8/9/11 Amtrak Away!

This isn't nearly as elegant as Denver's Union Station. :( I was really looking forward to seeing that. It's a landmark train station anyway plus I have a memory or two tucked away of it from when we lived in Arvada in the 1960's. Oh well. I'll just have to come back and see the new and improved station after they finish it.

So we got to the station by 9:30, mostly because we were running out of things to do to kill time. But then we found out our train was delayed even more. Then when it did arrive, we had to wait for passengers to disembark and then they made us wait a while before they would let us on. But we finally did and we were assigned awesome seats. By noon, we were finally on our way.

Once we were out of Denver, it wasn't long until we started climbing up. Most of the train ride will be in the Rockies themselves and a big chunk of it, we will be right next to the Colorado River. It's a gorgeous day outside with lots of big white puffy clouds. Awesome!

We made our way to the observation car which was full to the brim. We found a nice couple who was sitting on one side of a booth and we asked if we could sit on the other. They were glad to have us join them and we ended up striking up a great conversation with them. They are from a town near Melbourne, Australia and were in the States for 6 weeks. Their 2 weeks on the Vacation by Rail package trip was just a small piece of their big journey.

Here you can see a dam and in the far left, way in the back, are snow-capped mountains. In this and all scenery photos taken from the train, you'll just have to ignore the funny cast and odd reflections on them cuz of window tint. Just know the scenery was even more fabulous in person.

The Colorado River (the calm part . . . later we would see rapids proving why it's so popular with rafters).

We cross a lot of bridges, so the Colorado switches which side of the train it's on, but it's never very far.

8/9/11 Dealing with Delay

We were up and at 'em at 5am in order to be ready to leave at 6am to be at the bus station (fighting downtown morning rush hour and a long walk from the only available parking we could find the night before) by 7:15 for our 8:05 train. But we called the number the lady gave us last night and guess what. Our train is delayed. . . . By nearly 3 hours! It's now scheduled to leave at 10:50.

What do you do when you're already up and packed and ready to go? Rodney had heard about a great local restaurant famous for its breakfasts, so we decided to enjoy a big breakfast instead of the breakfast-on-the-run that we had planned. Sam's was awesome.

And the bonus for me? They're famous for their green chile. So I got the breakfast burrito supreme (and trust me, it was BIG) that was delicious. And smothered in green chile.

Next stop: The new IKEA which just opened 2 weeks ago. We arrived at 7:55 for the 8:00 opening only to find out they don't open until 9:30. Better check your own website, IKEA. We left there and headed downtown to REI. Rodney had an errand to run at REI and it's only minutes away from the train station. REI is always a good time, but this one was especially special as it was built in an old power plant. They did a great job of keeping the look and feel of the historic building while making it a viable store space.

8/8/11 Downtown Denver at Night

Rodney picked me up at the airport and we decided to head downtown and find the Amtrak station while it was still light before we have to be there at 7:15 in the morning for an 8:05 train. We had read that the old Denver Union Station was going through some serious renovation and they had created a temporary Amtrak station that had no parking nearby. Oh joy. So we toodled around and found it, then we got the brilliant idea of picking up our tickets now instead of in the morning. We met a great ticket agent who gave us lots of info that we didn't even know to ask for, learned about some parking, and were given a phone number to call in the morning to check for actual departure time. The flooding in Omaha NE (that started in May) has caused diversion of all trains (freight and passenger) and lots of delays.

After we got all that figured out, we headed down 16th Street on the free 16th Street Mall shuttle. It's a pedestrian walkway with lots of shops and restaurants and even though it was now 9pm on a Monday night, we found plenty of places to choose from to eat. It was quite an active area with lots of people; it was clean and we felt very safe. The Larimer Square area, which was THE downtown shopping and dining district when we lived in Colorado in the '60's is just as vibrant as ever and just a block off the mall.

We picked the Tilted Kilt just because, and it was good! We didn't care for the waitresses' attire, but the service was good as was the food.

I had their specialty Irish stew.

8/8/11 Denver Bound

Planes, trains, automobiles, and buses. Off on a great adventure that will include all 4 modes of transportation. First off: An auto from Farmington to Augusta, now a bus from Augusta to Boston, then a non-stop plane from Logan to Denver. Woo hoo!

I arrived safely at Logan Airport in Boston on time. The ticket counter line was packed and slow (I think there were 50 people in front of me who had never checked in on an airline before, or at least they acted that way). My flight was an hour late leaving. I'm glad it wasn't any later than that because we are getting up EARLY in the morning to catch an Amtrak train from Denver to Glenwood Springs, CO.

On board my flight, I used one of the many Southwest Free Drink Coupons that get issued to me whenever I get a free ticket, but which I rarely use. I'm not driving when I arrive, so why not?! Look how cute this tiny bottle of Bailey's is.

This has nothing to do with my trip except I've never seen a Tornado Shelter in an airport before, or at least not one that was labeled. This was obviously an after thought, but I still find it interesting. Just in case Denver gets a tornado. ;-)

I'm not counting this as my train for the trip, but it is a short train ride. Actually, it was a long train ride as I arrived in the last possible gate (#49) in the last possible terminal (C) at Denver's airport. But it's still short compared to tomorrow's train ride. :-)

Can you guess what this is? Hint: It's in the baggage claim area at Denver's airport.

Yep, it's a special baggage conveyor just for skis and golf clubs (mostly skis) that have been checked as baggage. Not something you see in most Texas airports. Actually, I've rarely seen one in any airport before.

7/30/2011 Taverna Opa

We couldn't find KC today to get another recommendation, so we asked the concierge who suggested Taverna Opa, a Greek restaurant. Probably better described as a Greek "experience." We arrived too early for the belly dancer, napkin-throwing portion of the evening, but we still had a great experience with some delicious food.

"On the house" hummus prepped at the table. Here our waiter is crushing the chick peas, garlic, olive oil, salt, and pepper together at the table. Oh my goodness! That's the way to have hummus. And it was served with freshly made, warm from the oven, pita bread slices.

Here's the appetizer we ordered: Saganaki, which translates to flaming cheese. Our waiter even yelled "Oopa!" as he lit it on fire.

I ordered slow roasted lamb...

And GJW ordered lamb chops which were marinated for 36 hours. Both dinners came with lemon potatoes and yiayia vegetables which were green beans with onions in a mysterious but delicious sauce.

And of course, dessert. Our reward after 2.5 days of hard work. (Plus, we've had dessert every night and you can't stop a streak like that!) This is Galaktoboureko. The description "honey phylo filled with custard" hardly does it justice. Super yummy.

Look closely at the girl with her back to us. Yes, she's wearing a veil and a satin sash like Miss America would wear. We're pretty sure this is a bachelorette party because she's wearing the veil and everyone else brought gifts. I've never heard of this trend, but Google it and it's everywhere. In fact, when we were waiting for the trolley after dinner, we saw 12 girls out walking, 11 dressed in black and carrying gifts, and 1 with a sash and no gifts wearing pink and yellow. You never hear of it and then it's everywhere.

Yes, we're down to just 2. Luke missed last night 'cuz he had work stuff to do and a 7:00 Skype call. The conference was over today, so Luke skipped the last session and took a late afternoon flight. Pam's dad lives an hour away, so she rented a car and headed off to visit him for a few days before heading back to Maine. GJW and I are leaving in the morning and I should get back to my place around 7pm.

7/30/2011 math workshop

There's really not a great way to capture in photographs all that we do all day long at this Institute. I actually took these photos for myself to remind me of things I wanted to remember later. But mostly I've been listening and taking notes and thinking. A lot of thinking. Oh, and talking with colleagues from around the country (and one new friend from Canada). They have us in sessions based on our breakout topic (my beginning algebra table includes Angela from Georgia and Shelby, a first year teacher, and the cool lady from Canada to name a few). They also put us in planning groups based on our roles--9-12 classroom teachers, supervisors/administrators, higher ed folks, etc. Pam and Luke were in randomly assigned groups for teachers of grades 9-12, and GJW and I were in a higher ed group together. But once we saw the resources they had for planning, the 4 of us left our assigned planning groups and formed our own planning group and used the time to do our own planning for the Dine and Discuss workshops.

This presenter is from Hawaii and it was all about "Equity for All." He used manipulatives to teach high level geometry concepts and had tasks that challenged all levels of math learners. Here he is demonstrating making a quadrilateral with folding straws.

7/30/2011 more chairs

This hotel has a great lobby. It's incredibly clean, it's spacious, it's got good lighting and it's got GREAT seats!! Check these out! I already did. They're fun AND comfy.