Business (contractor) trip - Denver

I wasn't expecting to travel on this contract but testing started with the users and it was decided to work all together. It did not go so well but not really a surprise given the history of this project.

I don't have any photos. Most time was spent inside and with sun set at 5pm, there isn't any light after work.

There is snow on the central mountain range already but the temperature got to 75 in the city on Tuesday! By Thursday the forecast was for snow. That's Denver.

Denver - the final trip

My last business trip to Denver. At least in this business.

The weather has been sketchy but Denver is always a great place to visit. So many great places for food and drink. I was able to get a run in along Cherry Creek until the path was flooded... that is how much rain there has been

capitol building view from my hotel room

sun and storm clouds

the flooded pedestrian path

interesting sculpture and sky

Denver - business travel

Traveled to Denver for work this week. Kind of short notice for this trip. My employer has a new travel website for booking air and hotel. I could not get it to work so booked the whole thing with a real person at American Express Travel. It was so pleasant to speak to actual person.

It was snowing in Denver when the plane landed. Temps were on the upper 20's. Folks were griping about the cold but I left Minneapolis at -3.

the snowy top of parking garage across from the office

By Wednesday it was 50 degrees with warm sunshine so I ducked out of work at 4:30 to go for a run along Cherry Creek. It was so nice.

Thursday was even warmer. At lunch they opened the windows at the lunch restaurant. It was so nice.

Back in Minneapolis it was 7 degrees when we landed at 8:30pm!

Denver trip trip

No pictures for this entry. Just a bit of story telling.

This was another business trip to Denver. Since it was Labor Day week, only traveled Tuesday through Thursday. On Wednesday a small group of us decided to have dinner together. But before dinner we also decided to purchase and try some edibles.

As you may know Colorado has legalized marijuana. There are countless store fronts all over downtown Denver where you can purchase a variety of marijuana in a variety of forms. We stopped at just one of the many between the office and where we were having dinner.

I was expecting cookies or brownies... old school edibles. Bit this place had bummers and sour patch edibles. You can purchase by potency. We decided on 10mg gummy fish and watermelon sour patches. You are not allowed to smoke or ingest on the store's property. As soon as we were out the door, 4out of the 5 of us ate a couple.

Fast forward a couple of hours. I thought I was getting a bit of a buzz half way through dinner but it was pretty mild. After dinner and on the way back to our respective hotels we each had another.

Bunny and Jennifer, you will appreciate the rest of this. I felt it was time to tell the cannibal joke. I have been practicing so that I would get it just right. I did. One person thought it was the best joke ever. Another person did not get it. I repeated it several times and it was getting funnier with each telling.

In the meantime I decided to tell the 'man with no arms and legs' jokes. I had only gotten to the pile of leaves while still explaining the cannibal joke when someone asked, "How big was the pile?"

I nearly fell down laughing so hard. Everything kicked on... the edibles, the cannibal, the pile of leaves, the dinner, the tiredness from long hours, the altitude. It was fantastic.

Denver (business travel)

Was in Denver Colorado this past week for work. Stayed in a different hotel. That Hampton Inn on Capitol Hill. It was more of a neighborhood than either The Curtis or Sheraton that I have stayed at before.

The Colorado Capitol building down the street from hotel.

 I went for a short run in the neighborhood. There were lovely homes very similar to Minneapolis and St. Paul type homes. And neat little restaurants amongst the houses.

An event center. I think it used to be a Masonic temple.

Other corner of the same event center building.

The project team went out to dinner a couple of times and had a really fun time. We went to the Adrift Tiki Bar and Grill... a tiki themed restaurant and bar. Lots of fun... fantastic drinks and appetizers.
The bar had these light fixtures made from blow fish. I am not sure if they are real (look like they are) but I am totally wanting these to hang in my backyard.

Tiki Bar light fixtures.

I did have a hotel first (that I can recall). The fire alarms went off at 10:50pm Tuesday night. The hotel was evacuated. I was on the top floor (6th) and walked down. It looked like everyone took it seriously.

The fire engines showed up. Water starting pouring into the lobby. A sprinkler sensor had been activated and set off the sprinkler. Fortunately the sprinkler heads are activated individually, however, there was a lot of water.

We were allowed to go back to our rooms after the all clear even though there was watering pouring into the lobby from the floor above.  The Hampton Inn staff handled the situation very well. The manager was still there in the morning making sure everyone got through the lobby mess okay.

Also this week my alma mater, Vanderbilt, was in the College Worlds Series. It was a best out of three series Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I got to watch most of all three games including the final innings. Vanderbilt was playing against the University of Virginia and Vandy won! This was our first men's NCAA national title EVER!

"lucky" Denver trip

Another business trip to Denver. Was planned a while back but only booked on Friday. My ex-employer and now contractor has an unbelievably inefficient or ineffective accounting process.

Anyway, because of the late booking I flew Frontier airlines for the first time. For some reason I thought my departure was at 7am. That is when the Delta flight is scheduled.

Since I've never flown Frontier and don't really see myself doing it on a regular basis, I figured I would check-in the old-fashioned way... at the counter. I was kind of surprised that there wasn't a line. Lucky.

The counter agent was extremely nice and accommodating. I got an aisle seat near the front just like I like. Lucky.

And I did not have to pay for my luggage. Frontier charges $25 for checked luggage and $35nfor carry on! The agent said it was luck that I didn't have to pay.

I got through regular TSA security on a breeze. So lucky.

Frontier's MSP gates are at the top of the E Concourse and right across from my favorite Caribou Coffee. Lucky.

There was a big crowd at the gate which I could not figure out. Jeff Pasoult, the local Fox News anchor, was going to be taking the same flight...odd coincidence. It turned out the big crowd was because the plane was boarding already! Instead of a 7am departure it was a 6:15 scheduled departure. I took my coffee and scone and boarded...I was in zone 1. Lucky.

And then the luck ended. Maintenance came on board... always a bad sign. Eventually the pilot got on the intercom to announce that some fins or blades in one of the engines were bent. It had to be determined if the damage was flyable.

About an hour later the pilot announced that we would be flying after all. Not sure if that was real luck. But guess what, our departure was at 7:15am like I originally thought!

Denver - Spring?!

Signs of Spring here in Denver, Colorado. A rare business trip this week. Back to Denver. Was in the upper 60's today. Got to go for a run. So nice.

It might snow tonight though. And snow forecast for Minneapolis. No surprise there.

Painted sky

View from12th floor office tower.

 

With a high in the low 70's, a run seemed necessary

Business Trip ?!

A kind of unexpected business trip back to Denver this week. I was supposed to come out here last week but the weather delay coming back from Cozumel put the kibosh on that trip.

Denver is all decked out for Christmas... looking pretty much the same as last year.
Denver 2012

And back at one of my favorite hotels... The Curtis.

Snow on the mountains

There is finally snow in the front range.  The front range are the mountains closest to Denver, therefore, facing east.

The snow gives the look if winter and Christmas to the already spectacular views.

Old Chicago beer tour

As.many if you know there is a whole gang of us that are on the Old Chicago beer tour.  It is a frequent shopper program for beer drinking.

Each tour consists if 110 beer. Your are not supposed to repeat beers within a single tour.  Along the tour you can get a variety of gifts which can also include cash equivalent.  I just got $20 for passing the halfway point in my currrent tour.

Denver is the home of Old Chicago chain of restaurants.  For the longest time I didn't realize there is this one just a few blocks from my hotel. Since I have to go out for dinner and usually have a beer or wine, I figure I might as well work on my tour.

This chocolate stout from England is delicious.  And that is precisely what is so cool about the tour. You get and have to try all types of beer.

Three tries

Check the photo.  It took three attempts to get a room at the Doubletree Stapleton.

The first room had not been cleaned.  The second room had in industrial dehumidifier trying to dry out the soaked carpet.  Finally the third room was decent.

The hotel is not bad, however, it is nowhere near the office.  Everything downtown was booked this week.

Give Denver credit

Downtown Denver has a lot going on.  The 16th Street mall is a pedestrian friendly street of retail shops and restaurants.  It is several blocks long and is always busy.

All different kinds of shops that stay upon late.  Lots of hotels are just a block or two off the mall. And office towers are just to the east.

And there is a free electric-powered bus that travels frequently up and down the mall.

Cherry Creek run

My first mile-high run in Denver along the Cherry Creek bike/pedestrian path.  I jogged 3+ miles with a co-worker.  It is a beautiful path right along the creek but below street level most of the way.  And it is right in downtown.

Denver B-cycle

Rented a bike from Denver B-cycle and rode around downtown.  Passed the capitol building on one end of town and crossed I-25 bridge on the other.

I'm a travelin' man

Third day on the new job and already on my first trip.  Actually that is much longer than my first trip with previous employer.  Almost exactly 8 years ago I was on a flight to California my very first day of work.

This trip has me right in downtown Denver.  I'm staying at a kind of funky Hilton Doubletree called the Curtis.  It is directly across from the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.

Stark but beautiful

Driving to client site in the morning the sun is rising behind me.  The landscape is all greys, browns and tans.

The few trees are bare and fragile-looking. But the Rocky Moutains in distance are blazing white with snow.  The front range is still snowless and the trees look almost black from this distance making the snow-covered mid-range standout even more.