Colorado Trip Notes

We had a wonderful, long weekend in Colorado, checking a number of boxes along the way. Somehow, despite sleeping poorly Saturday night, I was unable to sleep well last night. Forgive me if this is disjointed, and it may not be as inclusive as my trip summaries were in the past.

The primary cause for traveling was the wedding of the daughter of some of our closest friends here. Our friends also happen to be L’s godparents, so I guess this was her god-sister that was getting hitched.

We added a day to the trip and scheduled a tour at Colorado State to begin L’s official campus visits.

And with family in Denver, we spent 24 hours with them.

So in reverse order…

S, C, L, and I flew out to Denver Thursday afternoon.[1] The girls were delighted when they saw a prairie dog scampering across the road as we left the airport. We arrived at S’s sister’s house just in time for an evening barbecue, enjoying the lovely, cool evening. While the parents watched the US soccer match and caught up, the kids were enjoying our hosts’ new hot tub. That is until we heard hail pattering against the house. It was small hail, but still the kids were in no hurry to flee the hot tub until some parental encouragement got them moving.

I had been up early that morning, eastern time, so couldn’t stick it out for the entire soccer game. Shame the US lost. The defensive woes were known, and it is concerning how they were exposed by Türkiye. But the Americans were also resting a lot of players in advance of the knock-out phase, so I’m not super concerned about the result.

Friday we packed up two cars and headed north to Fort Collins to visit CSU. We walked the CU campus two years ago, but this was to be a proper campus tour. We have other friends in Indy whose daughter just graduated from CSU and is staying there to get a master’s before moving on to law school. She and L have a lot of similar traits and interests, so the parents suggested we add a tour when they heard we were coming to CO.

Their daughter met us for lunch at the funky Illegal Pete’s, a regional chain that does burritos, tacos, etc. It was a great way to start our time in Fort Collins. We were a little pressed for time so didn’t get to explore downtown as much as we had hoped. It reminded me a lot of Boulder, just a little more rustic and with a lower percentage of burnt out hippies. There are still plenty of that demographic, but Fort Collins seems to be less a magnet for them than Boulder.

Our tour was good as well. I did not realize how big CSU is; it has over 34,000 students. It’s a nice campus, although surprisingly flat. There are gorgeous views to the foothills in the near distance. L enjoyed the tour and getting to know more about the school. Perhaps the thing that impressed her the most was the lack of humidity. Seriously! We even had to walk through a rain for a few minutes and her hair remained in place. I guarantee when we visit UC and IU in July her hair will be puffed up well before the end of our outdoor walks.[2]

Our niece and nephew, rising juniors and freshmen, also enjoyed the tour. S’s sister told us that private high schools in Colorado often discourage their students from staying in-state for college, painting all the local options as less accomplished than pretty much any out-of-state institution. So her kids went in thinking CSU was trash. They were pleasantly surprised that it was a normal place. So we opened a couple minds in addition to kicking off L’s college selection process.

The bottom line, I think, is that CSU is a long way from Indy. The only reason L even considered it is that she has an aunt an hour from campus. I told her to use this trip as a way to figure out what she wants to learn on trips to schools that are higher on her list. And then to go ahead and apply to CSU and see what kind of scholarship money they throw at her. So odds are low but there is a greater than zero chance she could be a Ram in a year.

After the tour we bought L a sweatshirt and then split with our Denver peeps, heading to Golden for the wedding. Traffic between Denver and Fort Collins was kind of crazy both ways. And the only bummer of the day was there was just enough haze and clouds that the foothills were slightly obscured and the true Rockies behind them nearly invisible.

Our girls picked In ’n’ Out Burger for dinner, which I was not mad about. Although I did have to eat it while driving, which was awkward. It was our first In ’n’ Out since visiting to San Diego in 2019.

We rolled into the Golden Hotel early evening, just as a welcome reception for the wedding guests was beginning. We got to see several good friends who have moved away from Indy. While we were seated with these folks Saturday, it was easier to catch up in a bar Friday.

Saturday morning we explored downtown Golden, which is a cool little area that has held on to its frontier vibes. Lots of quirky little shops and restaurants. We had a very good breakfast as a family, did some shopping, then hooked up with friends for lunch. I’m honestly not sure how big Golden is as we remained in a 10 square block area all weekend. I assume there’s more to it than what we explored. This was enough to keep us busy on a wedding day.

And then the wedding itself. We love the bride. We’ve known her for her entire life. She was a big buddy to L at CHS soccer camp several times. She stayed with us on spring break a few years back when we shared a house with her parents.

So I say this with love: she can be a lot. And I mean that in the best way possible. She’s kind of an influencer. Literally, she’s been making legit money off Instagram since she was in college. She and her sister have built an app for nurses. She’s Out There on social media. Again, she is a delightful, grounded woman. But we knew the wedding would be A Lot, too.

Indeed it was.

Here’s the order of events of the day:

A private wedding ceremony for a small group of guests. We did not make this list. Apparently it was a traditional ceremony just pared down to about 30 minutes. Immediately after, those intimate guests moved from a small chapel to a larger one, and the doors were flung open for the riff-raff. This public ceremony featured a couple readings and a quick repetition of their vows. Maybe a 15 minute ceremony. I approved.

Then outside for snacks and mingling while the wedding party knocked out pictures. A jazz trio entertained us.

Once pictures were completed, the horn player led the entire group, 150 or so people, on a five-block, New Orleans-style stroll to the reception hall. I’m not sure this was strictly legal, as we walked in the streets until we hit the main drag through town. We got a few honks, I think in frustration, when we blocked a major intersection trying to cross. It was a lot of fun and memorable, though!

Then the reception, which was terrific. I’ve heard some good wedding speeches in my life. Each of the four speeches we heard Saturday were amongst the best I’ve ever heard. The food was great. The company even better. As the night wrapped up our group of four families was making plans for our next group trip, our first since 2021.

The night ended on a small bad note. Another wedding party that was staying in our hotel came back about 11:30 PM and made a rather large ruckus just below our window. Apparently they were doing karaoke in the room directly below us, too. Somehow S and C slept through it all while L and I tossed and turned.

No issues getting home. The Denver airport seems to get busier every time we visit. Squeezing onto the terminal train feels more like getting onto a Tokyo subway (I assume) than an American airport tram. We still made it through security in less than five minutes,[3] and were able to force our way into the first train leaving the main terminal.

Euro Traveler

M just wrapped up nine days in Italy. A week ago she and her friends flew to Pisa. They stayed there long enough to take pictures with the tower then hopped a train to Florence for a few days. From there it was to Rome for four days. Then south to Amalfi for the weekend.

In the first two cities she repeated a lot of things we did as a family four years ago. A highlight was a return to Da Enzo, the quant little restaurant in Trastevere where we began our food tour. While we just got appetizers and part of the history of the neighborhood in 2022 with our early seating, she and her roommates stood in the line everyone has to stand in for first dinner seating, and had an entire meal. She said it was divine.

Amalfi was new to her, and she loved it. She’s been the coordinator for all of her group’s weekend visits over the past five weeks. As she told us a few weeks back, she’s been “…spending a shitload of money” on bookings. She spent so much that whatever service she’s been using gave her a 500 Euro credit. She used that to help secure a private boat trip off the Amalfi coast Saturday. We haven’t gotten a full download from her yet, but we’ve seen a few pics and it looked spectacular.

Yesterday we learned that the flights from Denver to Indianapolis and Naples to Nantes are about the same time and distance. We were texting with her, airport to airport, from Denver to Naples, then she let us know she had landed just as we were beginning our drive home.

This is her final week in Nantes. She will spend next weekend in Amsterdam, then move along to Brussels for a one-week class there. We are less than two weeks from meeting her in London.