It's so easy to forget

... how beautiful it is in Denver, like, all the time. The past two days have been so nice that part of me wishes I could stick around here another week maybe, slow the pace of things down. Everything here is so nice--the people are friendly, the sky is soooooo blue, the weather is gorgeous (even the Rocky Mountain afternoon thunderstorms), I'm going tonight to one of the best ballparks in baseball, we've figured out over the years where the good food is, and so forth. Although I've been saying for a number of years that I didn't plan to come back to Denver as an adult, I think that I really meant I didn't want to return to my childhood/adolescence, which is tied up so tightly with the streets and character of the city. It seems like it wouldn't be hard to get a fresh start if I came back after school or years down the line, lived in an apartment somewhere near downtown. Well, I guess I can't always cross things off the list of possibilities I've been carrying around for the past couple years (live in Philadelphia? work in finance? ride a bike for recreation?); sometimes you need a little perspective on things. Actually, you always need a lot of perspective on anything, and it's a shame you don't always have the liberty to get it.

The drive back wasn't bad. The first day to Chicago was a pretty good drive through PA and Ohio, but I was far from impressed with Indiana. We had a great time in Chicago--John and I met up with Laura from school, and we wandered a little bit around downtown, then took the ell to the White Sox game (it was Elvis night, and Contreras pitched a three-hit shutout for the Sox). The next morning, I picked up my dad from the airport so he could help me drive the last day, hitting him in stride as he left the concourse, and we left. Iowa was actually kind of nice, although I may just be saying that because I got flirted with by the waitress at the little barbeque place where we stopped for lunch in Iowa City. Nebraska, on the other hand... let's just say I was also resolutely unimpressed with Lincoln, and the storm we hit further west was no good. The most surprising part of the trip, though, was discovering that my dad and I actually do agree on a lot of things. I don't know whether it's because he's finally decided the GOP didn't match up with his ideals anymore, or whether I've become an even more bitter moderate than before, or some combination of the two, but we did pretty well sitting in a car talking for sixteen hours. Let's just hope we can keep it up tomorrow, when he's helping me with the road through las vegas (it turns out that one-ways are a lot cheaper from there than from Ontario).

Meanwhile, I have some packing to do. Fortunately, I didn't bother to unpack everything from PA, which makes life a little easier. On the other hand, I may now feel obligated to actually put in order all those papers and ticket stubs I've accumulated over the years and stubbornly resisted throwing out. As much a barometer on how well I'll do living on my own as anything else, the last unsettled question before I get back to campus is whether or not I can get my shit in order, figure out which electronic toys are important and which are so unnecessary, get better at judging whether I will ever, ever again use those notes/books/files.

Oh, and the car did ok, but I'm not expecting much more out of it than making it to LA.