Visitors from Germany

Finally I got visitors this summer! Last year around the I had already two people showing up but this year it seems like it took quite a while for somebody visiting me in Colorado. But this time I got three visitors at once... Andre, Alex and Robin (from right) from Germany were over here last week and I showed them around.

They saw already quite a bit of the States as they were touring the National Parks two weeks before they stopped by in Colorado. But of course they were quite impressed by the Garden of Gods in Colorado Springs, especially the sunset is fabulous over there.


Even though the weather wasn't that great we had a great time... well... 80 F (27 C) feels already a bit chilly after the high 90s (35 C+) we had over here the last few weeks ;-)

Invited to the Russian Consulate

And finally solving the mystery fro my last post: why my friend and I were dressed up for the riot police downtown Denver. The answer is quite simple... we were invited to the Russian Consulate for a private concert of the Russian King of Rock and Roll, Denis Mazhukov!

On the way to the consulate we also met a very attractive Russian girl caught in between the protestants too who joined us to her own consulate. A really mad story but that's how it went... downtown Denver there were protestants fighting the riot control forces while the three of us were listening to great rock and roll music in the Russian Consulate. A unforgettable night!

Democrats Convention

The Democrats Convention is in town to elect Obama as their presidential candidate on Thursday. Even though the outcome is quite clear, more then 50,000 people traveled to Denver to enjoy the show. The local football stadium where Obama will hold his speech holds 70,000 people and was sold out in 10 mins!

Walking through downtown Denver yesterday night was an adventure too. A good friend of mine and I wearing shirts and suits got caught up in between violent protesters on one side and riot police on the other. I never saw something like that in Denver... adds a real big city feeling to it ;-)

But why I was wearing a suit downtown Denver you'll find out in my next post!

Canyonland National Park

The second big national park in this area is Canyonland National Park and it is exactly what it's says on the tin... a huge canyon. Even though I have seen the Grand Canyon from a plane this place was even more impressive I though. They have plenty of tails and even several dirt roads which you can take with your 4x4. Needless to say that I didn't do that with my poor car ;-)

But even in this harsh environment you find plenty of wild life... of course a gang of squirrels, ready for doing their tricks on unsuspecting tourist for a piece of cracker. And of course salamanders which were sunbathing on the surrounding rocks and ignoring the tourists.

Even more surprising is that they found remains of old stone granaries on top of one of these hills, possibly left by Azteks.

This concluded my weekend-trip through Utah and 5 hours later I found myself back in Denver... and lucky enough the rain clouds were gone. Maybe I brought the sun with me from Moab :-)

Arches National Park

The main reason for traveling to Moab was Arches National Park which got its name from the huge stone arches. Interesting enough it seems arches like that are quite common in the sandstone of this region, but the highest 'density' of arches you can find here in this national park close to nothing else then desert... and Moab of course.

The variety is quite big, ranging from simple holes in a wall to long spanning delicate arches like the 'garden arch' on the left. A good portion of this arch collapsed in 1991 leaving only the upper part of it. But the best known arch is the 'delicate arch' a good one hour hike up on a plateau on the edge of a huge crater.

And this huge crater is quite steep on one side while on the other side people waiting to enjoy the sunset on the arch. To get to the other side of the crater one guy tried to clime the crater wall and got stuck. He was so terrified that he couldn't move and spent more then three hours in that wall. Even the arriving park ranger couldn't talk him down so he had to wait for the mountaineer which I meet on my way down. Oh boy, this guy has a story to tell when he is back home ;-)

On the road to Moab

This weekend I was on a road tip to Moab Utah, a little town in the middle of nowhere which wouldn't be known at all... maybe a bit like Roswell, New Mexico but that is another story from an earlier post ;-) Unlike this place Moab has lots to offer, two of the nicest National Parks around... and one pub! Don't forget... Utah is the Mormon state in America and you need to join a club to go for a beer.

But before I got there I had to cross the Rocky Mountains which was a bigger obstacle then expected: the storm which brought a cold and rainy weekend to Denver had snow and freezing temperatures for the mountains.So I was fighting my way through 35 F (0 C) and snow... in August! Amazing! More amazing was that on the other side of the Rockies I was passing a bush fire and the temperatures were around 95 F (35 C).

The next surprise was waiting for me at my hotel in Moab. Germans! God knows how they got the German flag on their license plate... which was issued in: Roswell, New Mexico! And I got full circle with my story I guess :-)

Rocky Mountain National Park

Finally its summertime in the Rockies! A fantastic place for hiking even thought the last weekend was everything else then pleasant. I never saw it raining that hart followed by a temperature drop from 95 F (35 C) into the low 50s (15 C). But everything is good and after the rainclouds were gone I went up the mountains to find the grass looking as green as its contra part in Ireland ;-)


The Rocky Mountain National Park is just an hour by car from Denver and it is full of tourists these days! I am still amazed where all the different people coming from to see the natural beauty of the Rockies while stomping through the mountains.
And there is something else waiting in the woods for the never ending streams of tourists...


It seems like the local squirrel population are professional trained beggars who aren't afraid of getting in close contact with the human beings at all anymore. And using their 'cuteness factor' by throwing in some neat tricks like 'standing on the back legs' or 'eating out of your hand' or the most famous 'don't I have huge black eyes?' most people seem to forget the signs which are saying 'don't feed the animals' straight away. Clever little things :o)

Different Taste 9

Usually I am writing about unhealthy things in this sections like sodas and sweets ... this time I surprised even myself with a fruit! Flying Saucer peaches! I never saw something like that in Europe... maybe because they are carrying the 'made in the US' logo... like the whole UFO hysteria started in the late 40s over here too.





But unlike the speculation about crashed space ships and green men from Mars these fruits are more then real... they are sweet and tasty. And very handy too as the stone in the center of the fruit is very small and very easy to extract. So even ET with his clumsy fingers could enjoy this peach without 'calling home' for help ;-)

Birthday party with a whole pig

Obviously it was not the pigs birthday party I attended... that would have been its last birthday as well I guess. Actually I was invited to my flatemates dad's birthday party. And when Terry said that he would have a whole pig for his party I suspected that this is just one of those American saying, but I was wrong! He really roasted a whole pig for his birthday ;-)




And of course we had plenty of cake too. After all the cake, meat, beers and margaritas I don't need to eat anything for the next few weeks which is handy too :-)

Happy 60s birthday Terry and thanks for the fantastic party!

Rapids vs. Everton

It happens not every day that a Primer League team from England like Everton is playing the Rapids here in Colorado. And as it finally cooled down a bit it was the perfect time for watching some good old football... ehem... soccer I mean.


And what goes better with watching sports then having some cheese nachos and a beer? What was missing from a perfect day was the Rapids winning. And they were fighting well, unfortunately they lost a unlucky 1:2 to Everton. Yet I have to see the Rapids winning :o)

Another unfortunate thing is that the Rapids seem to have fired their Cheerleaders. To make up for that they increased their number of mascots by the factor of four!

At the last match I saw they just retired their old mascot 'Rapidman' and replaced him by the eagle 'Eaton'. A few months later he is accompanied by a bull, a fox and a racoon. Its getting busy on the pitch ;-)

Fingers crossed for the next match of the Rapids! With that many mascot it can't go wrong anymore I would think.