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Published: November 26th 2006
Rocky Mountains
Driving to Aspen.. amazing scenery ha??
Kinda reminds me of the mountain ranges in Adelaide NOT.Cloudy with snow forecast, 18c
You invite a strange Aussie into your circle of friends; introduce him to life in the Rocky Mountains & invite him to the dinner table for the most important celebration of the year - Thanksgiving. He eats all your food, enjoys some wine and than throws up in your bathroom.
That person unfortunately is me. I was asked whether Adelaide has any high mountain ranges and before I could stop laughing I was informed that the mountain road I’d just driven across reached peaks of 11,500ft. That’s almost 11,000ft higher than any mountain I’d seen in Adelaide!
Little did I know my laughter would come back to haunt me.
Add a gigantic feast of Thanksgiving proportions, some wine, more food, desert and a Denver altitude of 8800ft and this little Aussie had problems. Let this be a lesson to you all. Altitude sickness is no laughing matter. It doesn’t creep up on you, it hunts you down and strangles you before you know what hits you. One minute I was enjoy an awesome American tradition of turkey, black eyed peas, chicken dumplings, apple pies, pumpkin pies, blueberry pies and lots more! The next I was
Aspen
Just a little country town really... Ajax is in the background (main ski area) dizzy I could barely remember where I was. From now on in Denver I’ll be drinking like a 18 year old who’s taking his first mouth full of alcohol - VERY bloody carefully.
Luckily my host Erin was very understanding about it all. In fact, I’ve never felt so welcomed overseas in a strange place ever before. Thanksgiving is a massive celebration of “thanks”, sounds simple enough but it’s like a massive non-commercialised Christmas. Would you invite a stranger to a xmas lunch with some of your closest friends and family members? I’m not even sure I would, but that’s exactly what Erin did and within an hour or so I was made to feel at home by friends of friends. It was kind of a miss-match of people who were in Denver without family for Thanksgiving and I sincerely enjoyed the whole afternoon and evening feast (even if it did have a bad ending!). It was experience that would have been sadly missing had I of stayed in a hostel. Within an hour or so in Denver the next few days were being planned and I’m proud to say I was a ‘local’ for at least 3 days!
My
Aspen Hostel
Who said hostels are seedy??
My swish hang out in Aspen for under $20 per night! experience hanging out with Erin has been completely different to my arrival in Denver last week. I was a little culture shocked after arriving from hot Hawaii and my first night’s accommodation was in a hostel that could only be described as ‘cold and unfriendly’. My first impressions of Denver thanks to the hostel were not good. I decided to leave the next morning and check out The Rockies, and more importantly Aspen - a celebrity hot spot that I’d always been curious about.
The drive to Aspen took over 3 hours and I gotta say it’s best driving experience I’ve ever had, winding through massive mountains and cliff sides packed with snow. I was expecting to find a pretentious ski resort and the end of the road, but I was pleasantly surprised. Aspen is a like a little country town we all know - you walk into the general store and a bell rings above the door, friendly conversations echo across the wooden floorboards “hey Jim! How’s the fence going?”, “Sally! Good to see you. Is Brain coming to the fair tonight?” etc.. You get the drift. Don’t get me wrong, Aspen is a very rich ski resort town.
Rugby Field
In the middle of Aspen.. what the hell?? Looks cold. In fact it’s the only place you’d be able to ski into Chanel, Gucci or Prada than take a chairlift to a black diamond ski run with another diamond in your hand. But it’s a town year round and the friendly locals seem blasé about sharing their town will millionaire celebrities.
I stayed in the Aspen area for 2 days exploring, visiting the sights and sampling the nightlife. The ski season wasn’t due to start for another week but a big dump meant they opened the mountains earlier. I stupidly decided not to ski because I thought the rates were $80 per day (as normal), but I later found out they had discounted the tickets to $20 per day. A bargain considering Aspen is considered to be one of the leading ski resorts in North America. Damn damn damn!!!
You could spend weeks driving around the Rockies but Thanksgiving was approaching and I had a date with a big fat turkey. I never thought lunch and dinner with a group of relative ‘strangers’ would be so much fun. I felt like I’d known them for years and the next few days were spent hanging out at various locations across Denver.
Looking back at Aspen
View from the road out I didn’t do much sightseeing but I experienced a hell of a lot!
There was the happy hour at a trendy downtown bar where the drinks flowed very freely and we were all surprised by the $400 bar tab mid-way thru the evening (try and decide who drank what 4 hours later!). It was night of good times and friendly conversation about random subjects. I couldn’t believe I just met this group of people yesterday! There was arm wrestling on the table, sampling of local beers, scavenger hunts (a gravy bowl and tongs have a new home), footy on the TV and more activities that our table ‘arranged’. I think at one point the waitress referred to us as being “completely crazy”, but it was harmless fun and I really enjoyed myself. Thanks Jen for the awesome Thanksgiving food, Mike for the Mexican and Krispy Kreme donuts (which we stood you up for.. sorry!! It was Erin’s fault, really) also La La (the Neeww Jerseyy gal), Tucker and everyone else who made me feel very much at home and allowed me to experience the real Denver.
I’m also proud to say that my foosballing (table soccer) days at Nova have
Malibu Racey
My new wheels, 2001 Chevy Malibu... not too shabby! helped me to achieve international success. After the big happy hour we headed to Sanchos, a kind of hippy friendly bar-cum-lounge room in uptown Denver. There were 2 foosball tables and I’m pleased to say I helped defeat a great deal of Americans that night. I was partnered up with a local and we were knocking everyone down. Me in offense and Phil in defense - the Australian/American combination was a force to be reckoned with! I can’t remember how many times I got asked “where the hell are you from?” and “do you guys play foosball in Australia?”. The end of the night came when the bar foosball champs arrived and decided to get rid of the one time multi-game winners. “You’ve still got a lot to learn young Australian” were the parting words and trash talk about koalas and Steve Irwin dominated the game. It was rough play and I’m adamant we could have taken them that night!!! Thanks Nova for teaching me to beat Americans and God bless the foosball table (Bill we need to team up and come back here to smash these amateurs! Haha).
My last night in Denver was very low-key. Wandering through
Thanksgiving Buddies
Mike, LA LA (Aka Le Anne) and my host Erin downtown Denver with Erin and her ‘date’, I took some pictures of the amazing mall with xmas decorations and horse & carts. Than filled up on some massive burritos and margaritas. We chose some music on the jukebox and I gave Wolfmother, Jet, AC/DC and Grinspoon some airplay in Denver! Sure, everyone looked very confused and couldn’t sing along but I was having a blast. The college football was on TV, crazy drunk Mexicans were inviting me to their place (that was before they got removed from the bar.. and NO I didn’t go) and I was enjoying yet more hospitable conversations with locals.
I said my goodbyes to Erin the next morning and thanked her for being a great host. It was an experience I would never have had in the unwelcoming and cold Denver hostel. Now I’m back on the road again and traveling very solo to Lafayette, Louisiana for the Staind concert on 5th December. I’ll be traveling through what’s commonly referred to as ‘the flyover states’. Wheat fields, tractors, barns, ‘big things’ (the world’s biggest 3 legged dog) and tacky Americana in the middle of nowhere. Sounds like fun!!
I forgot to mention I now have
Thanksgiving
Turkey is missing but here's a sample of desert. EVERY pie you could imagine. some wheels - a 2000 Chevy Malibu (yeehaa). I was going to name it ‘Trusty’ but that’s dumb. Maybe the name should be “I hope I don’t have to pay the $4000 excess for the insurance cause that will hurt” car?? Any ideas let me know. Actually, think I’ll go with ‘Malibu Racey’!
Before I left Denver I visited Red Rocks, an amazing location high above Denver. It’s an outdoor amphitheatre that is favoured for concerts because of the awesome natural acoustics. Even without concerts the view is spectacular and the weird shaped rocks transform the area into somewhere you’d think aliens would visit (no I haven’t been taking drugs Mum!).
Anyhow, I’m grabbing some Krispy Kremes and hitting the road. Take it easy and if you see my beautiful girlfriend give her a hug from me!! Ohhh ain’t that sweet.
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LA LA
non-member comment
Denver
I just caught up with your blog. It's wonderful! You made us all sound so nice. (Strange. ) I will have my eye on it to keep track of your progress. Have so much fun on the adventure! Be safe, be happy. Let's make sure we keep in touch! Sorry about that altitude sickness. Shoulda warned you to drink more water, less wine. Next time.