May 20th Denver II

The Capitol...in  Denver :)

Denver's Angels. 

Today we had sunny weather! We went to the Capitol for a free tour. It looks just like the Capitol in Washington D.C. – hence my gorgeous brother told my Dad we were in D.C. hehe. Not sure how we managed to get over there from Colorado so quickly tee hee. It was interesting and we got to go up into the top of the tower and take some pictures. We saw the Senate, the House of Reps (not in session) and the hall of presidents. The paintings of the presidents were pretty cool and only LBJ and Bill C had anything in the background of their paintings. LBJ had a bookshelf and an American flag and Bill just had an American flag. How’s that for random trivia! We saw a big hand stitched wall hanging, which highlighted prominent women in Colorado since it became a state. More than 3500 people put at least one stitch into this hanging!! It was interesting finding out about the influential women for a change J. Once we finished the tour and went outside and we found the various ‘mile high markers’ on the steps – Denver is known as the ‘mile high city’ for being…wait for it… a mile high. There are three markers on the steps because they kept arguing over the mile marker, so there’s one from 1909 on the 15^th step. It was stolen a few times so in 1947 they carved ‘one mile above sea level’ into the side of the step. In 1969 engineering students from Colorado State Uni remeasured it and said that it was actually the 18^th step. So another marker was installed. The third marker was put in 2003 and is on the 13^th step. Who knows who’s right? We also took some goofy photos outside the Capitol. 

Planking. 

On our way back to the CBD we stopped by the Brown Palace, a pink hotel built some famous Colorado dude.  The foyer was supposed to be quite impressive, but it was packed with people and not as cool as the one we’d seen in San Francisco, so we went ‘uh huh’ and left!

Then it was time to collect the car and we were off to Costco! My first experience in this wholesale paradise. They have one in Melbourne now that has been there for a couple of years but I had never had the chance to go. To be a member you have to pay about $50 a year for a card, but it would so be worth it! Things in Costco are so cheap, the only catch is you have to buy in bulk. Which is great if you have a family or like buying rolls of paper towel by the dozen. Needless to say I had a ball! We filled up a trolley way too quickly and by the end of it, Will was struggling to push it around! A dozen cans of sweet corn for $10. A dozen boxes of mac and cheese for $12. A dozen litres of soy milk for $11. Three pound bags on Doritos for $4 (about 1.5kg!!). So, now Betsey is quite full! But we have enough long-life food to last us several months! I could easily have bought two huge trolleys worth as we didn’t buy much fresh produce or meat because we didn’t have an esky for the drive home. Jacki’s car was incredibly full! And then we went to Applejack’s. Possibly THE most amazing bottleshop in the whole world. So, Will and I thought Walmart was cheap for alcohol, until we bought a 1.75 litre bottle of Jose Cuervo tequila for… $25!!! And a 1.75 litre bottle of vodka for $20. In Australia, a 750 mL bottle of that tequila is at least $60. Let alone a mega huge bottle. So again, we had a field day and bought at least 8 months worth of alcohol. Including a bottle of Jagermeister for $20!! YAY!

Me with all our shopping and supplies!

Then it was time to hit the road yet again. A quick stop at Silverthorne for some outlet shopping – Gap was by far the favourite stop, with many bargains had. Down the road for our first Taco Bell experience – basic but so good! Healthier than a burger, I think! Back on the road as it began to snow. Visibility was shocking and the snow was getting heavier as it got darker. We crawled along at 20 miles an hour, being safe, while idiots whizzed past us at much faster speeds. I was happily singing along to the Glee soundtrack in the backseat when Jacki and Will starting panicking. I missed the whole thing, but Jacki pulled over as a huge truck behind us on the hill, started sliding and jack-knifing towards us. A four-wheel drive pulled up behind us, as Will and Jacki took a few moments to breathe again. Me = still oblivious as I hadn’t actually seen the truck. I would’ve left this world very happy, hugging  a double box of Crunchy Nut cereal and Famous Amos cookies and singing Christina Aguilera knowing that I had fun at Costco and Applejacks! The four-wheel drive angrily drove off a few minutes later, obviously too stupid to realise they had nearly been wiped out by a truck and pushed into us. A few more moments and we continued on. 

The snowy drive back. 

We survived and stopped off at a bar for a few stiff drinks, particularly for the front seat passengers. So, we survived a jack-knifing truck, but not the bartender’s Tidal Wave cocktail. Jacki and I ended up drenched and we didn’t even see it coming. I had had a ‘carbomb’ prior to that though and was proud to have ‘chugged’ half a pint of Guinness with a shot of Baileys and whiskey in it. The Baileys definitely took the edge off the Guinness, as usually I am not able to drink much more than a mouthful of that awful black stuff! Then back to the Malibu and pineapple as I wanted a tropical fix in this freezing, snowy place! Back to Jacki’s for some drunken Facebooking, Jager shots and then it was time to get some sleep and await the Rapture.