Back from Colorado

I arrived home last night, but it was a bit of a rough evening so I pushed the blog recap to today.

My trip to the College Board Western Regional Forum in Denver was very successful, and I enjoyed all the activities I got to do. Let's see...picking up where I left off...

Katherine and Brukab watched the Oscars on Sunday evening while I stayed at Starbucks for a few hours, drinking my chai latte and working away on the internet (thank goodness since the Marriott had expensive internet). Then they came out to go with me to the Rock Bottom Brewery, where I had ribs for the first time in a long while. Yum!

Brukab and Katherine both had the classic mac and cheese, which was pretty good too.

The Marriott's concierge desk had these awesome little "free pint of beer on the Marriott" coupons, so I grabbed a few and ended up trying a Colorado-brewed beer (one of the unofficial goals of my trip). After starting my beer taste buds on German beer, nothing else seems to taste as good but, hey, free is better than having to pay. :P

Then on Monday, we attended different workshops and met some folks from different areas of education, including high school, colleges, and the government. One of the more interesting sessions talked about the legislative front on higher education. Definitely found the research to be right down my alley.

On Monday night, Katherine, Brukab, and I went to the Nuggets vs. Celtics game at the Pepsi Center (site of the 2008 Democratic National Convention).

I was pumped for the game because a Nuggets loss would be good for my Portland Trail Blazers since they're in the same division of the NBA.

I've been to NBA games at the Rose Garden in Portland and Key Arena in Seattle, but this was my first NBA game outside of the Pacific Northwest.

So we took lots of pictures. :)

The Celtics completely blew out the Nuggets (final score was 114-76), so I was happy. Had to root for the lesser of two evils. :P

After the game, we were starving so we headed for food in downtown Denver, but honestly, everything closes so early in Denver! Downtown was pretty much empty, and it was only 10 pm!

So back to the Rock Bottom Brewery we went again. I got to use another one of those free beer coupons and tried a better beer. Still not as good as my Hacker-Pschorr Weisse, but better than the one from the night before.

Anyway, Tuesday morning, we attended one last session (I went to one on financial aid and planning how to pay for college), and then headed for the airport to go home. Our trip went by way too quickly, and I got a bit of a feel for business travel again as you don't really get many opportunities to explore the city you're in.

Now I'm back in Seattle to finish up another busy quarter, and then figure out my plans for spring break and hopefully summer too. Regardless, I'll hopefully get to travel again soon to break out the travel blog and add another flag to the world map on my wall at home. Until next time, toodles!