crazy quickie update

[tielan]

I'm sitting at Dallas Fort Worth airport on my way to Raleigh-Durham, NC, after waking up at 2:30am to leave Estes Park, CO at 3am to catch a 6:30am flight out of Denver.

Today is going to be The Day Of Zonkitude, I suspect, more than any other day of this trip.

I spent a couple of days hanging out at allisnow's house with her cats (who are really cute and adorable), before seeing Lola and Katt at Katt & Bri's house on Tuesday night (yay!), and going in to San Francisco on the Wednesday.

I caught the ferry from Vallejo into the city and pretty much just caught one of those 'hop on/hop off' buses, which turned out to be a really good idea since it gave me an overview of the city and where everything was. I probably should have done that the first time I went into SF, but, eh.

Definitely going to do that in New York!

There are pictures, but I'm going to have to locate/set up a travel album with a gallery.

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sjhw_tolerance met me at Denver Airport, we had dinner with wlykyoti, and then drove up to Estes Park.

I fell asleep in the car while Sue was trying to talk to me. Oops! (This happened a lot over the weekend - the falling asleep in cars. I just couldn't keep my eyes open!) We got in to the YMCA on the edge of the Rocky Mountains Nat'l Park, and the view around the mountains was spectacular.

Sue pretty much drove me all through the Park to start with - up Trail River Road, and down the western side of the mountains - I think we got to Kawuneeche before we came back. We stopped many times and multiple photos were taken. I thought I got some movie shots of animals and panoramic views, but I can't seem to find them on my SD card. :(

Saturday was Old Fall River Road - a one-way unsealed road up the mountain before you reach the summit and the visitor's centre. They'd closed it because of hail on the road and some uncertain parts.

Sunday was The Hike. Up to Mills Lake and back - about 6mi (~9.5km) - starting early in the morning. It was pretty good. The worst part was the last bit up to the carpark, because it was mostly uphill and it was right at the end of the hike.

But it was lovely to see the National Park, beautiful to be among the mountains, and I'm really really pleased that I went! (Even if the internet was a bit sketchy up there!) Thanks, Sue!

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So by the time i get around to posting this, I've been in NC for two full days.

Monday started early - as in early early - 3am departure for Denver (my flight left at 6:30am) with a layover at Dallas Fort Worth, and then arrival at Raleigh-Durham around 4pm. By the time artaxastra and dbalthasar picked me up at the airport that afternoon I was pretty zonked. :)

dbalthasar, penknife, and I had dinner since artaxastra had to keep an eye on her daughter. But the next day, we all had lunch together and drove around a little - I got a quick tour of the area and some bits and pieces of history - it was fascinating: lots of history here!

Today was a wander through a local battlefield - both artaxastra and dbalthasar are history geeks, so they geeked out and I got to go along for the ride and imagine Revolutionary War soldiers battling it out in fields. (Some of those fields are echoey for want of a better word. Shadowy. Not ghosts, just...echoes.)

Tomorrow is trawling for quilting fabric (like I need any more) and dinner at artaxastra and penknife's, so huzzah!

Friday morning is the flight up to NYC, where I shall meet evil_plotbunny and meekosan! NYC will be the weekend (I shall probably tourist bus it on Saturday and redux on Sunday) before flying out to Venice on Monday.

And that'll be the US part of my trip done.

Then the really fun part comes: working out where our apartment is in Venice. (Apparently, it can't be googled.)

I am well and fine and kind of exhausted, although that's my fault for staying up until 1am to write fic. *coughs*