Denver Meet - Part One
Created | Updated Feb 24, 2003
Driving (sometimes stopping) through Wyoming, or How I Spent My Trip To Denver (which is closed)!
The March meet-up in Denver, Colorado was incredible on many fronts. In attendance were Gw7en, So Easily Amused (sea), Jedi Jade (JJ), Firefly, Anwaith, myself and a few of my friends from Salt Lake City (Inferno, Yoda, Crash Behr and Ska). The plan was for sea to fly to Salt Lake and then the SL contingent with sea would drive to Denver via Wyoming. We would then have dinner and go to a club to play.
A moment on plans. I am an anal retentive person when it comes to plans. I like to know precisely when I will be at a place and what I am going to do when I get there. I like plans. Really, I do. That said, I am never planning a trip to Denver the way I did this one again.
Reality
Inferno, Ska, Yoda and I pick sea up at the airport exactly as planned. We then drive to my house to wait for the rest of the party and to pack the vehicles. We went to grab some food for the road and gas up the cars. All is well in the world. It is a cool late winter day in Utah and snow is likely to be a problem en route. We want to get a good early start. The drive from Salt Lake to Evanston Wyoming is pretty painless. We do spot a golden burial vault being hauled by flat bed trailer which made us laugh for some reason.
I take this moment to talk about sea. She has known all of us online for a long time. We chat nearly every day and she always has a lot to say. This day our dear sea hardly said a word. I think that meeting all of us at once was something of a system overload. I can hardly blame her, I would be afraid of me if I met me for the first time too.
Here comes the first warning of trouble ahead. In Rock Springs we get a report that the freeway ahead is closed due to a massive blizzard. We have about 100 miles to go to get to where the freeway is closed so we press on. Entering Rawlins, WY we hear that the road has just re-opened. We make a quick stop for food and restroom breaks and the town is full of semi's that were stranded due to the closure. We get back on the road to continue the trip. About 30 miles outside of Rawlins the traffic on the road grinds to a dead halt. As far as you can see the traffic is stopped. Hundreds or possibly thousands of trucks are stopped on the freeway. We get out of the car and walk about for a bit and ask the drivers what has happened. An enigmatic trucker told us that there was an accident ahead.
I will skip most of the rest of the drive saying only that it took 4 hours to go ten miles in the dead of Wyoming. This was the low point of the trip.
We get in to Denver and Gw7en's house at about midnight - we had planned on being there about seven or eight that night. Our little gridlock in the wilds of Wyoming had set our timetable back a great deal.
A few of us venture forth to try to go to the club we had planned on. Alas they were not admitting patrons by the time we got there, and we could not find any open establishment from that point on. For the rest of the trip there was a running gag about Denver being closed when we got there.
Friday we all get up late and eventually make our way to the Natural Sciences Museum in Denver. A few hours of wandering the exhibits were spent till the museum closed at five in the evening. We meet up with Anwaith at the tail end of the museum stay and made plans for dinner. We went to a microbrewery to sample their fine beer and steaks. Fun was had and we met up with JJ and her sister at that point.
I take a moment now to pimp for 'Hops', the restaurant microbrewery we dined at. They have an amazing dark ale there. If you ever go to Denver, try to find this place.
After dinner myself and Yoda went to the club that we could not get into the night before. 'The Church', as it is known, is a great dance club in the heart of downtown Denver.
Saturday morning dawned far too early and a few of us had a business meeting for a company that we are starting. The balance of the day was spent playing around Denver. We went to a gaming store to look for dice as well as getting a book for our role playing sessions. That evening we all went to a High School production of Brigadoon put on by our dear JJ's alma matter. I will be nice and not put my review of this production into words. Just let me tell you to aviod hopping into your time transporter to make this play. It was horrible.
Saturday ended early as we needed to have an early start to try and avoid another storm that was due in Wyoming. The balance of the road trip was mostly uneventful, but I did drag sea to my parents house for a St Patricks Day dinner. I then drove sea to the airport and bid her a fond farewell.
The trip was a blast, but I will never drive across Wyoming again unless there is no other option.
Next time we meet in Salt Lake 
