Back to Boulder

Saturday morning brought another early start, not happy about this. I never thought that when I was no longer working I would still have to get up at a decent time. I am still setting an alarm for the morning. Not what I envisaged. I got out of Katies apartment pretty much on time and headed to the light rail station. I had taken longer than I thought to walk there and it was 09.40 before the train came, but it was exactly the train I needed so I wouldn't have to change trains. I got to Union station and had a few minutes grace before the bus arrived. I had got lucky, there was a bus just after 10am and then every thirty minutes after that. The bus was busy and I had to sit next to someone but I wasn't worried, the bus ride was only an hour long and I was going to see my first American football game.
I got into Boulder about 11am and met Kate, we ran to her office and met Michelle. She hadn't found anyone else to come with us, so it would be just the three of us at the game. The football stadium, Folsom Field, is on the university campus and a short walk from Kates office. We walked to the stadium along with hordes of other people, there was a great atmosphere. There were also a lot of people in costume. I don't know if it was because it was Halloween or because people dress up for the games anyway. I got into the stadium and it was only when I tried to take a photo that I realised that although I had charged up my camera battery, I hadn't actually put it back into the camera. What an idiot!
We found our seats and the game started. I don't understand the rules of American football and Michelle did her best to explain it to me. The University of Colorado team, the Buffalo's, were playing the Missouri team and in the first quarter did horribly. The Buffs were 28 points down. I decided that I wasn't missing much and headed back to Kates office to pick up my camera battery. It took me all of fifteen minutes and I was back before the end of the second quarter, the Buffs had improved slightly, the score was now 33 - 3 to the Tigers. I was more excited by the half time show than the football itself, which had seemed very one sided. The university has a marching band, cheer leading and pom pom team. I can't remember having seen a live marching band before. In the U.K. we do have military marching bands but I not sure if they are as creative as the football bands in America. The formations were cool and the music not to shabby either! Then the Buffs ran around the field with their live buffalo mascot, he had arrived in his own special trailer and had been driven on to the field. No walking for him.
The third quarter was much better, the Buffs actually scored a couple of touch downs. It was not enough and the game finished at 36 - 17 to the Tigers. Despite there only being sixty minutes of play the game didn't finish until 3pm, it had started at 11.30. All three of us were hungry and deferred to Michelle and her local knowledge on where to go. We ended up at the Rio Grande, a Mexican restaurant. The order went in for Margaritas and Michelle suggested we order quesadillas as they were half price and really good. I didn't argue, especially after I tasted my Margarita, which was excellent. I did discover that I prefer frozen margaritas rather than with ice, so that's how I ordered my second one. We killed a couple of hours but it was still a little after 5pm when we left the restaurant. We headed back to the house, picking up some wine and chilled there for a while. As it was Halloween we couldn't stay in, put some wine into paper coffee cups to take with us and headed back into town. The wine in coffee cups was not my idea, I want that made clear. However I didn't say no.
One of Michelles friends was taking part in a "Thiller Flashdance" in Pearl St so we sat around and waited for that. It was great, it was so cool to see a group of people do this. They had obviously put some time and effort off to it and it was a good way to start off my American Halloween. We headed to the "Catacombs", an appropriately named bar just off Pearl St and partook of their happy hour. Michelle knows all the best spots in town, for cheap beer that is! We left there when the happy hour ended at 10pm and went out into the street. The atmosphere was great, almost everybody was in costume. The best costume I saw was a "Storm trooper" from Star Wars, I guess because I am a Star Wars fan. There were a lot of people dressed up as Max from "Where the wild things are", I wasn't terribly impressed with that but they did do better than me. Kate was given candy by George Bush and I got to check out if a "Scotsman" was wearing any underwear. He was.
We were all in the street waiting for the "Naked Pumpkin Run", a Boulder Halloween tradition. The police were out in force determined to stop this and the "Mall Crawl", apparently this resulted in a mass riot in 1990 when 40,000 people turned out to celebrate Halloween. I did see a few men with just their pants on and a pumpkin on their head running through the mall, but no nakedness. We walked one of Michelles friends home and then turned for home ourselves. I had had a good night but I was tired and ready for bed. Unfortunately there was no bus in sight and we had to walk home. Kate set a terrific pace and we were there in no time. We sat around until the clocks went officially back and went to bed. I had enjoyed my first American Halloween and if I get to participate in another, would definitely dress up.
Jay had invited me to go to church the next day, I didn't get up in time. I first awoke at what the clock said was 08.30 and decided that I couldn't possibly be ready to go to the 09.00 service. I realised that the clock hadn't been changed and that it was,in fact, 07.30 and decided that it was way too early to get up and went back to sleep. I didn't surface again until 11am. Finally a real lie in and on a Sunday too, that makes it better. I wandered into the kitchen and set about making myself human again. This involved tea,lots of water and sitting down. Kate surfaced a little later and started on the same regime. When we had both showered and dressed it was early afternoon and Kate dragged me out to the grocery store. Now all the food experts say that you shouldn't food shop on an empty stomach, so we went to Taco Bell for lunch. It was a seminal moment for Kate, it was her first visit in six years. A special moment indeed. When I go back to the U.K. my first meal is always a curry at my favourite curry house and it is the food I eat the most of when I am home. It's just not the same anywhere else. Being outside did me the world of good, especially as it was lovely and warm once again, the snow having all but disappeared.
We went back to the house and I was involved with a baking project of Kates. I explained that I have no cooking skills whatsoever but am willing to chop and dice with the best of them. Provided that detailed direction is given.Little did I know that Kate had once worked in a restaurant and ran the place for a while. She was very good at giving direction. We made Salsa, Beans and Corn Bread and we didn't use one mix. All fresh & measured ingredients! The cornbread turned out really well, the salsa even better. It was a good way to spend the afternoon and early evening Kate made a lot of cornbread! The evening was devoted to eating and drinking tea. I wasn't in the mood for more alcohol, I had had enough on Halloween. I was tucked in bed with a good book by 11pm. Tomorrow would be another reasonably early start.