Sunday, February 03, 2008

Arrival - Denver, CO

Saturday, February 2, 2008


Our flight was about 4 hours long, and I left the plane hungry and tired with a parched throat and dry skin. We hiked miles through the terminal to get to the baggage claim and waited several minutes for our luggage to make it around to where we were waiting.

We dutifully put on our jackets over our warm non-Florida clothes and stepped outside to catch the bus to the rental agency. It was chilly enough to see our breath, but not so cold that we complained. That is for the first 5 minutes.

We watched every other rental agency's bus drive past us three times while we stood breathing in the cold and exhaling air that made us seem like we were smoking. We put on our gloves. We put on our hats and lifted up the hoods on our jackets. We jumped up and down and looked so pitiful that the driver at the agency next to our stop got off his bus and offered to house us until Advantage Rental's van could pick us up. We bravely objected and suffered until the van scooped us up.

The drive to the rental agency wasn't too far, and we rode with people we had seen in the airport back home. Tom had sat with the parents on the plane. They had two daughters, were from New Port Richey, were headed to Breckenridge, and had never skied. We chatted with them on the ride and again while waiting for our cars.

We received our red Dodge Caravan and spent a half an hour seated inside it while Tom read directions, played with controls, and studied his map and blackberry. The parking lot and surrounding area were snowless. Ever so often, we spotted a small circle of snow, but for the most part, Denver was clear.

Darcy kept asking, "Where is the snow?" as if someone was holding it waiting to release it.


The room at the Hyatt was huge. We had a kitchen area, a living room, a bathroom area with a sink, a huge mirror, and several drawers, a shower room, and two double beds. We had a 35-inch flat-screen TV with High Definition, and we showered and curled up in bed to watch television, despite it being midnight our time. We figured staying up would help us get acclimated to the two hour time difference. Tom and I nodded off around 1:30 our time, the girls at 2:00 AM. We set the alarm for 9:00 Colorado time, figuring that was plenty of sleep and an excellent time to start our first day.

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