Final morning in Boulder :( So sad. Wake up, early as per usual. Grandma made me a tea again this morning. I'm starting to develop a liking for English Breakfast Tea. Just more proof that I should live in the UK. Time for us to pretty up. Aka take a shower and don't put any make up on because we'll be on a plane for four hours today. We are so set on not missing breakfast today at Snooze it's not even funny. As soon as mom is out of the shower we ship her down to Pearl Street to put our name in for a table. Mom comes back. Hour and a half wait? No biggie, more time to walk the streets and shop. Pack all the things, make all the beds, forget my coat. pack it. forget my charger. pack it. forget my toothbrush. pack it. literally what else could I forget. forget a pair of jeans? pack them. Food food food. That's the only thing on my mind. It's becoming an issue. As soon as I get home I am going to have to limit my diet to one grape a day and maybe a slice of lettuce. Walk to Snooze, round 2. We get there "oh it's only been about an hour, come back in half an hour" cool. ok. Grandma and I immediately take off for Pearl Street mall. Rob and Mom stay behind. First thing we see is some Rastafarian man doing a street show. He fit himself inside of a box. I was impressed. Dollar for you.
Then I came across a cute boy holding a sign that said "Free Hugs". Uhm, is this real? Why are you giving hugs? "Just to spread the love".yes please. sign me up. hug me. let me hug you. mmmmm you smell really good thanks for the hug. makin my day. Walk about fifty feet, come across a cute girl ALSO holding a "Free Hugs" sign. uhm, could I have asked for more? hugs please. all the hugs. Are you associated with the boy also holding the hug sign? "hahaha yes". Why are you giving hugs? "Don't tell anyone but it's for our psychology class. We have to see who can get more hugs. Those girls on the bench are counting." ahhhh it makes sense now. Regardless, I got two free hugs. not regretting it.
Mom texts me. TABLE'S READY. getGrandmaGetGrandmaGetGrandma! "I'm in American Apparel" perfect okay grab her and go. On our race back, two friendly college girls walked up to us "Here ya go! a free inspirational quote of the day!"
I love it
Pearl Street lady.
Somewhat picture of a block of Pearl Street
sweet potato pancake
ugh so good.
After stopping at one last store to buy a UK flag wallet (not kidding about this), we roll ourselves home one final time. Rob uses his muscles and puts all of the suitcases in the car while grandma spends fifteen minutes cleaning the rental home. Mind you, the owner of the home has to clean it herself anyway, but Grandma insists. Finally take off and wave goodbye to our Pine St. house and all the few but great memories it holds.
all overgrown, but that's it.
the view from our third floor deck
Before we go to the airport, Grandma is set on stopping at one last children's store on Arapaho St. before we go. I swear it didn't exist, but we tried valiantly to find it anyway. Mom and I wait in the car while Grandma runs in to the toy store to investigate. We were having SUCH good luck on the entire trip, nobody got into any arguments, everybody got along, everything was peachy keen. Sigh. MOM jinxed it. Good one. It all started with our GPS, whom I will refer to as Staci. (Staci is what I refer to any generic, automated female voice.) She wouldn't recognize Denver International Airport. Nor would she recognize the name of our rental car place. Mom and Staci were going to have a battle, and Staci was going to end up nearly in one thousand pieces on the asphalt. After a fifteen minute struggle of pure frustration, we finally get the address as Grandma returns empty handed. I can tell Mom's blood went from room temp to near boiling. One more thing and I swear she's gonna blow. WELL. leave it to me. I don't even try to do these things. I am feeling car sick, so I recline my seat (I'm in the front) and take my seatbelt off because it was kind of chocking me on my neck and it was uncomfortable. The minute that Grandma eventually realizes that my seatbelt is off, "is your seatbelt off?" yep. "Are you going to put it on?" nope. "Lori, shouldn't she put her seatbelt on?" "Aly, put your seatbelt on." Why? I don't want to. By the reaction that this statement elicited from the two of them, you would have thought I just punched my mother in the face. She started yelling and Grandma started getting upset and I started getting sassier and sassier, literally fueling the fire. Sorry I'm almost not sorry. Neither of them wore seat belts when they were kids, but I lie down and don't wear one and it's a sin. Basically I cause all of the issues because I'm completely inept and can't take social cues. (hint: there is thick sarcasm on that). Basically it was an explosion. and then silence, once I made one final stand, put my seat all the way up, buckled my seatbelt on, and refused to speak. Although, once all of the dust settled, Mommy started pointing out Hawks and Eagles, and I spotted some Horsies and Moo-Cows and all was fairly well. I also learned that my mom's wedding song with my father (divorced now) was Leather and Lace by Don Henley and Stevie Knicks because it came on the radio. and then I learned further that my Grandma and Mom have great taste in music when Angie by the Rolling Stones came on and they both knew it within the first five notes. (both songs at bottom of blog).
Rental car returned, " Please tell me somebody took the house key off of the car keys before we returned them" "I did" mom to the rescue, making sure grandma didn't have a heart attack. Took a bus to the terminal, got curbside check-in once again, (no complaints), and a very nice gentlemen helped us with our bags. Grandma's weighed 50.0 lbs even. what are the odds. didn't even try. that man gets a tip.
Onward to security, but not without stopping at some cool Native American store for goodies. bracelet, a Native American wisdom book, and a blank journal for hand-taking all of my notes in for my blog throughout the day (in case any of you thought I was just really good at remembering events and quotes in chronological order.) The wisdom book was really cool. I read the whole thing through lunch (yes, believe it or not we managed to eat MORE), and I found a favorite quote..
"All things in the world are two. In our minds we are two--good and evil. With our eyes we see two things--things that are fair and things that are ugly... We have the right hand that strikes and makes for evil, and the left hand full of kindness, near the heart. One foot may lead us to an evil way, the other foot may lead us to a good. So are all things two, all two"
-Eagle Chief [Letakots-Lesa] (late 19th century) Pawnee
At security, Grandma got stopped and had to get a near-full pat down because the stripes on her shirt had metallic in them. I stood right next to her while the TSA lady gave her the pat down, giving her the evil eye the entire time. Lunch was at a place called Pour de France, and I had a cheesy flat. Which was a fancy name for a grilled cheese. We were super early for our flight so we stayed to watch the Denver Broncos dominate the Dallas Cowboys (thank god, maybe I'll convert to a Broncos fan, at least I'd still be rooting for a Manning). Next stop, candy store. got some rainbow sour strips or something. only one dollar, not too concerned. they were yummy. We found our gate, and I spotted this adorable puppy, so of course I made it my mission to get as close as possible to it. Mission accomplished.
cute mushy lovey puppy in da airport dawhhh
Here we go, crossing fingers for a safe flight.
The flight wasn't bad at all. I slept for the first hour, then got coerced into a game of Scrabble. Typical. came in second though, Grandma still won. There were some football players in button downs and collared shirts sitting in front of us, and Mom was CONVINCED that it was Tim Tebow. She spent a good portion of the end of the flight trying to get a picture of this guy. I felt bad for the fella, although he was oblivious to it. When we landed we could hear the pup barking from the cargo hold of the plane. poor puppy. you'll be out soon. Get off the plane and head to baggage claim. Turns out Larry Hesse was on the same flight, small world. Got our luggage and made our way to the Parking lot where we started. Grandma got stuck sitting next to this lap dog in a to-go container, who wouldn't stop yapping. Small dogs are awful. Most of them are just annoying. few small dogs I've met I've liked. Time to say our goodbyes and thank yous to Grandma. It truly was an amazing trip and I had such a fun time. Thank you so much. I love you.
enjoy.
