Back in Sac (CO part 3, with the farewell)

So I write this from my apartment, back in Sac-town, after a wonderful, rejuvenating vacation in my adopted state, Colorado :) What a glorious week. I did such varied things and enjoyed some interesting activities, but my favorite part was just seeing people I love! :) I do think it's some kind of sign that so many cool people are out in Colorado!

After a exhilarating (yes, because I had to catch my breath so much!) after-the-rain run in Greeley Tuesday morning (CO altitude makes you WORK!), I headed down to spend some time in Denver, which is a fantastic city! It's super easy to get around, driving-wise, and is very pretty too, framed by the Rockies. I chilled out for a while at Panera reading the library books I'd gotten, and then, having run out of them, camped out at Waldenbooks, where I devoured Anita Shreve's latest novel, Body Surfing (good read for those of you who share my taste in books, ahem Laura and Rach). I loved that I had the time to do this, even though sometimes I feel slightly guilty reading books cover-to-cover in bookstores and not buying them (nevertheless, the cheapskate in me wins out)...

I then headed down to Pearl street to meet my first cousin, Pallavi, for Thai food (mmm). This was actually quite a monumental meeting. She (my mom's brother's oldest child) grew up in India, moved to the U.S. for college at Whittier, and then moved to Denver to do her PhD in psychology. We haven't been in touch AT ALL and were actually, over dinner last night, trying to figure out when the last time was that we saw eachother. We thought it was about 20 years ago-- when she would have been about 7 (I vaguely remember something about a barbie... Mom, can you confirm?). The last time my family went to India was when I was in middle school, putting me around 11 or 12, but I don't think we went down south at that time, so it was well before then that Vanessa and I played with our first cousins!! How crazy, huh? For those of you who see your first cousins all the time, this must seem really wacky (and it occurs to me that it is indeed kind of wacky to not know your first cousins!). But we're remedying that now, ok?? :) It was a very fun getting-to-know-you dinner.

Me and Pallavi at her Denver apt. (and... THE FLEECE COMES OFF, revealing the fact that I do indeed own shirts. I did, for the record, change them daily while on vacation)

After dinner, we joined some of her friends at a bar near her place to chill. From them, I learned such interesting things as how horses are bred and that apparently babies born in Colorado have the lowest Apgar scores of anywhere secondary to the altitude (the scientist in me feels as though I have to confirm this although Josh seemed to portray it as a well-known fact :)). Good times!

Josh, John, me, Pallavi, and Amanda

Pallavi offerred to let me stay at her place in Denver, which was a blessing, as Boulder (Kels' bed was offerred up) is about 40 min. NW of downtown, and Greeley (where Cathleen would have been LONG asleep) is about an hour plus north. I just had to pop onto Colorado blvd and then to Pena to get to the airport in time for my flight this morning.

I started to miss CO as soon as I got to the airport. In fact, I was waving (mentally) goodbye to the mts. as the plane flew over the beautiful Rockies (my row-mate gave me a strange look as I snapped the following pictures).

But, believe it or not, I am happy to be back in Sacramento, too! Whereas I used to dread returning from vacation to Rochester, MN, how could one NOT like coming back to beautiful, sunny, 80-degree weather and 5 more days of NOT WORKING?!? :) While I was a bit worried I might get bored with too many days off and was contemplating, a bit crazily, driving up north to Redding for more of a mountain fix and trying to see the coastal Redwood forests, I might just chill out here. EVB (I mean EA) is busy in the ER; otherwise, I might have schlepped it to Palo Alto. But I stocked up on more books from the library around the corner from my apt., I'm going to do some more running for training (including tonight at Fleet Feet with Kate), and Amy has a friend coming in tomorrow (I've already invited myself along to their activities :)). Let the California fun begin (or continue, whatever...)!