Rocky Mountain High

I’m really glad that Tom has things planned for us on the way home. When MB and I planned Part One and we scheduled our last ballpark for Baltimore, we dreaded the long trip home from Maryland to California with no baseball in between. Yesterday we had the Royals game, and today I’m looking forward to the Hard Rock Café in Denver. It might not seem like much to be excited about, but it’s a lot better than nothing, which is what I would have had to look forward to. Tom took the first shift driving from Kansas City to Denver while I slept. Tom woke me up when we stopped at a market to stock up on groceries. Shout out to Dillon’s market and the first fruit I’ve had on this road trip. As usual, I made pb & j sandwiches for lunch.

Susie: That one is yours.
Tom: Uh, you didn’t cut the crust off.
Susie: Are you serious? Do it yourself.
Tom: If you were my wife, I’d divorce you. ‘Here are the papers, b----.’

And we wonder why Tom’s not married yet.

After lunch, we switched driving duty and proceeded to Denver, making it into the city around 4:30 CMT. With the help of our trusty AAA tour book, we found a Best Western in Lakewood, 10 minutes from Downtown Denver. (MB and I have gotta use those books next year. What were we thinking?) Shout out to the Lakewood Best Western for its amenities and great stay for the price. We changed and set out for the downtown area, home of Denver’s Hard Rock Café, which is something of a tradition for Tom. The Hard Rock Café in Denver is located on the 16th Street Mall, a vibrant outdoor promenade of shops and restaurants. The Hard Rock food was typical, but our waitress had a great personality. We snapped some photos like typical tourists, bought our Denver HRC souvenirs, and sauntered down the promenade, which was quite charming. Tom looked for a cheesy souvenir shop to buy some postcards, and we realized our timing was perfect—Thank goodness we weren’t in Denver two weeks later during the Denver Democratic Convention. I decided I could definitely live in Denver if anyone ever asked me to.

On our drive back to the hotel, I got my first close-up look at Invesco Field at Mile High, home of my Denver Broncos. If MB were there, I might not have been able to take pictures, but I think I’ve already made it clear that this leg of the trip bears very little resemblance to the official baseball road trip. The old ground rules no longer apply. Case in point #1: Since MB left, I’ve eaten at two McDonald’s, a Del Taco, and Hard Rock.