Whew! What A Week Out West

I flew to Denver last Sunday and have been in training for work all week there. I finally made it home at 2:00am Saturday morning. And what a week it was…
The training was for a new software that our company is converting over to; therefore, the training was chock full of information and if you did not keep up, you were LOST. And I hate being lost. It is just not in me to ever be lost. So I was drained pretty much the entire week after sitting all day in front of a computer and the Instructors listening, typing and trying to understand this complex program. We “go live” on July 1 and I have to say that July 1 will be a very interesting day for our employees.
Anyhoo, other than the training classes, we did have an eventful time away from the office… when we arrived late on Sunday night, we discovered in our hotel packets that the company training department had issued us $20 vouchers for suppers at the hotel bar. Yes, a BAR. Now who in the right mind would make us eat BAR food every night during training? Needless to say, I was peeved. Since I was issued a company pool vehicle, we ventured around Colorado for our suppers. We did try the bar food on Monday night- not too good! Especially after I watched the waiter give my steak salad to a gentleman at another table and then 5 or so minutes try to bring it to me to eat.
On Tuesday night, we ventured up to Boulder and met one of my dear ol’ friends from college, Janice. We ate at this funky, hip little brewery in downtown (after the initial shock that they only accepted cash!). It was so good to see her! We had a great time together even it was for an hour and we had not seen each other in over 7 years!
On Wednesday night, we ventured to downtown Denver. After finally finding a parking lot, we wound up walking quite a distance in pursuit of an eatery that would appease all palates in our party. I also discovered that one must watch where they step in Downtown Denver because of the massive amounts of horse poop!
On Thursday night, we took off to the Park Meadows mall area just south of Denver and met up with another dear ol’ college roommate of mine, Tracia. We had a great time catching up since our last backpacking trip in the Tetons in September 2003. And then on the way back to the hotel, we found ourselves caught in the middle of an ongoing high-speed chase off the access road in the midst of some road construction. The cop was chasing an old geezer on a motorcycle… it was especially unnerving when we witnessed one of the construction workers throw an orange cone at the motorcyclist as he was going by us. I was envisioning this guy hitting us and having to explain to the company how we damaged the pool car- they would never believe our story!
The weather was CRAZY while we were in Denver too… hot and sunny the first couple of days and then by Wednesday night, it was cold and rainy! I wore a fleece on Thursday and Friday. And it was around the 95-degree mark here back home at the same time… WEIRD.
I tried to stay on target with my food while out there… no adult beverages, no sugar, only good foodstuff. And I figured out how to sleep at night- I was drinking 100-125 ounces of water each day. And it worked! Hydration is KEY at that elevation.
On Friday, they let the class out early and they hauled us to the airport early in hopes of getting on the earlier flight home… no such luck. So we were stuck at the airport for over six hours! What a crock…
I am just so glad it is over and when I arrived home at 2am on Saturday morning, hubby had a bouquet of flowers and a sweet card waiting for me on the den end table welcoming me home. Life is good.
PS
Back to Boot Camp tomorrow morning… 5:30am!!!