This Thursday marks one month since we headed to the city of Denver, CO, USA, aka the Mile High City. Finally, I am feeling some level of normalcy and am ready to dive back into this blog routine!
My hubby got a call the Monday before the small town event I co chair was set to play off at the beginning of October. I, therefore, did not fully allow my self to contemplate the “what if’s”, as the restaurant company and he worked out the details of the offer and its time frames.
The Monday after the Chamber sponsored two day Idaho City Days event (which by the way wipes me out!) I found out I would work one last weekend in my store, winterize all our properties, tie up loose commitments, pack to make a temporary move to Denver, attend my grandsons 6th birthday party and be on the road in ten short days. PHEW!
My honey has worked with these guys before so I knew we would most likely run with the job opportunity as well as the thrill of acclimating ourselves to and living in a new major metropolitan area for a small space in time. Adventure with a capital “A” knocked and we were chomping at the bit for what since, has felt like a whirlwind.
We drove to Pocatello, Idaho on the 18th of October for a short start following the birthday dinner. With the hubsters F-150 cab loaded with the two of us, our “wardrobe closet” and a TV; a few pieces of furniture, kitchen and office supplies were in our box trailer and we made our way to I-80 and then on to Laramie, Wyoming. We spent the night in Cheyenne but stopped in the quaint downtown area of Laramie for dinner.
Altitude Chophouse and Brewery offered us a chance to relax and watch some sports and even be entertained by the University of Wyoming band as they held their roving Homecoming Pep Rally and made their way into the many businesses that lined this downtown corridor. We started with House Beer Battered Mozzarella Sticks and a Charcuterie Platter. Sage infused smoked cheddar was the standout on this platter, original and made in this small town from local sage. Both were excellent, paired nicely with an Altitude IPA and Stout and made for a nice box of light leftovers to have on our drive the following day. Entrees consisted of Chicken Piccata with a generous serving of Asiago Polenta Cakes and Beef Brisket with Jalapeno Mac and Cheese. All the flavors were tantalizing and well paired with the beers this brewery offers. The establishment was clean with ambience and warmth and the service was excellent with our waitress feeling our desire to unwind and timing things well. The only negative I would mention is that the temp was a bit off on the brisket. My gut instinct told me this was not a kitchen error but the interruption the marching band provided as too large of an obstacle course to maneuver when the food came up in the window and the heat lamps just didn’t quite keep the meat warm enough. We will definitely make a pass through this eatery again if our pathway brings us through Laramie.
Rising at our leisure the next morning we made our way on to the sign that welcomed us to Colorful Colorado. We had a couple mishaps befall us on this trek. Nothing we couldn’t manage but to some degree hopefully not an omen of things to come. I must say I do tend to believe bad luck does come in streaks, sometimes threes. I’m still waiting on number three so maybe this is NOT a streak. The biggest irritation was our computer brain on the truck malfunctioning. We still can’t use the bluetooth or navigation and often the time of day goes haywire as well, not mention the loss of a backup camera once accustomed to it is a bear! (Customer Service is apparently not first and foremost at the Ford dealership we are working with here. If you are new to my blog, if I don’t name a business it’s because I don’t believe they are worthy of the mention.) Good thing those beautiful Rockies are to our west or we would have had plenty of wrong turns finding our way around in the beginning weeks of this stay.
We had made reservations at a hotel where we had stayed before and knew we would be able to drop off the trailer so we didn’t have to haul it around the city with us and still have time for a walk through of one of the two apartments we had narrowed our search down to with the aid of a great agent at Vita, who helped us do some research from home. Luckily, part of the compensation plan was a housing allowance because there is nothing cheap about a place to stay for a short period (or honestly for any length of time) in Denver. We were focused on drivability to the three work locations my honey would need mobility to as well as some kind of neighborhood amenities to allow for the fact I would have no personal transportation.
We spent that Saturday visiting The Archer which is in the Capital Hill neighborhood with some walkability. We looked at a couple vacant one bedrooms which we felt somewhat of a necessity for size wise to allow us at least a little bit of “get away from one another” space. We had concluded in our search prior to arrival that the price difference of a few hundred dollars over the length of our stay was just not worth the smaller living space of a studio. This high rise buildings renovation still left the apartments old and a little sad. The Common areas especially the rooftop area was definitely tempting with its sundeck and beautiful view of the mountains but the deal breakers for us was the overwhelming number of pets and the smell in the common areas that resulted in this building. For non pet owners, it just didn’t feel comfortable. Parking was also going to be an issue as the building itself had nothing available for rent and on street parking seemed like it was going to present a challenge as well. We made our way for a “drive by” of the other prospect we were scheduled to see on Sunday and found a brand new building in a gentrifying area off of Colfax Ave in Lakewood.
Pho is one of our favorite meals and one not easily found in our Idaho neighborhood so we made our way to a hole in the wall we had been to before called Top Pho, maybe not in the most premium neighborhood of Aurora but easy to get to, delicious food and great prices. We recommend this location.
Sunday found us driving the city and getting our bearings on the different locations of the work place for my bread winner and then making our way to check out the neighborhood and look at what has now become our temporary home. Regatta Sloan’s Lake sits just one block from Sloans Lake Park. It has a bar on the ground floor of the west tower. Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, Starbucks and Big Daddy’s Pizza are within a block and in under a mile and part way around the lake and across the street at a lighted crosswalk, I can arrive at King Soopers, Target, Ace Hardware and a nail salon. Just a bit farther and there are restaurants and bars that look onto the lake to choose from as well. This complex is also inundated with pets, the girls in the leasing office joked that it is very “cool” to have pets in Denver so…pets they will have. The saving grace is that it’s actually very quiet, the pool and jacuzzi is open year round, pets can’t go out there and the building has air freshners! (Not that I have anything against animals, I just like them outside, not in my space, and they must be someone else’s responsibility;-) The building is nice and new and we really liked the layout so after filling out our application and anxiously waiting for our background check to come back from Idaho we moved in on Tuesday afternoon the 23rd and my honey started his consulting the day following while I settled us in.
As priorities go for us, live entertainment is top of the list and with winter fast approaching we decided we could not say no to one of our favorites, A Perfect Circle (#lovemesomeMaynard) playing at a venue the weather will negatively impact while we are here. Red Rocks is renowned and on Monday 10/22, under a beautiful moonlit sky we took in the show. Awesome, both music and the great outdoors! It is a must see for music lovers!
Sloans Lake is a great place to view the city and the mountains. A little research found me on the trail of the tale of this lake. It is said that a farmer, Thomas Sloan acquired the land in 1866 for farming and raising livestock. He dug a well and hit an aquifer and awoke the following day to a portion of his land covered in water, presto, Sloans Lake! Reddit though would continue the story with a bit of a twist. Old Man Sloan evidently was quite the crop grower and he attributed it to “Man’s Secret”. Legend has it that Sloan took on boarders in that day and had quite a reputation for his hospitality, albeit those who ended up the seventh or so stay in between bleeders. Turns out, his “Man’s Secret” was truly the blood of men which fertilized his land. Check out the story part way down the page on the Reddit link I included above. Hahahahaha, spooky!
Halloween and my birthday have now passed. Thanksgiving fast approaches. My focus is all things portable income. Intimidation is the best word I can think of to describe what has my hands tied right now. If I am going to create the life I feel is the next chapter then I have a lot of mastering to do. Resources are at my finger tips yet I want to be cautious about over investment or jumping the gun anymore than I have already. I have a great temptation to start back at square one because I did not implement some of the aspects necessary to make this blogging thing viable from the get go.
As we wound down the Snowbird Escape of 2018 I invested in Elite Blog Academy. Daily work online in that arena has been the master of most of my time since we have been here. I have also splashed in some Mystery Shopping and some freelance proposals via Upworks. Developing the discipline to be tied to the table that is my desk has been a struggle for me. My son taunted me (in a loving way) with the words, “what, you’re scared?” and the truth is that I actually am. Making the grade is important to me and my lack of technical knowledge is real. Finally, these last two days I decided that my writing habits need some stoking so my dear readers I give you the first installment of the words that are the work towards monetization of this site to take me on my dream journeys! Keep your fingers crossed and watch for another post soon. Your comments/input/what you desire to gain from following me are appreciated as I develop this site further. Thanks for tagging along!
