On Monday, October 20th, we picked up a rental car, dropped our Mothership off at a generator service place in Grand Junction, and had a gorgeous drive to Denver.
The Captain had a conference to attend, and the rest of us tagged along (with the intention of getting a ton of school done on the hotel internet - and being stationary for a few days).
Our first snow was spotted on the side of the road and up on the mountains!
Denver was....
.... a bit disappointing.
We are not really city people anyway, and we really didn't care of all the cigarette smoking everywhere. There were also so many homeless people. And the smells that come with a lot of people living on the street. The city felt dirty. And a little scary.
It did give us an opportunity to talk about the homeless problem, in Denver and in general. One article we found explored the possibility of Denver's homeless problem becoming greater after marijuana was legalized.
So many hurting people. What to do? We want to help.
We don't have answers, but we did discover an organization we liked. Denver Rescue Mission's mission statement says:
Denver Rescue Mission is changing lives in the name of Christ by meeting people at their physical and spiritual points of need, with the goal of returning them to society as productive, self-sufficient citizens.
For example, you can help feed 25 hurting, hungry homeless people for only $48.00. You can also show up and volunteer. The need is great.
We didn't have a chance to go visit The United States Mint or other interesting (homeschool field trip) sights we had looked up. Quite frankly, I didn't feel safe walking around with the kids (the Captain was there for work, after all), and since we had a lot of school work to catch up, we chose to spend our time at the hotel or at Barnes and Noble across the street.
Somehow, though, I think we learned a lot during our visit to Denver.
The Captain and I stole a couple of dates by ourselves (gotta love having teenagers and delivery pizza!), and this momma enjoyed not cooking for a few days. (Although eating out in a city with a group this size is not cheap! We were glad to return to our RV kitchen!)
Despite our general lack of appreciation of the city, it was beautiful. Most of my city pics were either taken from our hotel room, or I was shooting from the hip (I felt a little self-conscious about taking pictures of complete strangers).
We also got a lot of school done, and the Captain had a great conference. So our trip was totally worth it.
From my travel notes:
Thursday 10/23:
- Check out of hotel
- Drive back to Grand Junction
- Drop off rental car
- Go pick up RV
We got to pick up our Mothership, and right before we drove off we realized the generator was still not right. Ugh. Ugh, ugh, ugh.
We spent the night at the service place parking lot, and in the morning a mechanic did a few (minor) adjustments. We were able to take off! Yay!
Our journey west continued...
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Moab'in jälkeen jätimme asuntoauton huoltoon generaattorin takia, vuokrasimme auton, ja suuntasimme Denver'iin. Kapteenilla oli työreissu sinne konferenssiin, ja me muut menimme mukana. Ajomatka Denver'iin (ja takaisin) oli upea (luntakin!!), mutta valitettavasti me emme ole oikein cityihmisiä, ja oli vaikea nauttia suurkaupungin elämästä. Kaupunki tuntui likaiselta, tupakansavu vaivasi, ja kodittomia oli kaikkialla. Lisäsin tuonne englanniksi linkin kristilliseen organisaatioon, joka auttaa. Meillä oli hyviä keskusteluja teinien kanssa kodittomuusongelmasta..
Mutta saimme paljon koulua tehtyä, ja Kapteenilla oli onnistunut konferenssi, eli hyvä reissu silti oli. Kun palasimme takaisin, asuntoauton generaattori tarvitsikin vielä lisähuoltoa, mutta seuraavana päivänä saimme jatkettua matkaa länteenpäin.
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