Thoughts from Denver

I am spending the 4th of July weekend in Denver, which is about 850 miles from my place if I fly on one of Sarah's planes, but 1,000 miles, as it turns out, with my car. While Denver is a pleasant city in its own right, I feel that it's tame compared to cities on the West Coast or farther east, and its value primarily is as a regional transportation hub and gateway to the Rockies.

I don't think Sarah would be spending too much time in Denver, despite Denver being a major United Airlines hub. She might be just coming in from California, and going off to another point on a different flight after a quick rest.

But if Sarah ever bothers to spend time here, she might find a few places to hang out at. The Capitol Hill neighborhood, like its Seattle counterpart, is heavy on LGBT culture, and I indeed found a few lesbian bars that Sarah might want to hang out at, though they're kinda tiny. In any case, Capitol Hill is tame compared to its Seattle counterpart, or comparable neighborhoods in San Francisco or Los Angeles, but given that this is the Rockies and the prairies, where theocracy and homophobia run rampant, whatever scraps the progressive Denver atmosphere can offer will be like seeing an oasis in the desert. But honestly, I am far more likely to envision Sarah, either alone or with Kirsten, hanging out in other lesbian enclaves, probably Boulder or Estes Park; Estes Park also happens to be the entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park, where Sarah could put some of her hypoxia training to good use, because the air is so thin up there. At 12,000 feet, even a short hike can be extremely challenging, as I found out the hard way today.

Thinking of Sarah, I even ended up driving out to Denver International Airport, passing by the site of the old Stapleton Airport in the process. Denver International is so huge, that while its grounds stretch south to I-70, it's a 10-mile drive from the entrance to the terminal. But it was good to see some of Sarah's planes coming in to land in the shower. Denver is the last remaining United hub that I have NOT used as an origin or a final destination (I used Washington-Dulles two months ago, Chicago-O'Hare two years ago, and use San Francisco and Los Angeles all the time), and this was my first-ever visit to the landside of the airport. I do hope I can fly into Denver in the future, if only to explore the Rockies further.

It's almost 8PM and I am completely wasted. My plan is to start my drive back to Los Angeles around sunrise.