Colorado

I love arriving in Denver, especially coming from New Orleans. I love the way Colorado is flat, flat, flat and then Boom! MOUNTAINS. Everything looks clearer and you can see forever. I realize that in New Orleans I am living in a haze of pollen and mold spores. In Colorado, my sinuses clear up immediately. But then all the moisture is sucked out of my skin. Colorado is magnificent, but the cheap and ugly development looks even worse in such a setting.

I asked for a full-size rental car, and I got a Hyundai Sonata. It’s relatively big but the engine isn’t very powerful. Plus, at first I thought it only had one forward gear (drive) and thus I couldn’t downshift. So driving over the mountains was scary. And then it started to snow! I missed the BMW.

I’m staying in a condo with five other law students. It’s nice and big, though. More importantly, it’s free--one of my classmates is an ABA rep, and they’re picking up the tab. I think my journal is going to reimburse me for part of my plane ticket. And I get to attend the conference for free in exchange for a little bit of volunteer work. So it should have been a cheap trip, but it’s turning out more expensive than I thought. For one thing, I was groggy when I got in and somehow allowed the rental car rep to sign me up for insurance on the car, thereby doubling the price. (forehead slap). We won’t have the condo on Monday night, so I’ll have to get a hotel room or maybe stay with my cousin for the night. I’m not sure what I’m going to do on my free day. Attempt to ski for the first time ever? Go explore the Rocky Mountain National Park? Or go poke around Denver? (311)