All I Ever Wanted (Summer 2010): Part 1 (Denver)

Alright... in effort to dodge the looming intimidation of blogging a vacation, an effort that tends to make me, I don't know, post pics a year too late, I'm just going to give an outline of our awesome vacation. I'll throw in notes where necessary, and lots of pics, but I'm skimping on the long-winded accounts. I'll even use bullet points to keep myself in line. Here goes: Vacation 2010, in which Nyet and Beck get out of Sunny Azz and enjoy Colorado (twice) and the Pacific Northwest.

• Beck and I jumped in a plane on Friday morning and survived yet another flight. We got to Denver mid-afternoon and caught the not-so-Super Shuttle to the hotel, where we were set to share a room w/ Mike & Tali. We spent the initial moments delightedly chilling with our roomies, Mall Tatt, and Ian, catching up and getting filled in on the weekend's transpirations. I say it all the time, but it's remarkable how easy it is to slide back into the present with the Tuftsmen (and ewo); they're categorically great folk.
• Bus ride to Briar's neighborhood on the lake; we were treated to a completely gratuitous three minute boat ride to the fantastic pre-wedding barbecue. But we had great cap'n's:

• Sunset and party scenery:

• Yummy eats of the ribs, sausage and burgers variety; lots of EtOH and desserts taboot. Great to catch up with groomsman Zach and Anne Marie, now a Denver resident.
• The maid of honor, whose voice matched the resonant frequency of my patience, orchestrated a parody song for Briar to the tune of Journey's "Don't Stop Believing." It was one of those extraordinarily cheesy wedding skits you might see on youtube, only this was non-rehearsed and wobbly (though Briar and E loved it, which is, natch, the thing that matters). The Tuftsmen had a part that we pulled off nicely; later that evening, Catholics tried to pull off a Jewish song and failed. Evidence of the former:

• Lots of impromptu frisbee / volleyball at said dinner. I was feeling pretty bad that evening, so I participated minimally, though it was nice just to hang / catch up.
• Case in point: powerful memory of eating roasted marshmallows / s'mores with Matt on the lake / beach and talking about the pros and cons of public education. Evidence!

• The bathrooms at the barbecue, incidentally, were luxury port-o-potties, provided by a company called "The Royal Flush." Air-conditioned port-o-potties. I remain in stun:

• One problem with bus-transport - no leaving until everyone leaves. We got ushered out pretty late by our 9 pm bedtime standards and collapsed at the hotel when we got back.
• Sat: good eats at the "free" hotel breakfast to start the day, with lots of thought given to taking a tour of Coors Field (sold out, sorry). The crew was bound for a botanical gardens tour; beck and I elected to hit the Denver Art Museum which was AWESOME. In pics:

Definitely my favorite exhibit at the museum was an odd, red on gray exhibit by Sandy Skoglund called "Fox Games." Playful and mildly sinister, this installation used the space of the angled museum well:

• We spent a couple of hours at the museum and then walked around very well-kept downtown Denver for a bit. Grabbed a yummy turkey & cheddar sandwich and argued with a cashier over the meaning of the term "hand fruit," and then it was time for Beck to feed the monster named Addictor:

• Delicious stuff, and we finished with plenty of time to trek back to the hotel and get ready for Elliot and Briar's wedding. Which was happening at a farm in the countryside which you will see in the next post...