Denver - here at last!

We have been resting here - lazing about as we recover from the very long flight and adjusting to the altitude and low humidity. I'd say that we are now about ready to get out and about exploring. First though I'll have to do something about my no longer curly hair - it is now spiky straight looking as though it has been jelled or whatever it is that the young guys use to sculpt their hair. It looks like I have received an electric shock. Perhaps it is not the humidity that has shocked my hair but the arrival experience at LAX !

I have never been more relieved to arrive at my destination after getting a taste of what it is like to be a suspect visitor to a country. At the Immigration desk, I was whisked away from my travelling companions and detained for almost two hours because I had not changed my passport number on my airline itinerary after getting a new passport. At no time during the wait for my identity to be established with the Australian authorities was I given an explanation for my detention and it was only after that came was I asked any questions about my intentions in the USA or anything else. While this was happening I could not speak to E and S to tell them where I had stashed some food, which they needed for dangerously low sugar levels. They were also fretting about missing our onward flight, along with their concern about what was happening to me.

Once this problem was sorted we joined the crowd of other tired travellers as we shuffled the entire circumference of the baggage area in the queue to exit through Customs. This took almost an hour. I was shocked to find that LAX is now by far the most disorganised, confusing and slow airport I have ever arrived at. It even beats the old Bangkok airport which has held that honour in my book for more than ten years now. Renovations and improvements are under way so I hope that it will soon become as user friendly as it was when we were here last time in 1986. Anyway, two  lessons learned for my next trip later in the year. Number One: check that personal details match. Number two: allow more than four hours for my onward flight from LAX.

While thinking about next time, I would definitely choose both Virgin Australia and Frontier Airlines again. Virgin gave us a very comfortable flight with professional, friendly staff who smiled the entire 13 hours, [ what an achievement!] surprisingly good food with extra rolls and drinks available on a help yourself basis as well as an excellent entertainment menu. Frontier staff were likewise friendly and especially helpful and accommodating when finding us the last available seats on an alternative flight and inviting us to board early, knowing we had been travelling about 36 hours by that stage.

One more comment about our arrival experience and internal flight here. This has provided us with an immediate understanding of the effects of the 9/11 events on this country. In the interests of security I won't describe the security measures we experienced at both LAX and on the flight to Denver except to say that on the planes you cannot have more than one person out of their seat at one time for the entire flight.

California - LA smog extends far and wide

Despite these experiences we recovered our excitement about our trip and this increased during the flight to Denver as we flew over landmarks in California, Arizona and Utah that we had previously seen from ground level. The changing environment was stunning - we were over desert, flatish land and fifteen minutes here come the hills, green below and then snowy mountain peaks devoid of visible vegetation.

Grand Canyon view from the sky

As we flew over a corner of Arizona I spotted this canyon and thought that it looked like the Grand Canyon so I checked with the flight attendant who didn't know. The captain confirmed this to be the case. We visited the Grand Canyon when the children were young so I was delighted to remember that happy trip and see the Canyon from above. From ground level the steep banks gorged out by the Colarado River were unforgettable  visions of the layers of rock colours teemed into my mind as I clicked away, hoping that I would achieve a resonable image.

Pike's Peak

As we neared Denver this Peak was prominant in the landscape.my map informed me that it was Pike's Peak. This was the scene of goldrush activity in Colarado the mid 1800s. The first flush of gold was apparently not so good but better quality was discovered later, leading to population business expansion and eventually to the foundation of the city of Denver of the rocky mountain road fame.

The Southern Rockies, to the west of Denver

Approaching the flat plains of Colarado

 Finally Denver is below us and that was the biggest surprise of them all for me as I had always thought that the Mile High city in a State renown for its mountains would itself be mountainous.  Not so! Flat like the Canterbury Plains in New Zealand. Denver is situated on the Great Plains 5280 feet or 1.6 km above sea level and has the Southern Rockies to its west.  I am humming Rocky mountain high by John Denver as I write this. I was so sad when he died in a plane crash.The Rockies influence the climate of the city with winter being cold and dry apart from snow, snow, snow that can sometimes cause "snow Days" when everyone needs to stay home from work. The average rainfall is only around 400mm per year which seems very low to me as I live in a place that has been known to have 100mm or even more in a few hours but there is plenty of water for the compulsory green maintainence of lawns thanks to the snow melt from the Rockies.

A few other bits of information that I have picked up include the fact that in the late 1800s women here were very organised and strong, organising a Club for women which led to the publishing of two newspapers the Colarado Antelope and then the Queen Bee -  love that name - which led to a referendum that gave Colarado women the vote in 1893 - sooner I believe than most of the USA. Well done! They sound like very determined and far sighted women - I must find out if there was a Zonta club here early on !

Denver house, built 1902

We are staying in a lovely part of the city with beautiful three story brick houses set in tree lined streets. Apparently there was a fire that destroyed entire streets of timber houses here in 1899 and these were repaced by the brick ones. The house we are staying in was built in 1902 and features beautiful timber doorways, windows, a wide spiral staircase that leads to spacious bedrooms and another narrower staircase to the attic room. It has a very comfortable and friendly warm atmosphere and I am not surprised that R and R chose it for their USA home.

Our companion and remains of ice cream dessert

Last night we took a walk a couple of blocks to get dessert at the local hotspot, an ice cream shop. Here we shared an outdoor table with an interesting lady who had left Prague at the age of ten, lived in New York for fifty years where she was well into the Art aspect of life there, having obtained a Doctorate in Music History. She was fun to listen to as she gave us some impromptu lessons in classical music history and expressed delight when I said truthfully that Mozart was my favourite classical composer with Chopin following up closely.She in turn was fascinated about the composition of our group of six as we were obviously very mixed racially and seemed surprised that we were mostly related. I claimed Jason, originally from Taiwan but now a very young lecturer of Math at Missouri University, as an adopted son on the grounds that he had lived with us for quite some years when in High school. It was great that he could stop by en route to California to see us.

Happy to see Jason

R and R 

We are looking forward to an action packed three plus weeks with our family.
Great plans have been made so . . .