Author: John Collings

Americana in the Nighttime – Around the World Day 31

Last night I took a walk around the neighborhood I was staying at. It was something that I used to do in my younger days all of the time, but then life got busy and I no longer had the time for this. The walks allowed me to relax and reflect on the way things were going on in my life, and I always felt better afterwards, like I had stolen something back from the hectic world that I am forced to live in. It was the same feeling I got as I took my walk last night.

It also allowed me to get closer to the neighborhood. America is definitely a car culture, and we will hop in our vehicles anytime we need to get anywhere. Sometimes it is the only way we can get from one point to the next, but a lot of times, we can get to places just as easily by walking. During my time in Europe on this trip, I was forced to walk to places, and there were many people out using the same mode of transportation to get where they were going. The same thing happens with home in Seoul. But I do not see these same crowds when I walk in the United States.

There is something to be said about being out among those people though. Granted, I never talked to any of them, but I did get a greater sense of community because I was out among them. I wasn’t hiding behind the closed doors of a car, or staying huddled inside some building because I was swiftly swept from one location to another. I was forced to interact with the people on a certain level if I wished to get along. Even though I enjoyed the moment to myself last night as I took my walk, I wished there were more people out there taking a walk with me. It was the perfect night to do it too. The cool night was a great reprieve from the hot weather that Colorado has been experiencing this summer.

My favorite part of my walk was when I got to pass this old house that I have always admired. This house has sat on this huge plot of land as long as I could remember, and nobody ever seemed to live in it. It looked like an old farmhouse that was left over from a day when people worked the land out in this neighborhood. I always liked the place because I could watch it slowly deteriorate over the years, and I would think about buying the place and fixing it up someday. Because I moved away, I wasn’t able to see the house as much, and there would only be a couple days out of the year that I would get to pass it by as I sped down the road that it found itself on. But last night I was able to walk by it, and take a little more time to see it for what it was. While I moved away, somebody had bought the property and had spent the last couple of years of getting it back to its original glory. I don’t think I would have noticed this if I was in a car. It just showed me that sometimes it is important to slow down, so you can really appreciate what it is around you.

Even though cars are great inventions and allow us to get to places quicker, I like to step out of the car from time to time to take a walk. I’m glad I did it last night, and even though it was nothing special, it might have been one of my favorite moments on this trip around the world.

Donor Dash – Around the World Day 29

I have been spending a lot of my time on the trip around the world visiting amazing sites, eating great food, and catching up with family and friends. I have not always made the healthiest choices while on this tour, and I will admit that my exercise has been nothing more than hiking around the towns I have been in or the mountains I have found. It has been a lot of fun, and I have really enjoyed writing about it as I have gone along, but I felt that there should have been an opportunity to give back to the communities that I have been lucky enough to stay in. That is why when I found out about the Donor Dash taking place last Sunday, I decided to get out there and run it. I would be getting some of that much needed exercise, and helping to create awareness to a very important cause.

I do know that there are Donor Dashes in both Wyoming, and Denver, and while doing my research for this post, I discovered that there is another one in Philadelphia. I am sure that if you look hard enough, you will be able to find a Donor Dash near you. It does not cost a lot of money to participate in the event, and they will give you a really cool t-shirt with your entry fee. The Denver race attracted over 6,000 people who participated, and there were many others who were walking around the park at the time, and learning about the message that the promoters were trying to get across. The purpose of the event is to raise awareness about the importance of being an organ donor, and to try to get more people to become an organ donor when they renew their state IDs or driver’s licenses.

There are many myths about being an organ donor. The big one is that if you have the fact that you are donor indicated on any identification that EMTs and doctors will let you die so they can have your organs so they can let somebody else to live. The mere fallacy of the logic of that thought is so absurd that it does not make sense. Why would a doctor let one person die on the rare hope that they can help another person live?

The truth about being an organ donor is that you can save somebody’s life. During the event, many people stood up and told their stories of how their lives were saved because of the kindness of a stranger. My niece is one of these people. She received a kidney donation at a very early age in life and because of this, she has been granted many more years of her life, and a better quality of life during that time. I also met another young man who is only fourteen and getting ready to start high school, and he told me about the heart transplant that he received. An event like this really helped me to see how important that awareness grows, so more lives can be saved.

In the state of Colorado alone, there are more than 25,000 people on the waiting list to receive an organ donation that could save their lives. This is why an event like this is so important. But that does not mean that there are not other events that support others causes out there. In fact, I knew that when I was living in the state of Colorado, I was able to find a race every weekend if I felt like I wanted to compete in one. Most of them were designed to either raise money for a cause or at least awareness for that cause. It only took a simple search to find that event. If more people spent time to do this, I do believe that the causes would no longer be causes. The problems of our society would slowly solve themselves. This is the campaigns that actually change the world for the better, and I do think that the Donor Dash is one such cause. I am glad that this is the way that I got to spend my Sunday morning on this super expedition in my life.

Colorado’s Renaissance – Around the World Day 29

It has been around for 42 years, and there were many times that I have been to it when I was younger, but it had been awhile since I have been at the Colorado Renaissance Festival. It took me coming back to Colorado to get me to go back to this iconic location, and it had changed a lot since I last remembered it, or it may not have changed at all, and just my memory of it had adjusted to make the place seem more different than what I thought it was when I was younger. That is not to say that it was not still a fun place to visit, but I started to see through the glossy presentation that once made this a magical place to visit, and start to show me what type of place it actually was.

It really started before I even got to the place. There was a lady protesting the use of elephants for rides and from my earlier trip to Laos, I understood her frustration and anger, but I had no idea why she was so mad at something that was happening half way around the world that she would stand on the highway to this place to protest it. That was until I was inside the confines of its walls and saw that they had an elephant that they would walk around the grounds while people rode it. And even though I could see that he didn’t have scars on his head due to the mistreatment sue to its handler, I could see that they had cropped his tail and chopped off his tusks, making it impossible for him to live a normal elephant life. It made me wonder how well they were actually taking care of the beasts, and if they were just as bad as the other owners of elephants that the woman was protesting about earlier on the road.

But this was the only complaint that I would have about the place. Otherwise it was as much as I remembered it when I was growing up except the act had changed a little bit. One of the new ones that surprised me also made me wonder about the elephants I had seen walking about. This was a group that displayed great cats that operated in Oregon. It was very educational, explaining the threat that was going on with these beasts, and what we could do to make sure that they would no longer be endangered. It made me wonder why a company would bring in conservationists with great cats, and then go off and display elephants afterwards. Was it really about educating people about these animals, or just finding the quickest way that they could make some money.

The rest of the festival lend itself more to the later. Even though we had to spend a solid entry price to make it into the grounds, there were still many other features that required an extra entrance fee if we wished to see them. One was a torture museum that had some interesting things inside of it, but it only took ten minutes to stroll through and was clearly not worth the two dollar entrance fee. I went to a different torture museum in Rothenberg, Germany that was more informative, with better displays, and yet the same price.

There were also a couple of rides that required a couple of extras dollars if you wanted to ride them, and some of these actually took a little longer than two minutes to enjoy the rides. The prices were absurd, but it was interesting to see how they operated the rides. They were all moved by guys pushing the rides forward and by no electronic gears. This made it interesting to watch and made me realize what rides might have looked like back during the Elizabethan Era. It was interesting to see that these rides could still fly even though they were propelled by human effort.

Of course, the biggest money maker and my favorite spot on the whole grounds was the Tomato Toss. It was fun to sit there and watch for a long while because you knew it was spontaneous, and you didn’t know what was going to happen next. Basically, a guy stuck his head through a hole in a wall, and started to insult people who passed by. For five dollars, the passersby could get five tomatoes to throw at the guy to quit his insults. Sadly, only a couple of them were able to hit the guy, but there was a constant supply of people lining up to see if they could hit this guy. It was fun to see them get riled up from his insults, but it was more fun to hear his insults.

Overall, it was a fun place to visit, but I think I had my fill after the day. I would not need to go back to see it again for another ten years, but the memories I had created yesterday would help me hold off the urge until then.

 

 

Downtime – Around the World Day 28

Anybody that really knows me has heard me talk about the importance of experiences. I believe that this is the currency that we should live by. Too often we collect things and hope that these hold the memories that we are looking for, but it is not stuff that makes life exciting. It is moments that are created with other people that help to create those memories that we treasure, and I believe that when all is over, these are the things that we will go back to that shows that the life we lived was the gift that it actually is.

My trip around the world has been about this. I have had many opportunities to make the most out of life, and I have picked up some great memories along the way. It seems like everyday there is a new and exciting adventure scheduled for me, and I have not regretted any of the moments that I have experienced. But as of late I have hit a wall. I have been coming back to the place I am staying, completely exhausted even though I have not really done anything too strenuous. It might be because I have been going the whole time since I left on that plane almost a month ago, and it is starting to catch up with me.

This brings me to the point of this post. It is not always important to be at making sure that I am experiencing something all of the time. Every once in a while, I need to make sure that I sit back, relax and recharge my batteries, so I get the most out of the experiences I have when I come across them. If I am go, go, go all the time, I am no longer enjoying the experience. I am just trying to make sure that I have enough experiences so that at least one of them is worth the time that I invested into having experiences. I cheapen all of the experiences I have by looking at them this way. I need some time to let this stuff go so I can sit back and reflect on the experiences I have had.  That is what will make them a true memory that I will want to revisit some day.

This why I spent yesterday on a couch, sitting back and reading a good book. It was a great day because I was able to do that. But on the other hand, if this is all I did, it would be a problem as well. Not to take away anything from reading because I think it is really important. It makes us more intelligent because we learn something every time we read something, and most importantly, we learn the valuable trait of being to empathize with other people. But you cannot experience what life is really about by reading a book. You need to put it down and go out there and see, and experience life at the same time. The combination of both of them is the most valuable thing I think anybody can do.

It is about finding that moderation in your life. You need to go out and experience life and see what that is like, but at the same time you need to have that downtime so you don’t run out of gas too early in life. It is hard to find that happy middle ground because both of these lifestyles can be seductive, and you can find yourself wrapped up in either one of them if you are not careful. It was nice to have that easy day in this crazy trip so I could collect myself and get ready for the next stretch.

I am sorry that today did not have an exciting adventure for you to follow, and this post may just include a philosophy that I try to live by, but I hope that you still get something out of it to consider when you think about your own lifestyle. How much do you wrap yourself in either side of the issue, and what does your life look like because of that? I think those are both important questions for us to answer, and when we come up with the answer, hopefully the most important thing is presented to us, our memories.

The Boys of Summer – Around the World Day 28

The weather has been really hot this summer in Colorado. If you have friends from the area, I am sure you have seen the posts on Facebook about people melting in the street, and how on some days it has been hotter here than it has been in Las Vegas. Denver is turning into a dessert, and when things cool off a day, people look for something to do outside so they can enjoy the Colorado summer while it is available. The best way I have found to do this is to go to Coors Field and watch the boys of summer try to stay in the running for the playoffs in October.

Yesterday was a beautiful day in the low 80s with a lot of cloud cover that made for the perfect day to go and see the Rockies play. Coors Field is also a great ballpark. It has been a dream of mine to see a game in all of the ballparks in America, and this has now become really hard to do that I live in a different country, but that does not mean that I can’t enjoy the ballpark that was in my backyard for the last twenty years. When they designed the park, they wanted to give it that classic ballpark feel with a couple modern upgrades. It has a nice open air feel to it, and there is not a bad seat in the house. They do have ivy growing in the right field behind a series of fountains that they will turn on full blast anytime one of the Rockies hits a home run. It does have a bigger outfield than a lot of other parks but that is because balls have a tendency to fly longer in the thin air. And if you are looking for a good beer, there is a craft brewery in the building. A perfect addition for the people of Colorado who love their beers.

But they have since added some other features. There is a huge scoreboard in left field that highlights many part of the game on its high definition screen. There is a series of bars on the top level that are always full even if the Rockies are doing poorly because it is a great place to be seen on the Denver scene. Many people were angry at that addition when it first came out because it seemed like a waste of money for a team that could have used a better bullpen, but ever since it has shown up, the Rockies have been contenders more than they have been in the past. It does clear out the stands though because everybody wants to hang out there instead of in their seats.

No matter what you think about the addition, it is still a great place to see a game, and I was surprised at the crowd that had shown up in the middle of the day on a Thursday. The announcement that they make every game stated that there were 41,000 people in attendance, and this is pretty amazing considering that there are only 50,000 seats in the place. A lot could have contributed to this. The Rockies have won 12 out of their last 16 games, making them only three and a half games out of first. They were also playing the team that was in first so this would give them an opportunity to catch up a game. And it apparently was kid’s club day. There were groups of kids screaming in the upper level and they did not necessarily know what they were screaming at, but they were having a good time. They also had to leave early so they would be back at their kid’s club location so their parents could pick them up, but it all added to the atmosphere.

It was a great game. The Rockies came back in the sixth inning to win the game five to one and the bullpen did a great job not losing the game in the final inning. It was the perfect way to spend a warm Thursday afternoon, and it will keep me interested in what is happening with the Rockies as they make the push to the end of the season. I just wish that it did not take so long in-between times that I got to visit the place because it is easily one of my favorite ballparks in the nation.

Visiting my Stuff – Around the World Day 26

I used to teach a story by D.H. Lawrence called “Things”. It was a story of a couple who started to teach overseas, and because of that they collected storage units all over the world where they could keep their things. I will include a copy of the link to the story at the bottom of this post so if you want to read it you can. But the main idea behind the story was freedom. Are we truly free if we are tied to our things. I would really make the point with my students when I would ask them at the end of the lesson, “Do we own our possession, or do our possessions own us?” Many of them would believe that they were the ones that were in control in these situations because there was no way an inanimate object could control a person, but we started talking about houses and the amount of work that went into maintaining them, cars and the amount of money that it costs to keep them running, and they would really get angry with me when we started to explore our relationships with our phones.

I talked to them for a position of superiority, thinking I was above all of that nonsense of letting my possessions become the more important part of our relationship, but this was until I moved overseas. I knew that there would be certain things that I would like to keep, and I got a storage unit so that I could keep those things. I even have a monthly bill automatically paid so that I don’t lose my possessions on the rare chance that I forgot to pay a bill. It wasn’t a big unit, but I still packed it with various things. And despite this, I still got rid of a lot of stuff. I had simplified my life or so I thought.

But now every time I come back to Denver, I spend a day going over to my storage unit to visit my stuff. I can’t do anything really exciting with it because it is all thrown in a the small space, and some of the stuff that I really would like to visit again was placed far in the back when I started, thinking that I would keep the place well organized. Half of the time I find something and wonder why I kept it at all. It is a part of my life that I have not let go yet, and I wonder if I will ever be able to do so. It is the connection that keeps me coming back to this small little shed in the middle of the city.

I do know that if I ever come back to live in the United States that I will love to have these things, and it will make the transition easier, but I wonder if I will ever need a large home to collect all of my things in. I would have to say that one of the things I really do appreciate about the adventure that I embarked on three years ago is that I no longer need a huge space and a whole bunch of things in order to be happy. I can live a simpler life. I just have one thing hanging over my head that would make it complete, my storage unit. I don’t know if I am ready to get rid of it yet, but I now have a new appreciation of what D.H. Lawrence was getting at with his story. Can I be the master of my possessions or will they always be the master of me?

You can read the story talked about in this post by clicking on the link below:

https://www.counter-currents.com/2014/04/things/

 

Waiting – Around the World Day 25

This may shock some people that really know me, but the biggest adjustment I have when traveling back to the United States is getting used to the restaurants and the service I now receive. The reason that this may shock some people is because I have spent so much of my life in the restaurant industry and spent a big portion of that time as a server or a bartender. In fact, I have spent more time in this job profession than I have as a teacher or a writer. I know it better than any other profession, and if I wanted to I could probably hop right back into that madness without much adjustment. The thing is I don’t want to get back into service and find more joy and a sense of worth with my chosen profession right now. I am glad that I took the path that I did to get where I am today because any time I do not appreciate it, I can go back to restaurant and remember where I came from. But if I know so much about this profession, why is it the thing that makes me feel so uncomfortable when I come back to the United States?

It really hit me last night when I visited a few friends from Korea at a restaurant in downtown Denver called Los Cabos Puro Peru. We were sat and spent almost four hours enjoying a casual dinner with various appetizers and entrees with a couple of drinks. We were never rushed and it was a beautiful way to spend an evening with friends. I left the place stuffed and satisfied, but a lot of this had to do with the fact that the style of serving that happened in this establishment reminded me more of what I would see in Europe and less of what I would expect from the United States. Before I had moved overseas, I would have thought of it as some of the worst service I ever had, but now I appreciate it more.

When I was a server, I was considered one of the better ones at every place that I worked. I was able to sell a lot of food and drinks, my customers were never in need of something, and I could people in and out quickly, making a lot of money through my tips. I could anticipate people’s needs. I would get them a refill if they needed it, and get rid of plates right as soon as they had their last bite. I knew if the customer was enjoying each stage of their meal or not, and I could have a conversation with anybody based upon what they wanted to talk about. I was there for the customer, and this kind of attitude is what makes me nervous today.

When I experience servers in Europe, it is a completely different attitude. He or she will come to the table to take an order for drinks and food, and if I need him or her again, I need to wave them over. They would leave me alone unless I did this. Sometimes this might mean that I do not have a full drink in front of me, or it might take me a little longer to pay my bill and leave, but for the whole meal experience, I do not have somebody hovering over me, waiting for me to take a sip of water so they can refill that sip instantly. I am left to myself and my company to enjoy.

At first this really bugged me. I felt like I was being rude to the people serving me, and they had to hate me because I was always waving them over. If somebody had done that to me during all of my years of waiting tables, I would have wanted to kill them. But I look at it differently now. The focus shifted from the waiter to the customer in the European model as opposed to the one I had been trained in. As a customer, I should not be pressured to consume more, and be pushed through my meal. I should be able to enjoy my evening at my own pace, and if I need something, why should the server be offended if I wave them to ask for something more. That is why they are there, and it is a simple form of communication.

Now, this becomes a problem sometimes when it comes to the check. I do hate having to ask for the check when I would like to leave because it seems to take forever before they can get it to me, and for me to pay it. But I have come to realize that the process is not much quicker in the United States model. In fact, I think that this is the place where both models fail miserably because when I am done, I do want to leave.

But this is where I think the Koreans have perfected the art of waiting tables. It is the thing I appreciate the most about Korea. Most restaurants have what is called the Yogio button. It is a button on your table that you press if you would like service. The server will not come to bug you unless you would like to see them, and with the button you do not have to catch the server’s eye in order to hope to get a new beer. At first, this button bugged me, but as I got used to it, I started to appreciate what it meant and how it simplified the whole waiting process. The best part is that when I want to leave, I do not need to ask for the check. I just go up to the cashier, tell them what table I was at, and then give them the money that they need. It makes the checking out process so easy. And if there is a large party with a split check you just tell your cashier what you had and they will split it for you right there. I have become accustomed to this style of restaurant service and I think it is the best in the world.

Could the people of the United States ever be accustomed to changes in the service style to the one in Korea? I don’t think so. They have been trained just as much as the servers have, but I do hope that if they find themselves in a different part of the world, they will appreciate the different styles, and that those styles do not give them the anxiety that they gave me when I first encountered them. And if they ever want to experience a more European style, Los Cabos Puro Peru gave me that experience last night, and it was one of the most pleasant dining experiences I have ever had in the United States because it was done at my pace. It is something to appreciate, and I am glad that I now am able to understand its advantage.

On the Rocks – Around the World Day 24

I was very fortunate growing up. I live within driving distance to what I consider the greatest concert venue ever built, Red Rock Amphitheater. Every summer, I would pull out the concert schedule and pick one or two shows that I would go see in this iconic place. I have seen some of the greatest artists perform here, bands from Radiohead to the Grateful Dead, and artists from Ben Harper and Beck. If I consider all of the moments I have at this place, a few of my fondest come while I was here.

But I would not only come up here while there was a concert. I would come up during cross country practice in high school so we could run up the hill that is used as a load in station for bands, and though some of my students who run for me right now might disagree, it was the most difficult hill to run up. We snuck in a couple times on weekends during the fall to hang out with friends on the stage. I did a report on the place during my seventh grade, and I remember coming up during the winter months and watching the snow gently fall down on the empty seats and breathe in the silence. When I think of Denver, I instantly think of Red Rocks, and if I can share the same joy that bubbles up inside of me when I think of it, I want to do so.

If you have never been there, it is a natural amphitheater built during the 1930s as one of FDR’s ABC projects to get people back to work during the Great Depression. Two huge red rocks stand on either side of the seats creating perfect acoustics for the bands who play there. The venue cannot seat that many people as there are just under 10,000 seats, but even if you find yourself in the back of the theater, you still can enjoy the sound because there really is not a bad seat in the place. It is the Mecca for many bands, and if they get to play there that means that they have made it. During my disc jockey days, I actually got to perform a wedding in the restaurant that is situated in the back of the amphitheater, so when I talk to my musician friends about the fact that I had the chance to do this, they always get really jealous. To get there you need to drive through the quaint little town of Morrison that only get busy when an event is taking place at the venue, and when you are there you can look out over the plains as the light of Denver start to wake up for the evening. Many iconic bands have recorded live albums at the place including U2, O.A.R., Moody Blues, Mumford and Sons, and Dave Matthews Band (too separate concerts are available from him). And it has even hosted the likes of the Beatles and the Jimi Hendrix Experience. How can this not be the best venue in the world?

I still think about the place when I come home every summer. Around March I start to look at what bands have been scheduled to play there as I try to find one that I might enjoy, but all the good ones seem to be coming either before or after I am there, and if there is a band that I might be remotely interested in seeing, they are charging way too much to see their show that I wait until something better comes along. This is why Movies on the Rocks was a better option this time around.

Movies on the Rocks is a series of events that is put on by the local radio station, KBCO. They find six or seven cult favorite movies to show under the stars, but the party starts a little earlier than that. They also book two bands, and last night when I went to the event, they also brought out local favorite, and winner of the Last Comic Standing, Josh Blue. After all of this, they played one of my favorite Coen Brothers’ movies, The Big Lebowski. It might not have been one of the amazing concerts that I was able to catch in my past, but it was still a fun time. People came dressed up as some of the characters, and they served white Russians so people could feel like they were part of the story. It is a great way to get into the venue if you find yourself here for a short time, and there are not any bands that really appeals to you. It was one of my favorite nights so far on this trip because it was reminiscent of times that I used to have here. It will always be one of my favorite places.

 

 

Sundays are for Family – Around the World Day 24

One of the ways that I know that I have let the stress of the school year finally behind and I am able to really enjoy myself is when I look over at somebody and ask what day of the week it is. It usually takes a couple of weeks before this happens, and it is a nice feeling to not be a slave to time. I know that I will have to get back to watching that calendar and clock again, but the time being I am not going to worry about it.

While traveling through Europe, there was one day that always let me know that it had come around, Sunday. It is so dramatically different than any other day of the week, and not because they ring the church bells more often. The whole continent seems to take things slower that day. The streets take a little longer to get crowded. Not all of the restaurants are open, and if you find a store that is open, you should consider yourself lucky. It is a day that Europeans know is for something greater.

Some might say that this is because they are all very religious and they are taking Sunday easy as a sign of showing respect to God, and I don’t think that is necessarily accurate. First off, despite the hundreds of cathedrals that are out there, the number of people who claim to be religious is steadily declining in most countries. Granted, I just came from Spain which still holds a strong Catholic contingency, it was still evident that people are just not that religious anymore. I think there is something greater going on here.

I could be wrong, but my sense is that Europeans have a strong sense of family and it is really important to them. You can see this when I compared the interactions between various families as I toured many of the larger site of the country. And even though, many of the teenagers were still salty towards their parents, but the European ones would warm up to their parents quicker than ones that were obviously from a different part of the world. I think that bonding comes from the fact that Europeans have designated one day of the week to family, Sunday. I don’t know if this is the reason why things are all closed down on Sundays, or because things have closed down on Sundays that families come together this day because of this reason. Either way, it is evident that families get together on Sundays.

Now, I am not saying that Americans do not do the same thing, but there is a different feeling on Sundays in America than there is in Europe. This might be because the stores are still opened and people can still get some stuff done in their busy lives on this day. We are not forced to put that stuff aside so we can pay attention to something else. But you do see from time to time families getting together to share a moment together. It is a great experience when it happens, and I was lucky enough on my fourth Sunday on my trip around the world to get together with my family for one of these moments. Not only was I able to see my brothers and sister, and my parents all together one more time, it was also great to slow down and just appreciate the things I have been blessed with.

Quandary Peak – Around the World Day 23

Though the world may not know much about it except for the place you go to for skiing, Colorado, does have a tourist season during the summer. The mountains are still a fun place to go to, and there are many things to do in the small towns there. One of the things that many people try to check off of their lists is to summit one of the 58 14ers that the state boasts about. A 14er, is a mountain peak that reaches over 14,000 feet above sea level. It is way above timberline, and the air gets pretty thin up there, so it is quite an accomplishment to make it up one of these mountains, and it is even a bigger challenge if you can do it when you come from sea level before you do it because there is always the danger of altitude sickness that can make the hike a challenge to get over. I wanted to add to the challenge so I decided to take on one of these peaks a day after I arrived from Europe, so I was living in a different time zone and my mind was trying to get over jet lag when I tried this.

It is important to take on one of these peaks early in the morning because Colorado has a tendency to afternoon thunderstorms, and you don’t want to be up on top of a peak without any cover where lightning has a shorter distance to strike the tallest object, you. It also gets pretty crowded on some of the peaks during the day because of the tourists try to tie this into their vacation. Quandary Peak, the mountain I took on, is one of the busier ones. It is only a few miles outside of the popular town of Breckenridge, and it is one of the easier mountains to summit, so this is the one that many people take on. I had gotten there at 5:45 in the morning and it was already packed with people. Even though some people might complain about these crowds, it didn’t bother me much because I had just experienced some of the crowds in Europe and they were nothing like the one I had on this day.

The cool thing about the hike is you can see the summit most of the way up. It is not like some of the other peaks where the top hides behind false summits, disappointing you sometimes when you thought you had made it to the top but in reality you still had a ways to go. It also has a pretty well maintained all the way up to the top as opposed to other mountains where the trail disappears to a field of rocks that can add to the challenge because they are not always secured and you might have to dodge a rock rolling down the hill from someone up above you from time to time.

It is also still had small snow fields near the top even though it was the middle of July. I have been told that these snow fields are small this year because it has been a dry year for Colorado, but it was fun to see snow during this time of the year. I have attempted this mountain at a different time of the year, May, and this spot was covered in snow, and I couldn’t summit because I got caught in the middle of a blizzard when I made it to this point in the hike. But this time, the weather was perfect, and I even wished I had worn shorts because I was getting a little hot when I made it to this point of the hike.

The best part of the hike was when I got to the top. I was able to stand on the edge of a precipice and look out over the Rocky Mountains and could even point out the two other 14ers that I had summited the summer before. I got to get to know my hiking partners a little better, had wonderful conversations with other hikers taking on the challenge from other parts of the world, and earned a sense of accomplishment on a day that I would usually have spent trying to figure out a way to get over jet lag.

It is a great way to spend a day in Colorado, and it is one of the things that made this part of my trip around the world great. It is funny that I had to move away before I attempted to reach the top of these mountains, but it is the way of the world. We don’t really appreciate the things we have in the places we live until we no longer have them at our disposal. That is one of the things that this trip is teaching me. Appreciate everything that I can while I am there to appreciate it.