Day 3. Go North, Young Man

June 9, 2006. From Raton, we drove north across the border and into the foothills of the Rockies, a gentle intro to Colorado. As we got nearer Denver, we stopped in Manitou Springs and bought tix in advance for the Cog Railway to Pike's Peak (elev. 14,000ft). We would return here a few days later. We arrived in Lakewood, a bedroom community just west of downtown Denver and just east of Red Rocks in Morrison. At the hotel, we unpacked and took a refreshing dip in the pool and hot tub. At 3:00 there was a sunshower outside. I had been warned that it often rains every day at 3:00 in Denver. Maybe that's true in June.

Harold went online and found out there was a light rail system to downtown, and bought tix to the Rockies game that night at Coors Field. Catching a glimpse of Mile High Stadium, the Pepsi Center, and Six Flags Elitch Gardens (that's Ee-litch, not El-itch), we rode to Union Station in the "LoDo" District, a renovated warehouse district. We bought peanuts from a sidewalk vendor near the stadium. The opening act was of champion frisbee-catching dogs who would run clear to deep center field and leap into the air to catch the throws by their owners. After that a children's choir sang the national anthem. From our right-field seats, we had quite a view of the sunset over the Rocky Mtns. A single row of purple seats showed where one mile above sea level was. The game was against the Dodgers, who didn't allow the Rockies a scoring run throughout. It was neat to see the crowd stay till the end and not just walk out because the team was losing. We talked to some fans on the light rail back to the hotel. People in Denver are friendly!