COLORADO ADVENTURES

COLORADO ADVENTURES

By: Carole Blake

We Long Islanders recently traveled to Denver, Colorado to celebrate my husband Larry’s grandson’s college graduation. Spending time with his family – as well as seeing my college roommate from fifty years ago – was truly wonderful.

But a couple of things…well…didn’t exactly go our way! We flew out of LaGuardia at noon on Friday, May 8th, and arrived about 4 ½ hours later in Denver. The graduation was in Boulder, but since all the hotels were booked there, we found a nice place in Lakewood. The weather was not cooperating, and we drove about 40 minutes to our hotel in teeming rain. Then, the plan was that Larry would meet his family in Boulder for the Friday night dinner and university program…and I would be picked up at the hotel by my old (and I mean “old” in a good way!) roommate, Myra, and her husband for our local dinner. They came to my hotel, and we went to a lovely nearby restaurant and had a blast. The next day, Saturday, the plan was lunch with Larry’s family, strolling along the lovely Boulder mall, and later joining them again for dinner with even more of his extended family.

But the reality was on Friday night, Larry drove twenty some-odd miles to the restaurant in Boulder. There was a lot of traffic, and it took him a long time to get there; he actually missed dinner, but his family saved him a sandwich which he ate in the car on the way to the college. And then, after the ceremonies, he drove back to our hotel, and that highway had very few – if any – street lights, and of course it was still pouring and pitch black! Thank goodness he finally arrived back safely!

The next day, Saturday, we drove back to Boulder and had a delightful lunch with Larry’s family (each of whom is also delightful). We tried strolling through the mall and enjoyed several of the interesting shops there, but then…it was raining again! And cold! We all agreed that for us to drive back to Lakewood and then drive to Boulder once again for dinner would be too much and too dangerous, so we excused ourselves from dinner, and everyone understood.

When we got back to our hotel, we had decided that we would not travel more than a block to a restaurant. I had noticed a nice-looking restaurant as we were turning into our hotel: 240 Union. I got their phone number and picked up Larry’s cell phone and called to make a reservation. I said “Hi, would you have a table for two if we got there in five minutes?” The guy said, “Is this Carole?” How the heck did he know my name? I was dumbfounded! “Uh…yes…” And then he said “It’s Chris at the bar! I’ll have your table waiting for you!” I hung up and told Larry what had transpired, and neither of us could figure this one out! So, we got to 240 Union in five minutes, and I said to the gentleman at the maître d’ table, “I’m Carole! And…how did you know my name?” He laughed heartily! He said, “You have the exact same voice as our regular customer, Carol Rose!” Well, that explained it! We all had a good laugh…and a very good meal by the way!

Next day, Sunday – for our 10:00 AM flight home – it was 29 degrees, and four inches of snow had fallen overnight! (Remember, this was May 10th!!) We hadn’t heard that our flight had been cancelled, and after 15 minutes of scraping hardened snow and ice off the windows of our rented car, Larry drove us to the airport. Well, actually, he drove to the car rental place, and then we got on their bus which took us to the Denver airport. Once there, we went to the tram which would then take us to our terminal. There was a mob of people waiting for the tram, and when it came, the doors popped open, and lots of people got off, and then crowd started moving in. Larry got in, but as I was trying to embark, the doors simply shut close! So I’m standing on the platform watching Larry riding away! Thank goodness for cell phones! I DID make it onto the next tram and exited at the B stop for our airline. Unfortunately, Larry had exited at the A stop. Finally, however, he managed to get on the next tram, and we were very happy to be together again at last!

We checked the board to find our gate number. Time was running out, and we only had a few minutes before our flight. It told us to go to Gate 15. Well, with more than 60 gates, it was quite a journey. Thank goodness for those flat escalators which stretched out the whole length of the terminal. We finally got to the end, Gate 15, and the sign said “Baltimore”! We exhaustedly asked the woman at the Baltimore gate “Where is the gate to New York?” and happily she pointed just across the way, and said “Right there!” Yay! We boarded immediately, and after a very bumpy flight (the pilot actually apologized!), we arrived in New York. And the weather was warm! Seventy-five degrees!

So, all in all, we had a wonderful time. But it’ll be a while till I do a weekend trip like that again! (Unless Carol Rose invites me to her table!)

l?s]`O