Friends of The Captain: A Rocky Mountain Adventure

What a weekend! I just got "home" from an awesome four-day adventure with friends (Amy McKenna, John Weaver, Sally Bellargeon, Matt Weaver, Stacey Terry, Jessica Garcia and Dave Hoadley) in Denver. I met up with this posse of Seattle friends in Colorado for a Rocky Mountain Adventure -- and boy, was it ever!

Of course, it all started with yet another day of travel hell trying to get from Boston to Seattle to join the gang on our flight to Denver. Three missed connections later, I made it to Colorado, but without luggage. I had the choice: time with friends or clean underwear. Knowing this group would forgive the latter, I simply met up with them in Denver and the adventures began!

Before we begin, however, we must set the stage with the theme of the weekend: The Captain! Inspired by our communal love of Captain Morgan, the trip took a pirate turn and was themed with goodie bags, including a pirate-based soundtrack (with songs like "Making Legs Out of Nothing But Wood" by Air Supply & The Captain and "Pour Some Rum On Me" by Def Leopard & The Captain), chits, fake tattoos and eye patches. We also brought a trip mascot: Squawk!

We landed in Denver Friday night and enjoyed a post-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving meal with our weekend hosts, Judy & Strode Weaver, Matt and John's wonderful parents. A rousing game of 'Mean-Spirited Matey' carried us into the night, along with the help of our friends, Captain & Ginger.

Saturday was jam-packed with adventures in Golden, Colorado, starting at the Coors Brewery, where we enjoyed their tour, complete with super fresh Coors samples, several drinks and more 'Mean-Spirited Matey' where Amy produced the first and only Clean Sweep of the weekend! Congratulations Amy! We also tipped back a few ZIMA Hard Punch drinks in honor of our homies who were unable to join.

We spent the afternoon touring downtown Golden with lunch at Woody's, photo opps with Adolf Coors, the town's founder, and shots at the Buffalo Rose Saloon -- the oldest tavern in all of Colorado (est.1858). We also drove up Lookout Mountain for several stunning views of the Golden Valley as well as visits with wildlife and Buffalo Bill Cody's gravesite! While freezing, we still managed to have an awesome time, snap photos, enjoy the gift shop, engage in an epic battle with ice weapons, and pose with The Captain.

We then enjoyed an evening of John's favorite watering holes, including dinner and tequila lime shots at Lime and drinks at Funky Buddha -- both awesome Denver hot spots. The night ended early for some (me, the Walking Wounded!) while others enjoyed Club Vinyl, a venue that my men's volleyball team visited at Nationals in Denver in 2005! Small world!

Given our late Saturday evening, our Sunday morning was a late one as well, with much lounging, snacking and football watching Chez Weaver. Turns out, it was just what pirates do after a night of plunder! And of course, we had to conserve all of our energy to expend trying to keep warm at Invesco Field that night!

The Main Event of the trip was Sunday evening as the Seattle Seahawks made their way to Denver to challenge the Broncos on their home turf. We pre-func’d at John Weaver’s favorite pizza place in downtown Denver:
Old Chicago. We took over the back bar area and enjoyed some of the best pan pizza I’ve had in a LONG time. I won’t say it rivals Roma Pizza in NYC as it was a different style altogether, but I will say it was like nectar for the gods. So, too, was the Mirror Pond.

Friends and committed Seahawks staffers, John and Stacey Terry secured 14 tickets to the game and we enjoyed a 23-20 Seahawks win with a last-minute 50-yard field goal. It was an awesome game; we had awesome seats; no one froze to death. Avid Reader, the temperature when we got to the stadium was 16 degrees. That’s right, I said sixteen degrees as in 1-6 (one-six). It was COLD. Many layers, much cuddling, hand warmers and hot chocolate were godsends!

Sadly, as with all adventures, this one too had to come to an end. It did with a slow morning and return to Denver International… where I proceeded to not get on my flight! Given the drama getting to Denver from Boston, my itinerary “fell out” of Frontier’s reservation system. After all, if I missed the Seattle to Denver leg, why, pray tell, would I need to get back to Seattle if they believe I never made it to begin with? Frontier just might be onto something. However, given my SuperPowers of Resourcefulness and getting where I need to go in spite of Mother Nature and the airlines (bitches!), I was in Denver and wanted to go to Seattle! I was put on Stand-by for the flight for which I paid… and was #12 on the list! As you can imagine, the flight was overbooked and I didn’t make it on… However, with amazing friends and no real need to be in Seattle so quickly, Amy, John and Matt gave up their seats in exchange for flight vouchers ($400! Oops! Marci's bad!) and the four of us enjoyed even more Rocky Mountain Adventures!

We called Mamma Weaver who made her third trip to the airport and proceeded to enjoy Outdoor World and other retail adventures, a $5 Gift Exchange, City Park with views of the Denver skyline and Rocky Mountains and a deelish Chipotle dinner back at Chez Weaver. We made it back to the airport with no fanfare and exchanged gifts from the Exchange – with fabulous kudos given to those who stuck to the pirate theme (Matt’s boxers from Amy, Amy’s wristband and Loot game from Matty) or to gifts super appropriate to the recipient (ChapStick for John and beef jerky for me (Eastern Oregon roots, afterall), along with a mini Christmas tree for my apartment – BRILLIANT!). Amy also surprised the boys with football trading cards with which we spent the final half hour of our time in Denver debating the players and their merits. I scored with an Eli Manning.

The adventure continued, however, as soon as we arrived in Seattle as we had to pack the four of us and our respective luggage into John’s car at the Park-n-Ride. You’d think we could have used the trunk, but it acts and JW’s apartment storage for the likes of golf clubs, captain’s chairs and volleyball equipment. So, clipped wing and all, I hopped in the back with Matty and we loaded up the luggage for our trek into Seattle proper – Good Times!

So, are you thinking the Monday night adventures are complete? Oh, guess again, Avid Reader! We dropped Matt off at his apartment where John’s car battery decided to die! Being sensitive neighbors, we turned off the car as we unloaded Matt and his stuff (from the heap in the backseat) and “Pete” didn’t want to turn on again! We had to do some strategic pushing (remember, I’m still immobile!) and jump JW’s car with Matt’s – MORE good times!

I spent Tuesday morning in Seattle at work before enjoying lunch with Jesse Paulson and John at my all-time International District favorite – Green Village, hitting the dentist (they love my teeth – and I love them for it!), and then trekking to the airport yet again to subject myself to the travel gods once again.