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| My very first view of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado from the Denver International Airport. |
Greetings and Salutations, y'all!
Earlier last month, your favorite blogger went on an adventure that began back in the middle of July of this year with a call from Colorado from my sister-in-law, Shanna, who asked me if I would be willing to come out to surprise my half-brother, Roy, on his birthday if she paid for the trip -- including a round-trip plane ride.
Now, I don't know how many of y'all are new to this blog, but frequent readers are aware of my extreme fear of heights. Add to the fact that I hadn't been on an airplane since February 21, 1997 (traveling from Chicago, Illinois upon graduation from Great Lakes Naval Training Station to San Antonio, Texas and Lackland AFB), and didn't recall the experience of flying to be a particularly relaxing one in the first place, and I needed a few minutes to reluctantly agree.
So the trip was set. I would fly out from Charlotte to Denver and visit my brother and his family (including my youngest brother, Alex, who also lives in Colorado) on Thursday, November 4th (Roy's actual birthday) and remain through the weekend until Monday, November 8th. While celebrating with and visiting my brother and his family, I would also be afforded the chance to visit some of the local site in the area.
It would also constitute the farthest from home that this Southern boy has traveled to date, the previous record west of South Carolina being Texas. I faced the prospect of this vacation with both a lot of excitement and just a little bit of trepidation over the whole flying thing.
So early the morning of the big day, I gave my feral cats a last minute goodbye and had a friend drive me the roughly 38 miles from my home in Chester County, South Carolina to Charlotte-Douglass International Airport in light rain.
After going through security and getting my boarding pass, I waited over an hour reading through the internet on my phone until time to board the plane. On the plane I waited very anxiously for takeoff. My seat was in the middle near the left wing, though I opted to let the two young women I was sitting with have the seats closer to the window -- there was nothing out there I was all that anxious to look at!
Of the flight to Denver I will say this as a final verdict: flying above the clouds was okay (though I really hate turbulence!) and the going down and landing part were okay. The going up part though....that I could do without, thank you very much! Thankfully
the Michael Crichton novel I had with me kept me from focusing too much
on the cramped plane and the death waiting just beyond the window to my left.
And no folks, I didn't keep looking to see if there was a gremlin on the wing. My desire to look outside, especially when the plane made left turns, was virtually nonexistent.
Overall, the flight itself, which took approximately 3 hours and 40 minutes, was pretty smooth; mild turbulence notwithstanding. My complements to the amazing folks at Frontier Airlines for the safe journey.
Probably the strangest part of the journey was the two-hour timezone difference between the Carolinas and Colorado. I took off from Charlotte about 7:50 AM EST and arrived at my destination at about 8:35 AM MDT -- through the magic of crossing two time zones going west, it was still early in the day.
The following are the photos I took at Denver International Airport, including the food I had upon arrival waiting for Roy and Shanna to pick me up, and my first ever view of the Rocky Mountains.
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| The infamous blue horse statue, Blucifer, seen from the road leading away from the airport. |
The view of the mountains and landscape from the interstate was beautiful. The mountains combined with the peak fall foliage was breathtaking for this small-town Southern boy.
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| Roy's dog and travel buddy, Mr. Tibbs. |
Pueblo, Colorado is approximately 4,692 feet above sea level, and would serve as my home away from home for the next four days. Over the course of those days I would travel and visit some of the local sites as a guest of my brother and his wife, with one outing with my youngest brother, Alex, on my final full day there.
Meanwhile though, I had a more important matter to attend to: my brother Roy's 31st birthday celebration, after which me and my two younger brothers went out to play a few games of bowling for the first time in quite a long time.
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| Me and my brothers. We are aged according to height, with yours truly the oldest. |
Well folks, that concludes my first day in Colorado, please stay tuned for more.
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