colorado 2

dumb giant orange piece of art in downtown denver, much like the dumb giant orange thing in downtown milwaukee

from breckenridge we headed south to my friend ryan's aunt's house. they live about 200 miles southwest of denver, in the mountains, middle of nowhere. the ride was scenic, very much like a model railroad set. the green of the evergreens and the white caps of the mountains start to turn brown and tan and the roads twist down canyons.

home made sign south of cotopaxi

ryan's aunt and uncle live with four children on their own plot of land of granite ridges and cacti, with a view of the sangre de cristo mountain range to the west. they live off the grid, and use solar panels for their electricity. they have a greenhouse and root cellar and are frugal with their water, which comes from a well. the children are home-schooled and the father is a conservative libertarian, sceptical of most things related to government.

it was definitley an interesting trip. the family certainly lives outside of what is considered normal by most people, but i found them all to be very kind, intelligent, and welcoming. they fed us well and couldn't have been more hospitable. i certainly admire the ability to be self-sufficient and to live free of most societal restraints, but i doubt i would enjoy the extended periods of isolation. i'd be happy with just a nice garden.

the next day we headed back up to denver and stayed in a hostel that looked like the hotel from the shining. we ate some buffalo and drank some beers and with full bellies retired to the prison like dorm room and went to sleep. i only woke up a few times, due mainly to ryan's night terrors and the police sirens and screaming usually heard outside of hostels.

hostel in denver

the following morning we went to the denver museum of modern art, a pretty good museum in an interesting space. the western art exhibit was great, but after six more levels of all the the art of the rest of the world i was a bit "arted" out. there are only so many pre colombian pieces of pottery i can look at.

yes, this is in the denver art museum

overall i found denver to be a very clean and modern city. they have a light rail line and no garbage in the streets. but we only really spent a day in the city so i can't really form that great of an opinion. maybe next time i'll stay up all night running from jazz joint to jazz joint with dean moriarity.