Colorado.
Yes, this state (as well as Montana), is MAN COUNTRY. That is, I am outnumbered by a million.
We got into Boulder and I was soooo beat. We'd been driving for a long, long time. We found a motel quick (it was raining and we yearned for the comfort of springs under our sheets). I was not in the mood to go out and party, but I also was not in the mood to be in a bad mood and go to sleep while near the (unofficial) sister school of UVM. I decided to just go out and get shit-faced. It was my turn, afterall (Missoula being Troy's turn). We got some Mexican and then headed to a bar called the Attic. Boulder is full of microbrews, including the well-known Fat Tire. I think Boulder rivals Burlington, VT in the sheer number of small breweries (although Burlington is rated #4 in the WORLD for best beer cities, just sayin').
Anyway, the Attic was rad. There was a foozeball tourny going on, and they had free pool tables. FREE. Paradise, in my book. T and I played some games, and then some short dude with blonde hair asked if he and his friend could get in on the next game. We are always up for meeting new people, so we accepted. Let's call these dudes Good Guy Tim and Crazy Dan. They had just met that night, being chosen to be foozeball partners in the draw. Both were Ph,Ds with some synthetic organic chemistry and information storage stuff or something weird and over my head like that. Crazy Dan was overly-talkative, and Good Guy Tim was really sweet and quiet, and obviously a good guy (hence his name). GGT bought us beers, and then we all played foozeball. GGT, Troy, and I got on yet ANOTHER photohunt scoreboard as no. 1!!! Then, we were about to all day goodbye, but I decided I wasn't done with the night. Everyone agreed! So we headed to Boulder's pedestrian street and into a place called Pearl St. Pub. There were, again, only men in there. And a band was playing Johnny Cash. The lead singer was this heavy-set guy wearing a black cowboy hat. Loved it.
Crazy Dan had his friend Brice come along. Brice was from Atlanta and looked like a white supremacist, if there ever was one. Anyway, Crazy Dan and Brice got me drunk (shots, beers) and the next day my recollection of the night was me running around the entire bar making friend with everyone. Troy said that wasn't what happened. He seems to think that everyone was making friends with me. He was sober, so I'll defer to him on that one.
The bar closed and we were all standing outside talking. Brice said something about something, and used the N word. There was a man behind him who had been playing in the band who was black. It was a really messed up situation. He went to apologize (which was entirely ridicoulous since you can't apologize for being a racist). I was too wasted to really get what was going on, but Troy felt really uncomfortable and tried to make me leave. Then he couldn't help it but get involved in a conversation ("I think it's entirely unnecessary to use that language"), and Crazy Dan started getting up in his face about it's just a social construct and there's nothing wrong with the word. He was making weird faces and trying to get Troy riled up. I couldn't believe what was going on, and I tried to diffuse the situation ("nice meeting you guys, thanks for showing us Boulder!"), and we finally left. Good Guy Tim came with us and we were all just left with a really bad taste in our mouths. Back at the motel I passed out immediately, but the next day Troy told me he'd been so upset he was up all night thinking about what had happened. It was really disturbing. Who'd have thought that we'd go to Boulder, Colorado and find (probably the only two) racists???
The next day we tried to get back into the spirit of the trip, and took an awesome tour of the Coors Brewery. I hate how Coors tastes, but it was interesting to see the largest brewery in the entire world. At the end of the tour, we got 3 8oz samples of their beer. I happily found out Blue Moon is made by Coors and I tried their seasonal "Harvest Moon" (pumpkin ale) which was excellent.
We got back on the road. The ultimate goal was Nashville. However, that is a 17 hour drive. We drove through Kansas and stayed over night in a city called Manhattan (their slogan is "the Little Apple). In the distance we saw the most insane lightening in the world. It was relentless and bright, and reminded me of a strobe light at some cheesy dance club. I was really scared, having had that crazy experience driving through a storm in Wyoming. I kept stopping, making Troy drive, then thinking we'd bypassed the storm, got back in the car only to discover we hadn't yet, then making Troy drive again. We didn't stop that night until 2am. Troy had gotten into this manic state where he was all wired up on caffeine and was actually quite hilarious. As time has gone on in this trip, we've definitely hit a flow and get along really well now.
The next day we did ANOTHER marathon drive, going through Missouri. We stopped in St. Louis and were so disappointed. It was a nice enough city, except that it was so desolate. There were no people around at all. We got some thai food and headed on. Last night, of all places, we stayed in Kentucky. Never in my life had I imagined that one day I'd go to Kentucky. What's even there? I don't know anything about that state at all. We found a motel that only cost $32, and I spent the night expecting some highway pirate to come in with guns and steal my suitcase.
But now we are in Nashville and I like it here. The library is cool, the parking is cheap, and the people are nice.
I'm excited to get back home. I miss everyone and need to start the whole job search in a serious way. This trip has been great, though. I've learned that America is so much more than what I'd previously known. It's a beautiful place with it's own culture and "American-ness." In only about 300 years we've developed into a very orginal place - something that rivals European countries that have existed as unions for way longer.
