Denver trip (lengthy)

Ok, I have promised to put up a blog about my trip.  I have avoided doing it because of the length, but now I am breaking my promise and that's just not acceptable.  So here is the blog as I have it now.  I appologize for the length!

So, I guess I should start at the beginning.
I have some friends that I had worked with, and hence traveled with, that I had been planning on visiting for a while.  A situation present itself and I decided to go.  As it turns out there are a couple of URU-ites in the area and they both agreed to meet up with me.  I bought tickets the same night.
Seeing as how I bought the tickets late Sunday for a Wednesday departure.   What work I have then called me in to work all day Monday and Tuesday. I owe a big thank you to the Myst online chat room for helping me arrange all of the last minute details.  Ladee and Mara were great on getting me directed to a hotel for the first few days.  Doc used his connections locally to get me into a very cute little Inn right on the river in Pagosa. 
Very loose plans were made.  To try to keep a long story short, I'll just focus in on the second day in Colorado when I did Denver. (The first day I spent 11 hours flying to Denver.  I then proceeded to sleep for 12 hours as I had 5.5 hours of sleep in the previous 2 days. Second day was more exciting.  :)
I made it to downtown Denver about nine thirty or so.  I had the hotel shuttle driver drop me where ever he thought was best.   Turns out that was about a block or two from a large impressive building that looked like a castle.  As I started my wandering, I saw a few people skittering to work.  I ventured in the direction of the castle which led me to the capital building. 
The capitol building is in front of a few impressive structures and archways.  These formed a square with the gold topped capitol on one end and another government building that looked like the Supreme Court of something or other.  There are archways on both sides and sculptures in the middle with trees and flowers and grass filling the square.  It was here that I finally met other tourists. 
I walked to see what the view was like directly between the capitol and the court house.  I kept an eye on each building as I centered them up.  I noticed a rather large rectangle with cross diagonals on the ground in the cement that was curiously close to the center of both buildings.  When I stepped into the "X", everything lined up.  I was perfectly centered in the middle of the capital, the courthouse and bother side archways.  I raised my camera and started taking pictures, just pivoting on the spot.
A nice looking older lady spied me rotating.  "Looks like you found the spot!" she said.  I said, "Well, someone was nice enough to align them all up for me."   I left the center of the park to let her take her own pictures.
Even though it was about 10 am, the sun was still fairly low in the sky.  That allowed me to take some cool photos of the statues in the square while playing with the sun.
I continued to stroll about heading in the general direction of the tall buildings I could see in the distance. There was a Japanese tourist concentrating hard while taking a picture of a statue of an American GI.  I paused as I wondered how he felt about the statue.  I didn't receive any feedback about his thoughts by looking at him, so I continued on through the park.
The trees in the park were bright green as the sun cut through them at an angle.  I noticed a large leaf.  It was so big and the sun pierced it to make it almost glow bright green.  My fingers cast shadows where they help the leaf and stopped the sun from streaking through.  It was light and furry and huge, dwarfing my hand.  I reached for my camera and brought it to my eye without even thinking.  I knew this leaf would wither in my possession and never be this close to life again.  I hope that my picture looks half as wonderful as that moment.
I tucked the leaf in my folded newspapers and continued on.
I saundered in the general direction of the skyscrapers and with the flow of the crowd.  The wind was very strong and blew so strong and dry that it made my eyes water.  I had to lean against it at times.   I imagined a great breath of wind rolling into town with the strength of the Rocky Mountains behind it.  Even the locals were commenting.  I wiped my tears to look at a sign for the 16th Street Mall. I remembered reading something about this being a place to see in my tour book of Colorado.  But before heading into full fledged exploring mode, I wanted to try to let my URU friends know that I had at least arrived in the state.  I spied a café on the corner and headed in hoping for internet. 
I wasn't disappointed and I enjoyed a rather good machiado as I visited our favorite chat room.  I was able to get a hold of Doc as well as let Ladee know that I wasn't sleeping on the streets of Denver.  I also hooked up briefly with Jazzn, the other URUite I was to see.  I think I actually heard him fall out of his chair when I told him I was on the corner of 16th and Cleveland.  Turns out I was about 10 minutes away from him. 
Now that no one was worring about me, I stowed my laptop in my hiking backpack and headed out.
The 16th Street Mall is a pedestrian street with one free bus that ferries people from one end to the other.  It is lined with all manner of things.  I really just sort of wandered around checking things out as they caught my attention. 
The city seemed very laid back-almost sleepy.  I caught sight of a alley way that was created into a 2 story mall.  It was filled with cute shops where I bought a few items.  I snapped a pic of the courtyard.  This will give you an idea as to low sleepy Denver felt that day.  I stopped by the two old guys to make sure it was ok that I took their picture.  They seemed a little flattered that I took their picture.  I told them that it may end up on the internet and they laughed.  I promised that it would be in good taste.  They laughed harder.
As I walked I did notice that the hills made my lungs work a little more than usual.  I picked up a few souvenir magnets and some free Colorado daisy seeds from the information booth.  I spied a tall white spike in the distance so I mentally made that a goal of the day.   Eventually I did end up way down by the spike.  There were stairs that were part of the whole, spike structure.  I thought that a little sprint up the stairs would be a great way to test my lungs with this altitude. 
I pumped up the stairs as fast as I could comfortably go.  I lost steam on the last few, but I made it.  I didn't see any stars, but it did take me a very long time to get my breath back.  I was fairly happy though and I thought that I would be able to hike the Rocky Mountains and survive.
When I turned around to head back, I noticed Union Station.  I went in to find out some information as to what train to catch to meet Jazzn the next day.  My exploration into the train schedule led me off of 16th street, around several blocks and smack into Coors Field.
There was a game going on, so there were vendors in the streets selling water, peanuts, tickets, t-shirts, flowers and anything else they thought people would buy.  I swear that they imported vendors from New Jersey for the game.  I bought some pistachios in trade for directions back to the Mall. 
Back on 16th Street Mall, I spied an old wood door with a shinny copper door handle.  That meant that people use it a lot.  As I walked up to the door, I saw a sign for "The Tattered Cover Book Store".  Being a book lover, I ducked in without a second thought. 
When I opened the door, I saw wood stirs that were so worn the middles were bowed.  When I raised my eyes, I was met with old, stained wooden floors, wooden rafters boldly cutting across the ceiling, off colored wood book cases filled to the rim with all sorts of books.  These books weren't piles neatly, all of the same size and color:  they were almost haphazardly on the shelves.  Books of every shape and color were thrown together in no apparent order.  I knew instantly that it was a great book store! 
I tried to look nonchalant (failing miserably) as I entered.  I felt like a kid in a candy store as I wandered around checking out the subjects and titles looking for a gem that I couldn't get at home.  Eventually I found a staircase and I wandered up it.  I was rewarded for my exploration with a local nature section.  Here were books about everything in nature from exploring the Rockies, to local birds, plants, rocks and everything in between.  I reveled in the localness of the section.  I read every poster for local legislation protecting some stretch of wilderness or advertising a different nature club.  AS I perused the titles, I settled on a small volume titles "Trees of the Rocky Mountains".  I thought about my leaf and picked up the book.  I started hunting for a comfy spot to read. 
Most of the sections were occupied, I assume by Denver-ites casually reading a selection.  I eventually found an open chair by an older man.  I asked if I could join him and he readily offered me the chair next to his in the corner of the store.  I smiled as I spotted his backpack tucked behind his chair.  I heard that people who lived in Colorado were outdoorsy, now I knew.  Eventually he and I started a conversation.  I used the opportunity to get a locals' opinion of my hiking plans.  As it turns out I picked the right guy.  We started talking about my tree book and I showed him my leaf.  He didn't know what tree it came from.  We then progressed to my tour book of Colorado where I showed him my map and how to get to the park.  He then one upped me as he pulled out an obviously used picture book of the Rockies.  He flipped to a few lakes as he detailed out a hike.  Between him and my tour book, I had a pretty detailed outline of where to go.  He suggested that I hike the lakes trail going to Nymph, Dream and finally Emerald Lakes.  I had highlighted this hike as one to consider, but with his encouragement, I made up my mind to hike it.
Refreshed after my little sit, I thought about where to go next.  There was that mysterious fortress looking castle-I hadn't figured out that that was.  I knew from my tour book that the Art Museum was in that area.  It said that there was an orange sculpture in front of the Museum.  I also saw from signs on the street that there was a landscape exhibition on display.  I said goodbye to my friend and headed out to try Denver's free alternate fuel (of course)  busses. The ride gave me a minute to scarf a nature bar for a late lunch and drain the rest of my water bottle.  I hoped off the bus a little early and started hoofing it back towards the capital. 
I snapped a few pics of the impressive artcheture.  It turns out that my fortress was the Art Museum.  That entertained me as I entered.  At the front desk I saw that the landscape show did start until the following day.  That greatly annoyed me, but I paid my admission anyways.  The friendly staff offered me lockers for my backpack.  I grumpily started digging through my stuff for a quarter when a very nice older black man slid a quarter to me on the counter.  "It's on the Museum." he said.  I instantly felt like stubborn child.  I smiled and thanked him.  But my backpack wouldn't fit into the locker and I felt my bad mood returning.  Again, the nice museum employee rescued me.  He opened a larger locker right behind me.  I put in his quarter and together we managed to safely stow my hiking backpack. 
The Museum was fairly nice.  They have a wide array of different displays to look at.  They had, American Indian, Pre Columbian, modern art, furniture, silver workings, and even a quilting exhibit.  I snapped a pic of that for Budgie.  The Museum even had what they called "Open Storage".  Apparently this means that their entire collection of South American pottery was on display.  Whatever they had, they numbered and put on a glass shelf.  One could walk around to view the collection to their heart's content.  If more information was desired on a particular piece, books were provided to look up the pieces number.  I thought that it was a great idea.  There were even other museum patrons that were raving about the open storage idea to a museum employee.
The best part of the museum was the windows.  The slits that gave it a fortress look allowed in only slices of daylight.  The effect was that you got breathtaking slices of views of the city and of the mountains in the distance.
As I left the museum, I saw the same gentleman that gave me the quarter.  I gathered my stuff and waited until he noticed me to give it back to him.  He said that wasn't necessary, but I felt I had to do that to make up for my earlier temper. 
I wondered about the landscape exhibition.  I really wanted to see it.  I was sure there would be some Monet in there and I knew that Doc did landscapes so there was a bit of sentimentality mixed in there.   I sighed and decided that it would be best to ask the expert that I had, so I started off in search on an internet connection. 
After failing to be able to get into Denver's free city wide internet, I gave up and snapped my laptop shut.  Shouldering my pack I headed off to the one place I knew I could get online.  I headed back to the mall in search of a café.  I ended up in a Starbucks with a machiado and a rice crispy treat logging into Myst online chat room again.  Fortune smiled on me because Doc was again online.  I begged a second of his time and asked about the landscape display at the museum and if it was worth a return trip.  After a second or two of research good 'ol Doc told me that it wasn't worth it.  The display was only 10 pictures and all of the artists were dead. He suggested that I should just get on with my adventure. 
As usual, I took his advice.
I pulled a flier from The Tattered Cover book store that advertised a book signing that evening.  I started wandering back to the other side of the mall.  I arrived about 30 minutes early at 7 pm.  The same front desk clerk was still there so I chanced that she might remember me and I marched up to her.  "I think that you have a book signing by Frank Laughty tonight."  "Well let's see what store that is at.  I think that it's on our flyer."  She said.  I handed her my folder flyer.  She said "Tonight we have Mr. Frank Laughty at 7:30"  I waited.  "That is at our Colbine store."  I must have deflated a little because she quickly said "You have plenty of time.  It's up on Colbine."  And she started giving me directions which meant nothing to me.  I shook my head a little and she said "Do you have a car?  No?  You're on foot? Just take the free mall bus to the end then walk up Colbine street to the bus stop you want bus number 15.  Take that about 2 miles to York."  She proceeded to give me very detailed directions from memory , even making me a little map. 
I left the store a little frustrated, but with 25 minutes to try to make the signing.  I considered for a moment, then took off at a brisk pace to catch the free mall bus.  Ten minutes later I was waiting at a bus stop for the number 15 bus.  I had no idea how much a bus fare was so I sorted through my change and help on to $2.45 hoping that was enough.  When the bus came I loaded my $2 into the feeder that said $1.75.  I said "Don't I get a quarter back?"  The driver looked me in the eye and said "No."  I bit my lip a little and joined the masses on the bus.  One the ride, I got a call from a fellow I used to work with who is also now out of work.  We discussed how we were each getting along and I had to admit that I was on vacation in Denver.   He had to laugh at me but I ended up hanging up feeling sorry for my friend during this tough time. 
I got off of the bus and referenced my hand drawn map.  I passed the same block twice before I realized this wasn't a part of the city to be a lost tourist in.  I ripped out the flyer and called the number at the bottom.  A nice employee game put me on the right track and I walked in the book store about 10 minutes late. 
This store certainly wasn't as comfy and as worn in as the previous one was.  I wandered the small store looking for certain that the book signing would hit me in the face.  Shouldn't' there be a line of adoring fans or something?
Well, I wondered around for another 10 minutes.  Eventually I turned a corner and saw that behind a book case there was a staircase leading down.  I tentatively ventured down and heard a sweet, southern Irish accent drifting up from the depths. 
I tried to sneak in the back of the little room.  There were about 20 people listening to the salty haired author.  I spent a nice evening listening to stories about Mr. Laughty's childhood and read from his book.  One interesting thing was revealed when the conversation turned to Irish independence.  Mr. Laughtry mentioned how he has spoken with a few old men who were fighters for Irish independence and how they did not talk about their experiences.  He said that he has to sit all morning with one old man to "unlock" him so that he would even talk to him about his experiences.  That made me think.
I ended the evening recording my experiences over the last espresso of the day.  I had to wait on the street corner shivering while the hotel van got lost trying to pick me up, but over all it was as good day!