Day 9 in Colorado :(

~ If we were feeling a lil' funky yesterday, just anticipating our last day in Colorado, imagine how we felt this morning! We had to drop our rental car off at 2 p.m., so we had precious little time to cram in as many as-yet-unseen spots we as we could.
~ In an effort to be make our way east toward the airport, we headed into Denver, drove around downtown, and looked at/photographed things we'd only seen in the dark or had missed entirely.
~ The more east we went, the fewer places there were to eat. So, we stopped at Quizno's for lunch. (Did you know it was founded in Denver? I didn't.)





~ Here are a few things I noticed during my time in Colorado:

~ Everything is more beautiful and overwhelming than you planned for
~ Mountains help drivers keep their sense of direction (as the beach does here in Florida)
~ Many businesses have really cool, funky signs out front
~ Fat people are not permitted to live here
~ Half the grocery stores have funny names
~ Panda Express and 7-11 are everywhere
~ Outside is lightyears better than inside
~ People are friendly and patient, even while driving
~ Things are casual AND laid back (which is quite different from SoFla, which is casual but not so laid back)
~ Generally speaking, people here are attractive (in a natural, silicone- and Botox-free way, also unlike my neck of the woods. Wait, there are no woods here; there are in Colorado, and that's something else I liked.)
~ Cars are dirty
~ It's not near as cold as you'd think, but it's windy!
~ "Wind- and solar-powered", "mom-and-pop owned" and "sustainability focused" are often used to describe businesses
~ Public art is everywhere: sculptures, murals, even groovy multicolored bike-shaped bicycle racks
~ The men are men. (Yum.) Not metrosexuals - ya know, the dudes that shave their arms. (Blech.) Side note: Someone really ought to form a Manscapers Anonymous here in SoFla; those guys need help.