Denver

Hi everyone. Sorry for the wait, the internet at my hostel is really temperamental and it has been difficult uploading all of what follows...

The intercontenental flight was long, boring, and mostly uneventful. Finally arrived in LA at about 10.15, with my domestic departure scheduled for 11.30. I went through immigration which was really quick, then had to wait for like half an hour for my bag. Then got pretty much waved thru customs, only to get ushered out of the security area, harassed by a panhandler and then left to find my way to the departure lounge. Bham, straight into a TSA checkpoint, which was so slow as to be ridiculous. Take shoes off, take laptop out of case.. work up a sweat simply by being in line. As I waited near the end of the line, the final boarding call for my flight was made. No biggie though, they just put me on the next flight which was only about an hour away.
On landing in Denver it was 87deg f, with a major thunderstorm baring down. I was going to battle with the public bus system to get to the hostel but by the time I finally got there I decided a shuttle was better suited to my demeanor. Upon arrival at the Innkeeper of the Rockies hostel the office was closed, and not due to open for another 2 hours. Tired, poor and hungry, I made a B-line for the nearest pub. It was a brewpub not too far from the hostel. I sat at the bar and devoured a local pilsner, before setting out to explore City Park. The neighborhood is really cool, an area of Denver I had never explored though close enough for me to know where I was.
I finally checked in but even after 14,000km of travel and I don't know how many waking hours, I wasn't tired so I set out on more exploring. On foot. I walked 40 blocks up Colfax, and back. I had only been walking on Colfax, probably the nastiest street in Denver, for a few minutes when I witnessed my first violent confrontation. It was an argument between two homeless looking black guys, culminating in some pushing and shoving, some kicking of shop walls, and violent threats to kill. I found myself inconspicuously moving out of the crossfire so that if the angry man whipped out a gun it wouldn't be all over for me! By the time I got to bed it was almost 1am. I woke at 5am with the sunrise and totally energized, I hit the streets. 1st part of the day was spent walking downtown, riding the lightrail down to the old haunts in Littleton, shopping at Walmart, and strolling up and down 16th Street. At lunchtime I patronized My Brother's Bar, which is an old hangout of Jack Keruac. I had two Great Divide Pilsners and 6 Jelapeno Poppers. Some of the people who worked there were pretty old.. and I wondered if they had ever met Jack Keruac. It was an absolute hoot to finally be there, and I found out it is the oldest bar in Denver. Before I left, I asked them if they were open for dinner.

Turns out they were open for dinner, and until 2am every night. I went back there tonight for dinner with Cindy, who I know from 2005/2006 when I was here and working for Dish Network. We had a really good dinner, and then went to a bar in LoDo for coctails, before heading to a pool hall in Southwest Denver. I don't even know what the place was called but it was home to 36 pool tables and absolutely pumping on a Wednesday night. Some beers, some Long Island Iced Tea, and some pool. What an awesome evening.

Got one day left in Denver. Thinking I will head out to Golden, in West Denver, tomorrow to go take a tour of the Coors (pronounced Coo-ers by locals) Brewery tour. At 8pm I will be heading for Chicago aboard the Amtrak train 'California Zephyr'. Next post from there!