Good News Denver!

First, an important note: I saw my first muskrat today! Here he is:

Yeah, I didn’t lie. That’s a boring video. But it was exciting for me. I saw him frolicking around in the creek, and had time to pull my bike over and get out the camera. Just as I reached the bank, he swam over to me, perched on a rock right below me, and commenced to have a bath. Then he gave me a Look (the look that says HEY WHY DIDN’T YOU FEED ME), and jumped under the spillway.

Now back to the regularly scheduled blog. As previously mentioned, I’m in Denver! And although I don’t think I’ll linger here, there are some good things about this place. The muskrat is one of them.

I CouchSurfed my way into town, landing with a generous (and fun!) girl named Courtney who put me up in her highrise condo overnight, then took me all over town the next day. She eventually deposited me at ye olde Motel6, where I holed up for a few days doing internets and avoiding human contact.

Yesterday I emerged for the first time into Denver sunlight, and guess what! The smog was gone. It looks like the clouds are the only thing holding pollution down around here: as soon as they part, that nasty stuff just flies away. And what’s more, this town has more sunny days per year than Miami! [untrue statistic cited to me conversationally by several Denveritians]

Despite the slightly overoptimistic self-image of this city, a good start to my visit here. I’ll be in town all week, and I’ll probably volunteer with Habitat and the Green Apple Festival. Then it’s off to Boulder perhaps, and then to cross the Rocky Mountains!

Long story short: I’m here for a minute and I’ll be blogging plenty. So fix up them readin’ glasses, and we’ll see each other soon.