Strangers

Everyday as I crawl down Foothill Dr. in a sea of fellow commuters, I pass bus stops.  Bus stops full of strangers.  Strangers who are probably laughing at all of us that make up this massive river of metal and exhaust, just trickling down the street.  Maybe these strangers want to do their part to save the environment.  Perhaps they want to save a little cash.  Or could it be that they just like other people driving them around?  Who knows.  One thing I do know is that while they're laughing at me, I'm laughing right back.

See, in case you don't know, bus stops are marked by these metal posts with signs on the top letting everyone know where the bus will stop.  Sometimes the bus pulls up a little past the sign, while other times it comes up a little short.  Now when I take public transportation I usually stand, you know, by the sign indicating where the bus will stop.  And if someone is already standing there, I join them.  You know, create a little line if you want to be polite or start a little cluster that others would join. We become a group of people all tied together by a common goal with the sign as the center, a beacon if you will, calling the bus to us.

Not these strangers.

These strangers seem to be afraid of each other.  Or maybe they all smell funny.  Or maybe each person is afraid THEY smell so they're trying to do everyone else a favor.  Whatever the case may be, these people stand as FAR                          AWAYfrom each other as possible.  So far away it just looks ridiculous.  Awkward.  Silly.  Superfluous.  (not really that last one, I just like that word).  Seriously, there are about 6 people waiting for the bus and they are spread out in a line that covers the whole block.

I wonder what the bus driver thinks when he pulls up. 
Because I think y'all look a little foolish.

Maybe the driver opens the door and coasts by and all the strangers jump on when he passes them.  I mean, he can't wait all day for them to finish walking the rest of the way to the bus just because all these strangers are afraid of each other.  And it's not just these strangers who do it.  Oh no.  Everyone up and down the street is doing the same thing.  I think they're all lucky the bus even stops.  No one is even standing by the sign.  If I were the driver, I'd probably just pass right on by (guess you're lucky I'm not a bus driver).

I know we all like our personal space.  But come one people!  When did personal space become a 15 foot bubble?  Get a little closer.

Unless you want me to keep laughing at you.

New Orleans

For my work I had the opportunity to attend a conference in July in New Orleans (can you say sweat fest?).  I was really excited to go as I've  never been to Louisiana before.  I was also fortunate that Remy was able to come with me.  Now Remy's traveled around the west coast a fair amount, but he hadn't been east of Denver before.  And he had only been on an airplane once to California I think.  So this was a big trip!

We had a really great time.  I was a little nervous for Remy having to explore the city on his own since I would be in the conference most of the day.  I wasn't sure how much he'd enjoy it.  Turns out, he loved it and he did an awesome job exploring.  Luckily our hotel was right on the Mississippi just a short walk to the French Quarter as well as right by the streetcar stations.  We had some AMAZING food, I want to go back just to try more restaurants.

 This was the view from our hotel window.  Nice right?

 I loved sitting in the chair watching the boats go by.

 They had this ferry that just went back and forth across the river between New Orleans and Old Algiers.  It was nice because the dock was right by our hotel and it's a free service.  Basically it's a commuter ferry and people drive their cars on it so they can go across.  I was just happy it was free.  :)  I wasn't about to be right next to the Mississippi and not ride a boat on the river!

 While we were wandering around the French Quarter on the first day, we were trying to figure out where to eat.  We ran across a local guy...well, more like he ran across us.  He pulled out a map and gave us a bunch of suggestions on places to eat and things for Remy to see while I was gone during the day (of course we had to tip him...but it was actually worth the few bucks).  He recommended this place, Coop's Place.  He said the jambalaya would make "you want to go home and slap your mama."

Really.  He said that.

It was pretty delicious.  We got a real Southern meal with fried chicken and everything.  I loved it anyway.

 This is Bourbon St.  It got a little CRAZY at night!

 Here is a mix of my two favorite things I ate down there, beignets and bananas foster...yum!  These were beignet fries...so good!

I LOVED it there!  Even though it was SO STINKING HOT!  Seriously.  The nice thing though, is that you didn't have to be embarrassed when you had sweat spots all over...'cause everyone else did too! :)

Denver Trip

So, thanks for joining me as I breeze on through the summer.

Next stop....Denver.

To see these guys...

And it was awesome.

I love Denver.  I'm not sure what it was exactly, but we both really like it there.  We also took a few little adventures.  We went down to Royal Gorge which was really cool.  It's a 1200 foot deep gorge that you pay admission to and they have rides and stuff.  It's sort of a weird combination, but it was entertaining.  They have a bridge you can walk across, and a gondola you can ride across as well as little car things that take you straight down the side of the gorge to the river at the bottom.  It's pretty intense.   They also have a Sky Coaster like they do at Lagoon.  Except with this one you swing out over a 1200 foot drop!  Remy REALLY wanted to do it, and I'd done the one at Lagoon like 100 years ago and lived so I figured I'd suck it up and try it with him.  Well I had to keep my eyes shut for most of it, and I screamed harder than I had my whole life, but I did it!  And it was pretty awesome.

Then we headed to Georgetown.  It was POURING rain on our way there, luckily it stopped for our nighttime dinner train ride so we were able to enjoy the scenery.

 The last day we did some quick sightseeing around the city and had lunch with one of Remy's friends.