Greetings from Denver

Hello! I finally got the computer to talk to the wi-fi at the hotel, so now I can blog from Colorado. I'm sure you were all very concerned.

Anyway, I just flew into Denver on Wednesday, and boy are my legs tired! I opted not to get a car on this trip, and as a result I have been walking everywhere. On the one hand, it is good exercise. On the other hand, my legs are tired. Of course, this is much better than DC because in DC everything is much farther away than it appears, and in Denver everything is much closer than it appears.

One reason for the rather large amounts of walking is my general desire to reconnoiter. I like to know where things are in relation to other things, thus making it much harder for me to get lost. So every day I took a different route to the convention center, just so I'd know what was there. I walked to the Denver Art Museum down 16th street and around the park, but came back through the park. I walked all the way down to Market street on 16th, but came back to the hotel on 15th (I recommend 16th). I have walked the entire length of the 16th Street Mall twice.

Another reason for all the walking is that I have a hard time deciding where/what to eat. I'm really bad at picking a place to go to lunch at work, and I am equally bad at it when I'm by myself. I think I did laps on the 16th street mall for over an hour the other night before finally settling on Chili's.

I know, I know. I'm a little ashamed by it but I stand by my decision because the honey chipotle chicken crispers are really good.

I wish I weren't here all by myself, as going out to eat is so much better when one is not by oneself, but I'm adjusting. Tonight I have scouted out many other fine restaurant chains to dine at, including: Cheesecake Factory, P.F. Chang's, Chipotle, and Subway. Hmm . . .

Tomorrow, since I already visited the museum today, I plan to do some work in my room, then go to the ESPN Zone to watch football. Monday is a bit more up in the air, since the weather is supposed to take a serious turn for the worse. I am going to try to go to the US Mint, but may just hole up at the Corner Bakery with the laptop. (They sell Swiss oatmeal for breakfast! Name one other American restaurant that sells that. I dare you. Oh, it's so good. Why did I waste two days of breakfast on Einstein's?) I fly back home on Monday evening, and then it's back to work on Tuesday.