Heading out the door right now for the airport.  Will be landing in Denver around 6:30pm your time.

Can't wait

And yes, this was timed to coincide with post 8500

_MaH

ETA: Slight subject change.

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My god that horse is hideous

_MaH

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Most of the artwork inside is hideous, too. Especially the quasi communist murals...Welcome to Denver.

Matt

I knew you'd love it.  There's been a campaign to get that thing removed ever since they put it up.  I think the city spent over 2 mil buying and suing to get that thing here.

I kinda like it.  Spooky, but cool.

Welcome to Colorado!  Now don't take all our ammo! :)

Eating a late, late dinner at a Wendy's somewhere on I-25 between Denver and Ft. Collins. Not exactly sure where...

Thanks for all the welcomes! I'm enjoying it already and, if I find what I'm looking for while here, may have a new place to call home within a year or two!

_MaH

ETA: According to BlackBerry Maps, I'm off I-25 and Hwy 119. Also appears that if I just ride that highway due west I'm going to crash right into Longmont.

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You come all the way to Colorado and you eat at Wendy's???





FAIL!!!!!

Hey!  I was starving, tired, and took the first thing that popped up at the next exit!!

You wanna fail me on that, well fine!  But I don't see you driving around looking for gourmet dining in the same shoes when you come to Virginia!!

_MaH

So far I have learned that Colorado drivers are assholes.

This is actually an improvement, because drivers in Northern Virginia are a long tirade of obscenities that when spoken make no grammatical sense.

As I said, I consider this an improvement!

_MaH

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That's because you're on the wrong side of the state.

IM sent so we can get together in the Springs.

Just giving you a hard time. I make it a point to try and only eat at places that I cannot eat while at home. Post up if you need suggestions while around the FoCo Loveland area.

Yes there are a lot of assholes driving around here.

Right now I'm sitting in some sub shop in a strip mall off Taft waiting for my meal. There's some grocery store (I think) here, a pizza joint and a mexican place called "Casa" I believe.

Guy has a sign in the window saying his business is for sale. Makes me wonder if the sub I'm about to get is any good...

_MaH

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King Soopers or Safeway?

Welcome to Colorado mhoffman. See you Friday evening at CB&Potts.

They are the ones we can't get to back to California...

Enjoy our state.



That's some good eats. I'm working Friday, so I hope I don't see either of you...

A very special thanks to djkest for meeting me yesterday, and taking time out of his day to show me around Fort Collins!

A quick trip through Loveland today (the outlets and Promenade, Jensen Arms and Boyd Lake) and then off to Boulder for the day!

Looks like the weather is going to be good today

_MaH

the Pearl St. mall (outdoor) is full of hippies.. some of them might be women and even be good looking.



be careful of your speed in town, the cops will pull you over (I used to work for the City)



this is about the nicest place around there, good for a hike and/or view (Chautauqua Park)

You should hit Wahoo's Fish Tacos for lunch.  Either in Boulder or Longmont. That is assuming you ever drag yourself out of Jensen's.

At Pearl Street Mall right now - walked the whole thing.

It's a really nice place!  Just has a hippy-infestation problem. Can one of you local guys drag Cartman down here from South Park to fix this?

The Greenpeace girl in front of the court house was less than thrilled with me...

"Hey! Camera man! Wanna help save the polar bears?"

"Why?  They're so delicious!"

(Keep on walkin')

_MaH

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Classic!  I'm going to have to remember that one.  In any case, good times yesterday. We went to New Belgium, which was neat- I liked all the beers we tried, but especially Blue Paddle, 1554, and we actually got to taste some Fat Tire that had been in the bottle long enough to chill before they served it to us (about 3 hours old).

Went to Armadillo for dinner, and I have to say, pretty good food and decent price. And then Jax, I love that store. :)

jax in Ft.C (only one at that time) used to be THE place for cool surplus stuff.... last time I was there, maybe 1.5-2 yrs ago, it had grown and turned into more or less a sporting/outdoor goods store with a few surplus items in it.  I did score some GP-11 for my K31's there.





IIRC, Washington's was a pretty good joint for burgers, not too far away from there.





ETA: the Armadillo is fair mexican food.  It used to be excellent but I think ownership changed a bit over the years.  I remember going to one of the few, back as far as the early 80's.

On the one hand, I want to thank you for pointing this out to me. I would have otherwise missed it, and the view is EXTRAORDINARY!

On the OTHER hand, my legs are BURNING like the ETERNAL HELL FIRE of the damned!!!!

So, I guess, "Thank you, dammit!"

_MaH

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You want leg burn?  Go hike to Black Lake in Rocky Mountain national Park.  Oh fuck do I know I am out of shape now.

you're welcome, not a problem



there isn't much of a hill past the houses, it's pretty tame.



where else you gonna be (?), we'll point you in the right direction



 

Dear Flat Irons,

I'll give you credit where credit is due. You've been around for millions of years before me, and you'll be around for millions of years after me.

But for right now, in this very moment in time.........











........I'M FUCKING STANDING ON TOP OF YOU!!!!!!! WOOOO!!!!!!

Sincerely,

_MaH

ETA: Holy crap!  I'm about 1/3rd of the way down the mountain, and I hear noises in the brush. BIG ANIMAL kind of noises. So I freeze, hoping it's not a bear. Then I see movement.

ANTLERS!

FOUR OF 'EM!

All with velvet!

Took pictures like they were celebrities. Closest got about 8 feet away and looked straight at me while chewing leaves.

I'm torn. Those would have been OUTSTANDING harvests, but even though they would need to be moved down the mountain, there's about 2/3rds of the thing left.

Oh, and I'm out of water.  Yay.

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Look at this. 48 hours he has been in CO, and already he's getting into hiking.

Nice work, I haven't hiked the flatirons yet, sounds like a good time.

MY NAME IS MATTHEW ALLAN FUCK YOUR FAMILY TREE AND EVERY HORSE THEY EVER LAID EYES ON HOFFMAN, AND TODAY, AFTER BITCH-SLAPPING A HORDE OF FILTHY PINKO HIPPIE FAGGOTS, I CONQUORED A FUCKING MOUNTAIN AND CLAIMED AS MY DOMAIN ALL MY EYES GAZED UPON!!!!!!

Why am I shouting?  Because the FUCKING TESTOSTERONE RUSH you get from something like CONQUORING A FUCK YOUR MOTHER MOUNTAIN will cause that!!!!

_MaH

ETA: Yeah, sorry, I mean to say "I am happy with myself"

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hate to be the one to break it to you, but you haven't even left the foothills yet!




have a great time, be safe and go home and speak nothing of this place to NO ONE!

oh yeah, when you leave, feel free to take a few libtards with you, thanks

Actually, Herr Obama does a good enough job bringing libtards to the DC area without my help.

Oh and stop giving me crap about not even getting out of the foothills!! We have "mountains" in Virginia smaller than the small, sloping meadow that lead to the tree line! I conquored a mountain, goddammit!

_MaH

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Go peak out on a 14'er, then you have conquered a mountain.

Glad you having a good time!!!!

I do mean to check on the elevation of the flat irons as a matter of sheer curiosity...

Guess I'll get to see some *REAL* mountains tomorrow as I go through Rocky Mountain National Park!

_MaH

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What are you driving? You should consider going up Fall River Road.

cheater 14'ers :  Mt. Evans (west of Denver) and Pikes Peak (near Colorado Springs) (drive almost to the top (w/in 100' or so)



easier 14'ers: Grays & Torreys (easier day hikes if you're in shape)



but if you've just arrived, I say acclimate for at least a week

\\
you'll like Estes Park / RMNP.  watch for deer and elk.



best get'er done before the weekend as this place gets crowded quick, especially with the fair weather disappearing fast  (snow is going to hit the high country pretty soon) and people want to get one in before its too late

Amongst many of the reasons why I decided to do this on a Friday and not a weekend.

Oh, and enjoy:











_MaH

I just checked and if you went all the way to the top, it's about 8k feet. So you are talking pretty high compared to most states.  Fall river road is awesome, wonder if the leaves are starting to turn already.

I don't have the map and reference in front of me right now, but if that's the "old route" that's one way only, I do plan on taking it.

I'm VERY glad my first stop was the Colorado Welcome Center, otherwise I'd never have known about it.

_MaH

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Yep that's it. Lots of nice places to stop along the way with some small waterfalls and other cool stuff.

F-F-F-F-FUUUUUUUC-C-C-C-C-K-K-K-K-IIIIING COOOOOLLLLLLDDDD!!!!



_MaH

And you were thinking about WYOMING?!?!?


I lol'd.

I am actually leaving for Cheyenne within the hour.

Weather report this morning said it was currently 35F in Laramie.  Oh joy.

_MaH

Un-bloody-real.

Not only does my employer have an office here that I didn't know about, but it's halfway between the hotel I'm staying at, and Specialty Sports –– and they're only a half-mile apart!

Unreal!

_MaH

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LOL I just got a chance to read this... welcome to CO.  Enjoy the weather, it'll be warm again tomorrow.

ps- if you got excited about those little velvet covered things.. you should take a trip out to glenwood and head towards carbondale.. see the herds!

Okay, just got back to the hotel after a day at Pike's Peak and Garden of the Gods.

Amazing.

That is the only word I can come up with when I'm not speechless.

I could spend a whole day at any of these places again, and not see the same thing I did before.

I also learned a lesson in air density at 14k feet.

Get off the train, throw on my 20 pound backpack, take 30 steps, and feel ready to DIE.

I'm trying to upload pictures, but the hotel I'm in doesn't have a network (to my knowledge).  Then again, I might try something like asking the front desk (and the hacker in me dies a little more).

_MaH

Once the fog burned off this morning it was a nice day in the Springs.  Rather odd weather continues this year––usually after Labor Day it's sunny and mild each day until the leaves drop.

So, you were a mile from Specialty Sports and you didn't drop in???

Engineer on the cog train said it was one of the clearest days he's seen this year.  Talk about timing working out

Oh I stopped into Specialty Sports - right after I left Garden of the Gods.  Unfortunately, we were unable to come to an agreement on the terms of a lease arrangement - it seems an offer to work there for no compensation and to provide after-hours security services in exchange for room and board is both unattractive to them as well as illegal on multiple levels.

At least I tried.

_MaH

I am enjoying this thread, seeing Colorado through the eyes of a new visitor.  I've been here more than a decade, and remember the sense of wonder looking up at the mountains every day and thinking, "I live here!"  That trail to the saddle between the 1st and 2nd Flatirons is a nice one.

(traveling in reverse of you:  in NJ)

A Farewell To Friends

Gentlemen, at 8:40am tomorrow morning I will be wheels up and heading back east.  From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank each and every single one of you.  Every person I met at the COHTF meet-up, every person who gave me advice for while I was here, every person who might have otherwise assisted me, and every other person in this state, helping to keep it free and beautiful.

I've spent a couple hours over one week in your state now, and I think know that I've seen enough to conclude on the matter that brought me here in the first place.

I've gone to parks, driven around landmarks and gone up and down trails and rocks I never knew about nor planned on.  I've toured a brewery that makes a beer I never had before until the tour had started.

I've visited gun stores with a selection and abundant inventory that has blown my mind (metaphorically speaking)

I've visited outdoor malls, mocked hippies and climbed a mountain that I didn't plan on, or even know its name until I reached the trail head.

I've piloted a behemoth minivan up a narrow, dirt trail for miles with hundred foot drop-offs practically the whole way, stood at what seemed to be the edge of the world, gazed out across a vast, unending land of mountains and valleys, dodged elk and STILL made it in time for some local beers with the good men who were not only kind enough to allow me to attend their gathering, but enlightened me on the laws of this state, its culture, and shared innumerable laughs with.

I've consumed award-winning BBQ in the depot of a bordering state's capital, seen wind turbines in person for the first time in my life, and drove out to the bordering state to the east just so I could finally say I've been there.

I've traveled from Ft. Collins to Colorado Springs before 9am on a Sunday, discovered my employer has an office down there, had lunch at a restaurant that used to be a train station, visited the campus grounds of the US Olympic Training Center, and tried my hardest with every damn fiber of my being to contain myself in the face of monuments honoring men who died younger than I and as better men than I could ever become.  I am NOT ashamed to admit this.

I have taken a train to what must be the top of the world, struggled, gasped, groaned, panted and wheezed for oxygen at an altitude of 14k feet all for the absolute and jaw-dropping view of multiple states on one of the clearest days of the season in the area.  I've driven on roads that, I'm convinced, replicates what it would be like to drive on Mars, and climbed these very rocks without any safety equipment at all, solely for the purpose of taking the perfect picture.

So as this trip comes to an end, after visiting nine cities and three in states in seven days, taken 4,875 pictures and acquired enough pamphlets, newspapers, brochures, souvenirs that I had to ship myself a 16" cubed box solely to get everything home.

I've never been to Colorado before - not once in my entire life, not even as an airline layover in an airport.  But I did my planning, I hit the ground running, didn't get enough sleep each night so I could squeeze as much as possible into each day, neglected my safety at times, and all for the sake of gathering enough information to come to this single, solitary, life changing decision.

I cannot in good faith or conscious as a husband and a father allow or permit myself to remain where I am right now to raise a child and maintain my family.  The prices are too high.  The streets are too dangerous.  The people too apathetic and boorish.

Colorado,

I cannot say exactly when it will happen, but I leave knowing one thing, having come to that single conclusion that, despite my regret for having to leave you tomorrow, I know that I will one day return, and it will be to stay.

Thanks for shining, Colorado.  You've given me hope for my family and our future.

_MaH

Safe journey.