I know I shouldn't, but...

[SamQ aka Ah! Q!]

We're apolitical, and rightly so; ergo, I have no intention, wish, or inclination to even obliquely initiate a thread that might be viewed as 'taking a side'.

But. May I please make a philosophical (and emphatically rhetorical) point?

The world is in a poor place. It's scary. The Orwellian rewriting of history and "projection" of cause (and implicitly blame), magnified by sh1t stirring soshul meja 'empty vessels' and plain liars is incredible.

Yet all this is happening because two, maybe three, men; just them, are the root cause,and continued source, of foment.

If we are an "advanced species"; the only one to have ever changed both our climate and our global environment, why in Hades name can we not curtail the excesses of three, just three, meglomaniacs? We are 8,200,000,000 strong. They are just three - or maybe just two and a pretender.

Happy Christmas everyone.

 

[duke]

I share your thoughts but history always repeats itself unfortunately. $

 

[Raymedullary]

One of mine works in Denver, I'm visiting her over Easter, apart from seeing her i just want to be there to look around and say How and why???
Also I am half Welsh so there's another wondrous situation.

 

[Eric the Viking]

Ah, Denver!

My oldest got married there, and prior to that I made a lot of work visits to Northern Colorado in the 1990s (Ft. Collins/Loveland/Greeley area).

Denver itself I can take or leave, but the mountains are wonderful. If you have time (probably not, I would guess, but still...), a road trip to southern Utah gets you to some of the most impressive scenery in North America, IMHO. I mean the high desert and canyons of the Colorado river watershed. There's Arches and Bryce Canyon, and Zion national parks, and Kodachrome Basin state park, Escalante, and many more. Simply driving I70 out of Denver westwards is amazing and the landscape changes totally beyond Grand Junction, from mountains to high plateau.

To my shame, probably, I have, so far, never made it North to Wyoming (i.e. Yellowstone). That said, the drive up the Poudre Valley from Fort Collins to Walden is spectacular and can be done there and back in a day. That high plateau (surrounding Walden) is breathtaking too, in a different way, as it's wetland rather than the desert of S. Utah. Take binoculars, as there's lots of wildlife .

All that said, Denver's nickname is 'the mile-high city', and in the country of the internal combustion engine, that matters.. The whole Front Range is prone to sudden and unpleasant weather changes* in the winter/early spring, and there will still be a lot of snow in the mountains (and planeloads of tourists there for the skiing resorts along I70).

I generally like driving in the US, as long as the hire car is fairly high off the ground (visibility for me and other drivers seeing me!), and, for the Rockies, a decent engine and/or 4x4 capability. In my limited experience Coloradians can be truly idiotic drivers, especially the speeds they do in snow and ice ("Well, the signs said '75', so I did..."). In warmer months it's not as bad, but don't forget it's now a state where pot use is encouraged.

I don't know about food, but New Belgium Brewery's "Fat Tire" used to be excellent, as long as it wasn't served too cold (an American vice!). It's brewed up the road in Fort Collins. I note with concern though that in 2023 it was "tweaked" (brewery's own term), and is now lighter and more lager-ish, and they've changed the label design.

Also keep an eye out for "Polygamy Porter" from Wasach Brewery in Salt Lake City (tagline: "Why have just one?"). It is, of course, very more-ish...

Whatever you do, or don't do, have huge fun.

E.

* There are almost no tall buildings once you come out of Denver suburbs going northwards on I25 (at least there didn't used to be!). One of the tallest was the Ft. Collins Marriott, which, IIRC, had six or seven floors. At the top there was a guest lounge. It had a panoramic view South West, along the mountains for tens of miles with nothing in the way.

One January or February, around dusk, I checked in, found my room and, not wanting a big meal, went up to get a coffee and a pastry. Nobody was about, apart from one staff member tending the buffet. Together, for about an hour, we watched a spectacular storm work its way up the Front Range. There were big hailstones & heavy, sleety rain (basically the works), but the lightning was just amazing.

I think Americans have never 'conquered nature' -- they've just got used to it.

 

[Cabinetman]

Never ventured to those bits of the States (yet) but you certainly make it sound wonderful, plus one for the beer being so cold you can’t taste it, they look at me as if I’m insane when I ask if they have it unchilled.

 

[Eric the Viking]

The bar in the aforementioned Ft. Collins Marriott was something of a watering hole for work colleagues and Brit ex-pats in the area. Consequently, getting to the bar could be tricky later than around 1800h.

For a while, I had an agreement with the barmaid: when I showed up and she spotted me, a bottle of Fat Tire went straight in the microwave for about 15 secs (we experimented to find the optimum time). It worked a treat, and baffled the locals.

Sadly, I have no excuse to go back that way for the foreseeable future, but I'd love to find one. My son and daughter-in-law are a happy family unit, having given us our first grandchildren seven years ago, but they've now settled in Tennessee, near Nashville. That's also got some pretty amazing places, but a quite different vibe.

 

[Lons]

..........There's Arches and Bryce Canyon, and Zion national parks,...........

That brings back some memories Eric, I have some stunning photos somewhere of those, the colours were amazing.

We started or road trip in 2012 from Vegas to Bryce and Zion then on to Lake Powell, Monument Valley, Grand Canyon and Route 66 past Hoover Dam back to Vegas. Death Valley, Mammoth Lakes, Yosemite, Carmel and San Francisco. 5 weeks and still was nowhere near enough time but a fantastic trip of around 3000+ miles in a brand new Chrysler 300 that I took down tracks that I really shouldn't have.

 

[Woodbloke]

they've now settled in Tennessee

Given the vastness of the New World, 'murricans can also be insular, if that't the right term. Many years ago in the early 70's, my parents visited Tennessee to try and find (successfully) a distant relative. When they did eventually meet and my parents introduced themselves and said they came from England, the old lady in question responded with the question..."did y'all you drive over?"

Mum & Dad also visited the infamous JD distillery in Lynchburg and brought me back a numbered woodcut of Jack Daniel's old office, which was the first thing I ever framed (badly) but I re-hashed it a couple of years ago in Olive Ash:



They also brought me back a small bottle of genuine, cotton pickin' Tennessee moonshine....rocket fuel doesn't quite make the cut! - Rob

Edit - ...and to answer your question Sam, the world is an infinitely scarier place now (for all sorts of reasons) than it was thirty or forty years ago

 

[Eric the Viking]

We like moonshine too