Day 19 - Off to Colorado

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Alarms go off at 5.45am and I am up and ready to have a quick bowl of cereal, shower then get the gang ready to depart downstairs as we had our scheduled airport transfer booked for 6.30am. He was right on time and we had a big black SUV with lots of space for the 30 minute drive to La Guardia Airport in Queens.

No problems checking in our luggage and after quick snack of bacon & egg on a pita bread wrap (I think they called it a Panini) we were soon on our way. Very slow taxiing down the runway as a big queue of planes but we were in the air about 5 minutes after the scheduled 8.45am flight.

We had good seats on the plane with extra leg room (about six inches more than usual). Rows 2 @ 3 so very close to the front. We had free live TV screens although they were very small. I watched Wimbledon tennis matches but it was impossible to read the scores until the end of each game.

The flight was supposed to take 4 hours and 20 minutes but the captain said we'd be here in 3 and 1/2 hours. Guess there must have been a tail wind. We had a smooth ride and arrived in Denver at the International Airport about 30 kms north-east of the City.

Once you disembark you have to get a train to the baggage terminal and when you get there it looks like a big shopping mall. Our luggage was already on the carousel when we arrived so we go and get the Hertz bus to take us to the Hertz Depot. Becaused I have the Gold + Card the car is already waiting for us with keys in the ignition. It's a Chevrole Traverse just as we had booked. It's a SUV with 7 seats but the rear seats fold flat down which is what we need with all the luggage. Set up Mr Tom Tom and we are ready to hit the road. It was overcast with some afternoon storm clouds rolling in but still hot at 35 degrees.

We were a bit peckish so we took the first exit which showed a McDonalds and Subway were nearby but we could not find them so we went to this other place instead called the Urban Sombrero. It was really good with Mexican type dishes. Three of us had Double Enchiladas with beans and rice and a bit of salad for $4.99. Luke had a burger and he said it was awesome. As for drinks well Elise ordered Mountain Dew but the waitress (Erin) had some trouble understanding her. After pointing out what she wanted in the menu, Erin said "oh you mean mountain doo !" Luke asked for Coke but as we have often found they only stock Pepsi. He was surprised they kept refilling (I think he had 2 or 3 glasses). We gave Erin a good tip as she was really friendly and gave great service.

Next we headed off to our Hotel at Towneplace Suites Downtown which is part of Marriot chain. We chose this as it had 2 bedroom apartment and pretty cheap. Room was ready and we are on 2nd floor. Right next to a Hospital and ambulance siren's are a pain but hopefully not too often.

Since we were up so early an afternoon nap was required by all but me. It was dinner time by the time everyone had risen. I did a bit of research and suggested we go to Governor's Park Sports Bar as it was only a few blocks away.

This place is your typical american sports bar with plasmas everywhere playing all sports (sound familiar !). Most of the TV's are showing the Colorado Rockies baseball game at St Louis. This place was packed and action everywhere looks like a good place to hang out for people in their 20's / 30's (hope we did not look out of place ?)

Elise ordered a Mountain Doo and Kerry a Chardonnay. Luke a Coke (oops Pepsi) and I have the local Denver Brew. We were not overly hungry after a big lunch so I had the American Burger with salad on the side, and Kerry had Clam Chowder Soup in a Bun with a side salad. Elise had the 5 Burger package ! We had great service here again.

After that I thought we might head into downtown Denver where we knew they were having an Independence Day eve show. This is a bit like our Carols In The Domain we have back home in ydney a Christmas where they have a Symphony Orchestra playing to the crowd who occupy the park between Civic Centre and Capitol Building and the night finished with Fireworks.

We managed to find a parking station nearby for $10-00 and walked to the action. It was about 8.45pm by now and starting the get dark. We found a good possy near the Civic Centre end and this curved building is light up in lights which keep changing to the music. We found a good seat on a big marble block that was on the sidewalk until the automatic sprinkers suddenly turned on starting to spray us with water. I managed to disengage one of them (in other words I stood on it until it got blocked), and we watched the light show. Around 9.30pm the fireworks started and these were on the roof of the Civic Centre. We had a great view from our position.

It was hard to tell but there must have been at least 30,000 people there. The good thing was it did not rain. Temperature had fallen to around 23 degrees and very comfortable.

Tomorrow is Uncle Sam's day.

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