Excuse me, are there any first-class seats open?

Yes, yes, I realize that I haven't updated the blog in a whole week, but all of you rabid fans out there had probably just better get used to it. Once or twice a week will probably be the norm; it's a bit difficult to update it every time you turn around.

Well it's the weekend again, and that brings to mind all the wonderful things about weekends that I've been dwelling on for the last couple of weeks. It's a beautiful, lazy Sunday afternoon, and the weather is so nice we have all the windows in the apartment open - an unusual occurrence I assure you. Speaking of beautiful weather, we breathed some lovely mid-western air in Colorado this weekend; and let me just announce to the world: the Rocky Mountains posses a beauty all their own.

I've been having some health struggles of late, and decided that it would be prudent to go back to Colorado and visit my naturopath (think nutritionist and vitamin person) in Denver. I am a firm believer in health and healing the natural way (having had personal success in the past), so after consideration and consultation with my lovely wife, I found reasonable air fare and booked the trip. Since the trip itself was so short (we left town at 6:55 pm on Friday and returned at 8:30 pm on Saturday), and since it was a task-oriented jaunt (no long and random socializing sessions with old friends and family), we didn't really think about it too much in advance, and it sneaked right up on us. We found ourselves regarding it with a bit of surprise, "Oh yeah, we're leaving town tomorrow." But it was a short trip and didn't really require lots of advance preparation, so everything was fine.

We packed everything in one carry-on bag between the two of us and Jackie drove us to the airport Friday evening. I was rushing about the house moments before we left attempting to get the appropriate maps printed off, making sure I had the necessary phone numbers, etc., but once we got in the car everything was smooth sailing from there. A flight to Dallas, Texas and then a flight to Denver, Colorado left us ready and happy to deplane and not be sitting around any more. And soon as we stepped off the plane, making our way up the jetway, we were given a little insight into the climate of a Colorado night. It was cool, very cool. As we stood outside in our short-sleeve shirts waiting for the rental car shuttle, we wondered at our lack of foresight in not realizing that the rest of the world does not share Florida's climate. I felt especially foolish, having spent a good portion of my life growing up in Colorado. It wasn't tortuously chilly to me, but Teri had a pretty rough time of it.

The rental car company had run out of economy cars, so they bumped us up to a Jeep Liberty for no charge. It was a small thing, but it really added to the pleasure of the trip - the next day as we drove about our business we rolled the windows down and breathed in the fresh Colorado air, reveling in the beauty of the Rocky Mountains which you can see from almost anywhere in Denver. It seemed more fitting in a Jeep, somehow.

We stayed with some old friends of mine, a young married couple with a baby girl. It was wonderful to visit with Ben and Marlene and introduce them to Teri. They put us up in a very comfortable little guest room, and we slept like a couple of slabs of Rocky Mountain granite. I felt bad the next day when I checked my voicemail on my cell phone and found a message from Ben from the night before. He said they were going to go ahead and go to bed (who could blame them?) and left instructions on where to find the housekey and let ourselves in. I didn't even check my phone after we got off the plane, however, so we pulled confidently up and knocked happily on the door in the middle of the night. Marlene graciously let us in and didn't say a word about our clod-like behavior. The next morning at breakfast we played a little bit with their baby girl, Cassie. It's such a different phase of life now, with many of our friends raising children. Cassie is the cutest and friendliest child, and I have to admit, while playing with her the idea of having children didn't seem quite as intimidating.

After a fond farewell we went to see Brenda, our Naturopath. It was an excellent and enlightening visit. We both have some health issues to work through, and we've chosen to do it naturally, through dietary and lifestyle changes; but I think it's very exciting. The next several months should produce some exciting results.

Then it was back to the airport. After puttering about we settled in for two more flights, and arrived back in Florida at 8:30. We've never traveled that much that quickly before, and it felt as though we'd been away a long time. We were both pretty weary, and slept pretty solidly that night.

This whole globe-trotting thing is kind of fun. I've never been in a position where I've needed to travel great distances for short amounts of time before. I've never been an important executive with need to travel hither and yon to check on the status of the company (like my father-in-law), and I've never been a wealthy gad-about, flitting here and there to try out the various golf courses of the world (also like my father-in-law - no, just kidding). This little trip felt something like that, a little exotic. "Oh, we thought we'd go to Colorado for the weekend." Of course, it wasn't really like that, but it was fun. We thoroughly enjoyed seeing the Rocky Mountains, breathing in the fresh Colorado air, getting away for a short bit, spending time with old friends, and spending time with each other.

Colorado, you haven't seen the last of us.

--Nick