1:31 p.m. - Saturday, Feb. 01, 2020
Denver
Spent most of the first week in Vinnie's apartment with a couple of trips out. Made it to the Institute of Art on the second day which was brilliant. We flew into Denver in the 21st and it was a bit challenging because we went to a weed dispensary and V bought €150 worth of weed which we won't smoke in 4 days and we can't bring back with us on the return flight. V got all embarrassed that he'd been so stupid and impulsive and since then we've been trying to figure out how to get it back to Chicago. We almost booked a train back but that would have been 18 hours sat uncomfortably. Not worth it. The second morning the rental car wouldn't start so we couldn't go to the Rocky Mountains National Park. We had to get it towed back (it had a flat battery ffs) and went to the Denver Art Museum which was OK. A little small and unfortunately the Monet show they had was sold out. Vinnie is getting pretty bummed out by the US. It's quite strange here. We were joking that there's no need to travel for leisure now because everywhere is the same. It's also ridiculously expensive to go anywhere. Is it worth it??
I guess it is good to just see places and it helps you appreciate your hometown if you don't see the appeal. Denver has beautiful light and a sort of dreamy washed/ bleached out look. We've been high most of the time too which adds to the dreaminess. I've basically been stoned since I arrived in the US so it's all a bit surreal. Vinnie wanted to leave early and go back to Chicago, but trips take a day to even out and when we finally got out into the Rocky Mountains it was breathtakingly beautiful. We tried to hike for a bit but it was so blizzardy we just took a few pics in the snow. Vinnie almost lost the car rental documents after they blew out of the boot of the car and he chased them down, which was very comedic.
Vinnie loved his birthday present. I bought him a copy of the Cookie Mueller book of short stories and an old kinder toy he'd always wanted when he was a kid which I'd found on eBay. We went to Red Rocks for a walk and it was beautifully sunny and then we went on a brewery crawl and got really drunk.
