We arrived home Sunday evening, July 6. Our luggage was nearly over the limit - have to try to compress or not pack so much next time. The Denver AG (annual gathering) went into the Mensa history book as the largest AG ever with over 2,000 attendees. The World Gathering was a different animal with almost 2,400 attendees. AGs happen every year, but an international gathering won't happen in the U.S. again for another 5 to 8 years.
Denver was a great location - the weather, being right on the 16th street pedestrian mall, the opportunities for touring - all factors to make a convention just right. I wish we could have gone to the zoo and spent more time at the Denver Art Museum.
Next for me is the regional gathering in Pittsburgh over Labor Day weekend.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Friday, July 4, 2008
Denver - Day 4
Happy 4th of July! It's Friday morning and today will be mostly a Mensa business day. I start off with a meeting with the consultants whom we've hired to study our governance structure and make suggestions. Then an awards lunch, some free time in the afternoon, committee meetings at night.
Yesterday was a Mensa day too with a workshop in the morning & finishing with a commitee meeting at 9pm (50th anniv.). We had dinner with Merrell, Jerry, Chuck & Pauline at Marlowe's. Good food, good company. Then we walked the "promenade." Beautiful night!
Gave away about 100 pens - need to give away even more so I don't have to carry them back.
Yesterday was a Mensa day too with a workshop in the morning & finishing with a commitee meeting at 9pm (50th anniv.). We had dinner with Merrell, Jerry, Chuck & Pauline at Marlowe's. Good food, good company. Then we walked the "promenade." Beautiful night!
Gave away about 100 pens - need to give away even more so I don't have to carry them back.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Denver - Days 2 & 3
continuation of previous blog...
As we drove to Rocky Mt. Natl park we realized that we did not want to do similar driving to what we did yesterday. I think we had had our fill of winding, twisty roads with spectacular views - not really, but why spend time doing the same thing? We did travel a bit into the park, then decided to turn around & find a lunch place in Estes Park.
We found a great restaurant on the river with huge windows to take in the scenery. I had my first Elk burger - it was very dense but delicious!
Back to Denver. My stickers arrived and many of my friends were arriving. Patrick took the car back to the airport while I completed my online course exam. We managed to find the area where hospitality will be - it's a maze to find your way! How are Mensans going to handle this?
Wednesday -
We have the Golden Tour today. The bus takes us first to Dinosaur Ridge where we can see the tracks of the Iguanadon- huge 3-toed impressions in what was once a muddy beach. Then to Red Rocks Amphitheatre, a natural sound reverberating area surrounded by huge red rocks - hard to describe. It was being set up for the Stone Temple Pilots later that evening. We had a great box lunch and some time to walk around and be amazed at the sights. I walked all the way down & back up- it was a struggle! Got great photos though, some similar to my photos of 20 years ago.
On to Lookout Mt. where Buffalo Bill's gravesite is -he died in 1917 & had a huge crowd of mourners on this mt. We watched a short film about his life, circled around the area looking at the views (it was Lookout Mt., duh!), and enjoyed the cool air.
Back on the bus we traveled to the last tour stop - the Colorado Geology Museum. Lots of amazingly colored rocks and minerals. We were tired, but managed to spend enough time here to be awed by Mother Nature's artistic abilities.
At the end of the tour finally and back at the hotel, I began giving out my stickers. Patrick got registered and we made the trek to hospitality for dinner. I had so many conversations with friends that by evening I was exhausted & I had stickered a lot of people!
Pens will be given out tomorrow. And I have to find The Tattered Cover!
As we drove to Rocky Mt. Natl park we realized that we did not want to do similar driving to what we did yesterday. I think we had had our fill of winding, twisty roads with spectacular views - not really, but why spend time doing the same thing? We did travel a bit into the park, then decided to turn around & find a lunch place in Estes Park.
We found a great restaurant on the river with huge windows to take in the scenery. I had my first Elk burger - it was very dense but delicious!
Back to Denver. My stickers arrived and many of my friends were arriving. Patrick took the car back to the airport while I completed my online course exam. We managed to find the area where hospitality will be - it's a maze to find your way! How are Mensans going to handle this?
Wednesday -
We have the Golden Tour today. The bus takes us first to Dinosaur Ridge where we can see the tracks of the Iguanadon- huge 3-toed impressions in what was once a muddy beach. Then to Red Rocks Amphitheatre, a natural sound reverberating area surrounded by huge red rocks - hard to describe. It was being set up for the Stone Temple Pilots later that evening. We had a great box lunch and some time to walk around and be amazed at the sights. I walked all the way down & back up- it was a struggle! Got great photos though, some similar to my photos of 20 years ago.
On to Lookout Mt. where Buffalo Bill's gravesite is -he died in 1917 & had a huge crowd of mourners on this mt. We watched a short film about his life, circled around the area looking at the views (it was Lookout Mt., duh!), and enjoyed the cool air.
Back on the bus we traveled to the last tour stop - the Colorado Geology Museum. Lots of amazingly colored rocks and minerals. We were tired, but managed to spend enough time here to be awed by Mother Nature's artistic abilities.
At the end of the tour finally and back at the hotel, I began giving out my stickers. Patrick got registered and we made the trek to hospitality for dinner. I had so many conversations with friends that by evening I was exhausted & I had stickered a lot of people!
Pens will be given out tomorrow. And I have to find The Tattered Cover!
Denver - Days 2 & 3
On Tuesday, we headed out to Rocky Mt. Natl. Park (the Golden Age pass worked here & at Mt. Evands) in Estes Park. I wanted to see the hotel that was seen in The Shining, the one that was so mysterious & haunted. We found the hotel called the Stanley. There is actually a village of crafters around it - don't know if the film encouraged the crafters or they existed before the film. We did not get sucked in - but took photos from a distance.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Denver - Day 1
June 30,2008
We arrived in the late morning, picked up the car and were checking into our hotel by noon. It's a great hotel - Denver Sheraton -right on the 16th Street Pedestrian Mall. After stowing our stuff, had a great lunch at Jason's Deli on the Mall and experienced the free shuttle ride. Then we took off for points west - to get close to those snow-capped peaks. We stopped near Idaho Springs at an antique store - it was a warehouse of western items: carved bears, stuffed animals, ancient skipoles and skates(Dutch we found out later), heavy dark furniture, antler chandeliers, etc. When asked what there was to see farther west, she said the tourist part of town was closeby. I guess we acted like tourists...
In town we checked out the info center, or rather I did, and the guide there was effusive about route 103 out of town to Mt. Evans, higher than Pike's Peak, she boasted. The road went through the Arapaho Nat. Forest and is the highest paved road in the nation, maybe in the world,again she boasted. We headed out and the road took us through towering graniteoutcroppings that looked ready to topple and an evergreen forest. Colorado river rapids on one side of us and these stone monoliths on the other. It was humbling scary at the same time. The road began to climb and wind in directions we are not used to. By the time we got to the entrance to the forest, we were at a 9,000 ft. altitude.The air was cool.
,
Pressing on the road narrowed, the turns were more like hairpins, the views were spectacular. I was driving & enjoying it to this point. Now I had to concentrate more & could not take in all the beauty. The air was very cool and thin. We did not stop even though we were now above the tree line and there were patches dirty snow everywhere. Finally, finally the 14 mi. trip to the top of 14,224 ft.-Mt. Evans was completed. We got out of the car and were immed. cold - temp must have been hovering around freezing. Patrick said he saw snowflakes -he also had white knuckles from the edgy drive up. The air was so thin I was beginning to feel light-headed. We didn't stay long, even though there was a walkable hike to an even higher point. We walked around nearly shivering, for was it 10 seconds? - maybe10 minutes, then got in the car & turned the heater on.
Patrick drove down. We saw mountain goats, even a young one, marmots, and more spectacular views. We stopped a couple times to take in the immense stone fields, the valleys with lakes, and the surrounding peaks of the Rockies. Going down we congratulated ourselves on toughing it out by braving the scary-dangerous road to Mt. Evans. It was worth it, thin air and all.
After a late dinner on the Mall, we settled down for the night. I think my photos will illustrate Mt. Evans very well.
We arrived in the late morning, picked up the car and were checking into our hotel by noon. It's a great hotel - Denver Sheraton -right on the 16th Street Pedestrian Mall. After stowing our stuff, had a great lunch at Jason's Deli on the Mall and experienced the free shuttle ride. Then we took off for points west - to get close to those snow-capped peaks. We stopped near Idaho Springs at an antique store - it was a warehouse of western items: carved bears, stuffed animals, ancient skipoles and skates(Dutch we found out later), heavy dark furniture, antler chandeliers, etc. When asked what there was to see farther west, she said the tourist part of town was closeby. I guess we acted like tourists...
In town we checked out the info center, or rather I did, and the guide there was effusive about route 103 out of town to Mt. Evans, higher than Pike's Peak, she boasted. The road went through the Arapaho Nat. Forest and is the highest paved road in the nation, maybe in the world,again she boasted. We headed out and the road took us through towering graniteoutcroppings that looked ready to topple and an evergreen forest. Colorado river rapids on one side of us and these stone monoliths on the other. It was humbling scary at the same time. The road began to climb and wind in directions we are not used to. By the time we got to the entrance to the forest, we were at a 9,000 ft. altitude.The air was cool.
,
Pressing on the road narrowed, the turns were more like hairpins, the views were spectacular. I was driving & enjoying it to this point. Now I had to concentrate more & could not take in all the beauty. The air was very cool and thin. We did not stop even though we were now above the tree line and there were patches dirty snow everywhere. Finally, finally the 14 mi. trip to the top of 14,224 ft.-Mt. Evans was completed. We got out of the car and were immed. cold - temp must have been hovering around freezing. Patrick said he saw snowflakes -he also had white knuckles from the edgy drive up. The air was so thin I was beginning to feel light-headed. We didn't stay long, even though there was a walkable hike to an even higher point. We walked around nearly shivering, for was it 10 seconds? - maybe10 minutes, then got in the car & turned the heater on.
Patrick drove down. We saw mountain goats, even a young one, marmots, and more spectacular views. We stopped a couple times to take in the immense stone fields, the valleys with lakes, and the surrounding peaks of the Rockies. Going down we congratulated ourselves on toughing it out by braving the scary-dangerous road to Mt. Evans. It was worth it, thin air and all.
After a late dinner on the Mall, we settled down for the night. I think my photos will illustrate Mt. Evans very well.
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