First Impressions of Boulder

As most of you know, Ryan and I are spending the week in Boulder, CO. The initial purpose of this trip was to acquaint me with Boulder as Ryan yearns to live there. In the last few weeks, we began to really look forward to it as a much needed getaway and hard earned vacation. We arrived yesterday at around 10pm, Boulder time. Our internal alarms waking us up at 6:30 this morning was a mild nuisance, but we were so energized with excitement about being in a new place that we made the most of it and started our day.

We are staying at a hotel called “Boulder Outlook”. The sign features the slogan “the cure for the common hotel”. The exterior is very wacky, and the lobby even wackier, but once you drive around the corner, past the “caution, hula-hoopers” sign and haul yourself into your room, you’ll find it is very much, a common hotel. The only difference appears to be that they care about recycling. While I give them points for that, the stark white bathroom with the horror film lighting renders these points useless. Maybe it will grow on us. Anyway, our day began with the complimentary continental breakfast offered in the hotel’s dark, wood paneled restaurant. We planned our day over a bowl of Lucky Charms and a peanut butter bagel while the restaurant speakers serenaded us with dated music from the 1940s. It seemed like an odd music choice until I noticed that the other patrons were about 112 years old and rather salty.

We decided to spend the morning driving aimlessly around to get a feel for the place. I’m pretty sure we drove through nearly every street in town. It is almost impossible to get lost in Boulder. With the Flatirons as your landmark, you can never lose track of where you are. We had a wonderful time driving through neighborhoods to get a feel for what it might be like to live here. The houses are wonderfully eclectic, not just in the makeup of the neighborhood, but in the construction of individual homes as well. We were quite charmed.

We then headed over to Pearl Street to grab some tea and coffee and do a little exploring. I had a chai that nearly blew my head off with its spiciness. We savored our beverages while walking the length of the mall, window shopping all the way. I feel compelled to note that there are startling numbers of homeless people in the downtown area. I hope to find some answers to this while we are here. I did read in a local paper that there is some activism happening at the hands of students helping the cause of the homeless here by trying to overturn a law that prohibits them from sleeping in public areas. The story featured a man named Olive who had been ticketed for doing just that. He had refused to pay the $100 fine or do the alternative community service and was taking his case to court. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

After lunching at an incredible Latin American style restaurant called Aji, we took a long, pleasant walk on the Boulder Creek trail. The trail runs through the city up to the foothills of the mountains. It’s a lovely walk with the relaxing soundtrack of the rushing creek accompanying you along the way. Homes that abut the creek feature elaborate stairs and walkways from the small cliff tops down to the water. Several have set up bohemian looking lounge areas at the bottom, complete with lanterns, flags, couches, and pillows. It was an enviable sight.

This evening, though, we had the best fun of all. I selected Walnut Brewery as our dining destination. I had a hankering for a nice cold beer after our long walk and it seemed like the ideal place to satisfy that craving. Once I had the beer in hand, I could not find anything appealing on the menu. The waiter was encouraging us to order quickly as the restaurant had a 100 person reservation occupying their main dining room. Trying to speed up my selection process was unsuccessful because even reading unappealing items quickly does not somehow render them any more appealing. Ryan read my thoughts and suggested we just get the check and go elsewhere for our food. I downed the beer (more quickly than I should have) and paid the check. Our baffled waiter wished us good luck and off we went in search of something else.

I am so so so glad we did. We ended up at a wonderful place called Jax Fish House. Not only was the food exquisite, but the entertainment was second to none. No, it wasn’t just the paper tablecloth and dish of crayons that amused us to no end; it was the couple sitting next to us. The woman was about 12 sheets to the wind and the man was not far behind. In the span of 10 minutes we learned that she was considering moving in with her ex boyfriend (who is now gay) so they can try to have and raise a baby together. Any significant others, she announced, would just have to be accepting of this situation. She then went on to give details about how a friend of hers was “snitched” on for selling drugs, leading to the arrests of 10 people. This particular friend is now teaching Crossfit lessons in prison. As the evening wore on and the wine glasses piled up on the table, she began to focus on her dining mate’s neck. “Your neck is very wide.”, she observed. Would you like to guess what he said? He leaned in and said, “That’s not the only thing…”. While Ryan and I desperately tried to keep our composure, we heard him invite the woman home to “get high” with him. They stumbled out the door a short while later. Who knows where the night will take them, but we will always be thankful for the endless entertainment we will get out of their awkward drunken conversation this evening. I am certain that when we are old, I’ll peer over my bifocals at Ryan and say, “Honey, remember that dinner at Jax…?”

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