"Thank You" from Denver

by: rich

Fri Aug 29, 2008 at 12:25:24 PM EDT

Update from the Denver Airport 5:27pm EST: Above all I need to thank my wife who held down the fort for me so I could take this trip. I missed you, Henry, and Meredith, and I'm looking forward to seeing you in a number of hours. And yes, I did get you something very nice, dear.

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Going to the convention was a huge deal for this blog of ours. And when I say ours, I mean the owners, front page editors, members, diary writers, commenters, and readers of this blog.

So I want to say “thank you” to all of you. Without all of the work you’ve done, this blog would not have risen to such a prominent place as to allow us the privilege of undertaking a trip such as this.

I want to thank my family and friends who also helped finance this trip.

I also want to thank my hosts at Casa Frankenoid. They were kind enough to put me up at no charge. Thank you Frankenoid, to you and to your family for bringing me into your home and being such gracious hosts. If any of you readers haven’t yet, I suggest you check out her weekly Garden Blogging over at SquareState.net. She has some great pictures of her amazing garden. Her husband tells me that sometimes he’s allowed to help her.

Thanks to johne at Squarestate.net who referred me to Frankenoid.

Thanks to all the Colorado bloggers (such as the Green Chile Democrats and Code Neon Blue) I met for making this Michigan blogger feel right at home.

Thanks to Denver and the many citizens I spoke with. You have a very cool city. I’m bummed that I didn’t get to see more of it. In case you readers haven't noticed, the convention was pretty much all-consuming.

Here’s what’s unique about Denver.

Scooters are VERY popular. They’re everywhere.

They're here.

And here.

Mayor Hickenlooper loves to ride scooters.

I can't imagine Mayors Kwame Kilpatrick or Virg Bernero on a scooter. Governor Granholm and the First Gentleman would look very stylish riding next to each other on their own Vespas down Capitol Ave., don't you think?

Coming back the other night from the Lieutenant Governor’s party I saw three guys riding on one scooter, speeding down a sidewalk. At first it reminded me of Naples. But scooter riders in Naples don’t drunkenly shout “wooo-hooo!!!!” while riding, even if they drive just as erratically, weaving between pedestrians, cars, and trucks.Nor do they ride on the sidewalk (at least notvery often).

I was wondering how often you could ride a scooter in Denver. In Michigan you’d get about 6 months (in the LP) of good scooter-riding weather. (some would say I'm being optimistic; more like 2months.) I was talking to a guy at one of the information booths on the 16th street mall and he said he’d lived in Michigan for one year, in Grand Rapids. He couldn’t take the Michigan winters, so he moved back. He said he bikes to work most days. Denver’s climate is very dry and moderate, and it’s also very sunny.

Also, because of the constantly nice weather, the taxis here are state of the art.

The people here like to hula hoop late at night in the street.

It also seems the Denverites have learned a few things from the DNC being in their city, too.

I’m off to shower, pack, and hopefully have time to visit the Denver Art Museum before I catch my plane.

Here's one last pic of Bobble Obama. He really liked the cows all over the town.

Ciao!