Days Four and Five, December 29 and 30.
Denver, Colorado.

Moon over downtown Denver

After 4 days on the road, I landed in Denver around 6pm and am staying with my friend Jen and her husband, daughter and 2 dogs.  I am in awe of the Rockies, enough that I found myself holding the camera with one hand and the wheel with the other, snapping pictures as I drove into the city last night. I did keep my eyes on the road, and not in the viewfinder, though, so nothing really turned out. The picture above I took from Jen’s car this afternoon.

Sleep ~ in a real bed in a real room in a real house ~ was good! The dogs are happy happy to have other dogs to socialize with, but every time we leave the house we return to find them sitting on the back of the chair in the window watching and waiting. Last night was dinner at Sushi Sasa in downtown Denver. Try saying Sushi Sasa fast 3 times ~ I can’t! But dinner was excellent and Jen and her family go there enough that her 20 month old daughter knows each sushi chef by name. I think there is one in LA too, at least I hope so.  Ah, nope. There’s only one Sushi Sasa ~ and that’s in Denver.

Today started with the dogs waking me at 4:30 to go outside ~ because they are an hour or so ahead of themselves. I stood on the back porch under an almost full moon and took a deep breath of crisp Rocky Mountain air, let them do their business, then jumped back into bed under a down comforter and tons of pillows for another two hours. After a big ol’ cup of French press coffee, we took the dogs for a walk around Sloan’s Lake, which is right down from Jen’s house. There’s a great view of the Rockies from the lake, though today was a little overcast.

The highlight of the day was driving down to Littleton to have a late lunch with our friend Alexa at her Melting Pot restaurant. It’s in a beautiful historic building that served as a police station and library back in the old west days. Alexa, Jen and I all met when we worked at Inlet Fitness, a health club back in Virginia Beach, about 10 years ago and we picked up right where we left off ~ and wow how life has changed for us all. I’m blessed to have these two women and their true, lasting friendships.

Tomorrow we’re off to Grand Junction to bring in the New Year with Lee Lee and Debra and their kids. I don’t know what we’ve got planned, but it doesn’t really even matter. We have fun no matter what we do. And what a great way to say goodbye to 2009 and helloooooo to 2010. There’s a little snow predicted for the drive through the Rockies, but everyone says that if the roads are bad, pull over for a cup of coffee, give the snow plow about an hour to go through, and you’ll be fine. Now that, I can do. And I promise, no pictures while driving!

Jen, Alexa and Karal at The Melting Pot, Littleton, Colorado