Rocky Mountain High....Colorado

So upon leaving good ol' Nebraska, we headed to Denver to stay with our friend, Chris, in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. He is living in the city for the summer. We immediately found parking in front of his condo, which is a rare occurrence in ANY New Jersey town with a substantial population. Having visited Denver once before, this overnight stay cemented my good feeling about it. It's such a pretty, clean city with spectacular views of the Rocky Mountains.
They have a nice, walkable downtown with a pedestrian marketplace they've carved out of their 16th street. You can even hop on a free bus to get there! Chris took us to Falling Rock, which had some really great brews. (I enjoyed their Spaten.) He also took us to Snarf's, where I had a delicious banana, peanut butter and honey sandwich.
Like Pittsburgh and Minneapolis, Denver had a few hip, pretty neighborhoods with gorgeous old houses right in the heart of the city. It's hard to pick a favorite place that I've visited so far because they've all been so different (so I won't) but I could really see myself living in Denver.
After lunch on our second day, we headed out and dropped off our resumes at the Arvada Center (and dropped off the props Theatre West used for South Pacific!). From there, we drove to Golden and took a free tour of the Coors Brewery. We even got free tastes of beer! Neither of us even really drink Coors but hey, it was free. I must say that I was impressed by the fact that the entire tour was free. We even got a mini tour of the town. Because we hadn't spent any money, we did drop $40 on souvenirs. I mean, but come on, we had a free tour and free beer.
After our 'free' afternoon, we camped at Golden Gate State Park where it rained (AGAIN) and the campers next to us were smoking pot. We made spaghettios for dinner.
The next morning, we drove to Rocky Mountain National Park and camped in Moraine Campground. On the way, we stopped in a GREAT little town nestled in a valley called Nederland. Filled with hippies and Subarus. (By the way, I think it may be a law that in order to live in Colorado and be cool, one must be the owner of some sort of Subaru station wagon, preferably with a ski rack on top and lots of left-leaning political bumper stickers.)
Oh, and our Annual Park Pass really was worth it's weight. The admission for Rocky Mtn was $20 alone! There were, alas, no showers but the compost toilets around the corner from our site were kept spotless!
We hiked up Deer Mountain (elev. 10,007) and it was long and steep but I can say that I hiked up a mountain in the Rocky Mountains. That night it rained (AGAIN!!!! We are FOUR FOR FOUR!) and we were confined to our tent.
This morning, we breakfasted in Estes Park (which, my mother tells me, I visited in utero) at Egg & I. Normally, I get poached eggs and corned beef hash whenever I go out for breakfast but since Colorado seems so healthy, I went for their Berry-ola Oatmeal. Amazing.

On our way out, we nearly got rear ended pulling off into Colorado Cherry Company because of their sign that said "Free Samples". (We get really excited about free stuff.)
And so, after a long drive into the rolling, velvety hills of Wyoming, here we are, in Lander. Not much to report except that I've had my first real shower (with water and all) in two days. Tomorrow, we leave for Yellowstone.

Nebraska and beyond

So it's been a while since I last posted. We've been working 14 hour days, 7 days a week so I haven't had the chance to really sit down at a computer. Now that South Pacific is halfway over, I have some breathing time.... so let's Tarantino it, shall we?

So let's just start with our hike up 'the Bluff'. We got some great views of the area once we got to the top. Our friend Sam even pulled out a bull snake and annoyed it for a while. It was a steep incline and I was really glad for the water that I remembered to bring. I must say that the best part of the whole deal was that we (and everyone in our car) got in for free because of our Interagency Parks Pass. Otherwise, it would've been ten dollars. We plan on going up again (driving this time) before we have to leave.

A great little surprise during our stay was George. George visited us two nights in a row in our common room in our dorm. We were watching TV one night and Mickey whispered to me "Oh my God, Alex, look". And in the front doorway from the lobby, by an empty spackle tub, was George. He was cold and shivering from the chilly night (it was easily 54 degrees in May at night). We ultimately had to chase him back outside.
The next night, Jaime and Titus were over watching TV with us in the common room when I saw something out of the corner of my eye by the arm chair. I brushed it off at first but then there he was! George! He darted across the floor, hid underneath the couch and the armchairs and the pool table until finally Mickey and the night R.A. caught him in Jaime's blanket. This is George...
We never saw him again. We do hope he's ok because there were some nasty thunderstorms with hail not too long after we set him free the second time.

A few weeks later, during the run of Over the River and Through the Woods, a large portion of the population of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation descended upon the front lawn of the Western Nebraska Community College campus for a POW WOW. Yes, my friends, a real live POW WOW. I was so psyched. It was a weekend event and they set up a tipi and had food and sold wares. (A porcupine quill bracelet went for $35 and a walking taco went for $2. Guess which one I bought.) I was so moved and touched to see such a vibrant celebration observed by those who are completely and wholly poverty stricken. From my Native American II (yet again) I learned about the Pine Ridge Reservation. It is among the poorest reservations in the country where, I believe, unemployment is 90% and nearly everyone lives below the poverty line. Yet everyone was celebrating and chanting and dancing.
We were so excited for this event yet many of the locals did not share our views and went so far as to express their displeasure at this event even taking place. It was a shame that they could not celebrate as well and appreciate a wonderful cultural event that was occurring in their own backyard.

Besides powwows and baby rabbits, another thing that we never came across in everyday life in good ol' NJ was TORNADOS. Woooo! Tornados. There were a lot of warnings this spring/summer. Everyone said that this was a really crazy season. Warnings of any sort in the northeast aren't much of a worry but in NE they are taken seriously. A siren goes off all over town, telling people to get into their basements. Everything becomes really still and the temperature drops 20 degrees in 30 minutes. (We watched a scrolling marquee drop from 78 degrees to 57). The sky gets really dark and the clouds turn a mint green. All wind stops and, in the sky, the clouds start to swirl. At the college, we had to congregate in a hallway by the gym. They had people with emergency vests on who were communicating with walkie talkies. Some even had hard hats with little lights on them. There was also a massive Bloodhound being lead around by one of the emergency personnel. We mentioned this to a few of our friends later on and they knew exactly who he was. Turns out the pooch was a cadaver dog. Why he was at the tornado shelter (as opposed to out looking for bodies) , I'm not sure, but I've seen him around a bit. He's famous. A famous cadaver dog. Everyone knows him.
The first time the siren sounded, three tornadoes had touched down and it was hailing something fierce. Mickey, of course, was outside. He snagged one picture on his phone. And then, the thunder. I've never heard anything like it. It wasn't particularly loud or cracking but the thunderclaps never seemed to stop. I remember once it thundered for a good 20 minutes without stopping. If I ever come back to Nebraska, it will be for green clouds and tornado warnings. The picture of the clouds was just something I shot one evening after a storm--not a tornado. They were a little swirly, though.


So, we leave next Monday and we're off to Denver!!!