Let's start with New Mexico.
Before even making it to Emily's place up in Loveland, Colorado (about one hour north of Denver), I spent a couple nights in Santa Fe where I had a GREAT time! Got a really cool vibe from the people in New Mexico in general, but there was just something in the air in Santa Fe that makes me want to return on my way back. I stayed with a CouchSurfing host who was born and raised in the city and therefore knew all the best places to go. Joe was a dog, and he took me out on the town where I was able to witness his smooth attempts at picking up women. I've never been much good at that sort of thing so I just sat back and enjoyed watching him do his thang.
Womanizing aside, Joe was an excellent host. The first night I arrived he took me out to his neighborhood bar, where I met other hitchhikers and travelers. They were happy to see a young man like myself have such a spirit of adventure and bought me all of my drinks for the night. Santa Fe is about 1000 feet higher than El Paso, where I started in the morning, so the beers had an extra kick because of the altitude. I was plenty drunk by the end of the night, and all I gotta say is that I'm glad I didn't publish my drunk blog post that I wrote that night...
Me partying with Joe and his beautiful dog, Tally Ho.
Joe had to work so he couldn't show me around town, but he lent me his bike and I discovered it myself. I visited two famous churches: the St. Francis Cathedral Basilica (one of the oldest in the new world) and the Loretto Chapel, home of the Miracle Staircase (google it). I also hit up the Georgia O'Keeffe museum of art. I didn't know who Georgia O'Keeffe, but my drivers as far as Midland, Texas told me that if I'm visiting Santa Fe I need to check out that museum. O'Keeffe, I discovered, is a pretty famous artist known for her landscape works. Having just seen much of the landscape hitching through the desert, I really enjoyed viewing her sometimes abstract depictions of it! Contrary to what many critics say, O'Keeffe's work should NOT be viewed with a Freudian analysis...
Leaving Santa Fe was nothing. Joe left me by the highway and within two minutes I got a ride. I was hungover and didn't feel like working for a conversation, but as luck would have it my driver was simply the chillest human being on the planet. We talked about New Mexico, drinking, some politics, all very effortlessly.
I was dropped off in Las Vegas (different Las Vegas) where I was stuck for over two hours. Eventually a man took me 20 miles down the road and left me even further in the middle of nowhere. I thought I was screwed, but within a couple minutes the miracle ride showed up: a man driving over 200 miles all the way to Denver, Colorado!
Christino was a talker, which was alright because he had a LOT of interesting things to say and I hung onto his every word. He told me all about New Mexico's history, how the conception is that Spanish conquistadors settled the land when in fact most of the first settlers were third or fourth generation MEXICAN Spaniards. He was an old man, but he told me about his days as a hippy fighting in the Chicano Movement (sort of like the Blank Panthers for Mexican Americans). I also learned that he had a friend who worked in the U.S. embassy in the Dominican Republic, where my mother was the deputy chief of mission for three years! He received two phone calls on the drive where he would excitedly tell the other person, "you'll never guess where this guy's mom worked!"
I really wish I could've rode with him all the way to Denver, but in Trinidad, Colorado (a few hours away), the man's teeth fell out and he had to turn around. "Shit, I had Broncos tickets... sorry, kid." After a ride with an ex-felon (several times over), a Mormon, and just a regular guy named Steve, I was waiting to be picked up in Loveland, Colorado by my friend, Emily!
I've been kickin it with Emily for the last few days, during which time we have done a lot of cool things! First we checked out Fortoberfest, a celebration of Fort Collins culture, namely beer, bicycling, and bands. We ordered a few drinks, listened to the music, and rode one of those bikes that's suppose to have a keg in the middle (this one didn't). A video of the biking, beering, and banding can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151028949307331 (it should be public, but let me know if it's blocked for some reason). Emily even talked me into buying a sweet cowboy hat at the event, which I'm going to rock all across the country ;)
Emily and I drinking with Avery the Squirrel
That evening we watched Stanley Kubrick's version of The Shining because the next day we visited the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado, which was the inspiration for the book. It was my first time seeing the movie and it was awesomely chilling (especially because we were drinking blood-red wine while we watched it)! The next day at the Stanley Hotel I didn't know what to expect. First, I got to witness the beautiful scenery on the drive up. I was awestruck by the mountains, and any concerns I had in life at that moment were whisked away by the mountain air. At the hotel Emily and I took the tour feeling very lightheaded (we were now at over 7000 ft altitude). I took the tour with no expectations, which was good because I quickly learned that the Stanley Hotel is popular destination for ghost hunters and believers in paranormal activity (aka those-who-fuck-not).
Our guide was an excellent story teller and she really brought to life the history of the hotel, from it's first owners, to Steven King's experience there, to Jim Carey storming out out of fear. I just sort of gave her skeptical glares when she'd talk about orbs and ghosts, but still enjoyed her storytelling.
Near the end of the tour she took us to a hallway where supposed children ghosts like to chill. She asked two of the kids in our group to take a seat and hold out their hands, where she placed two lolly pops. After a few minutes of her calling for the ghost children to come out and play, we all watched (some with amazement, some with skepticism) as the lolly pop in one of the kid's hand began to stand upright. "There's no magnets here," said our guide, and told us an anecdote about one tour member insisted that she unwrap the lolly pop to prove that there was no gimmick going on. I'll admit, I saw the lolly pop stand upright, but unlike most, if not all, of the people in the hallway, I walked away from that experience just as unconvinced and skeptical as I was before.
Here's our guide, the kid, and the child ghost. More pictures are on Facebook.
Emily and I grabbed lunch in a place with an absolutely GORGEOUS mountain view, then drove an hour and a half to Denver to check out Ol' Wilbur Mitholomew Romney do some campaigning.
Oh, we saw a bunch of elk's along the way. There was one male and a whole lot of females. The male elk was licking the female elk's butt sometimes.
Elk porn
Anyway, Mitt Romney!
So we made it to Denver and waiting in line to enter the event. Emily decided ahead of time that she would simply pretend to be Republican (going as far as cheering for fucking Coors when he was mentioned in a speech), but I just went to witness democracy in action (don't laugh). All told, it was a pretty interesting night, but not as thought provoking as I thought it would be. I sort of thought Mitt Romney would use the opportunity of talking to his base to debunk some of the criticisms that have been thrown his way in recent weeks, but he didn't sound any different than the same ol' Mitt Romney I've been hearing and seeing on CNN. I heard no specifics, and in the 45 minutes or so that he spoke it was mostly how the U.S. is worse off than it was four years ago and a lot of "American exceptional-ism" shit that you'd hear from the other side too. Most of his time was spent telling American success stories like the creation of Jimmy Johns ("and you know he built it!").
Although he didn't impress me, and I didn't think that he would, his speech did contain some powerful moments. Nothing Republican-exclusive, just general points about America after 9/11, and the importance of young people in this next election. I almost booed him when he said that we need to "put our kids and our teachers first and our teachers unions behind," and I had to just shake my head when he said that Barack Obama wants to "impose unions" on small businesses. All told, there weren't a whole lot of facts in his speech and most of his time was spent warming the heart of the crowd. Still, it was an interesting experience. If Obama has a rally in one of my next destinations I'll make every effort to go.
He looks just as stiff 200ft away as he does on TV.
I know this has been one of my longer posts so I hope you guys enjoyed it. I'm getting pretty darn good at this hitchin thing and I'm having a fantastic time! Tomorrow I'm off to Salt Lake City, then Las Vegas, down to Tijuana, and up to San Francisco where I'll stay for a few days.
From Loveland, Colorado, I'm signing out!
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