into the upcoming Christmas season.
My rental car's heater was set to high. I must have had my phone under a vent, because after I reached my friends' home in the mountains my phone gave me a heat warning and started to bulge. I spent a couple mornings hesitant to use it for fear of damaging the battery. A repair shop assured me the glue on the casing just came apart and there were no battery issues, but for whatever reason the case now separates just a teeny bit at high altitudes. If I return to lower climes it sits fine.↩
We got a large snow the day before I attempted hiking, and the trail I tried was coated in slippery, melting ice. Out-of-shape and struggling with the altitude difference between Colorado and home, I opted to snap some nice photographs and head back down after only a couple-hundred feet of hiking.↩