Vacation Recap - Part 3

Tuesday

So, because I'm a dispatch nerd, I got up early and spent Tuesday checking out how things are done at Denver's Communications Center. They are a combined center, like us, but each of the three agencies employs their own dispatchers. That's how things were at our center before we unified so I can see the good in each. I enjoyed getting an idea of how the city is laid out. As expected, there were differences in how things are done, but also several similarities to places I've worked before.

That night, Papi pulled out the grill. (Okay, he did that Sunday too, but I forgot to write about it in Part 1. We had steaks that night.) Evidently this one is high tech and doesn't cook like a normal grill. According to Papi, it uses infrared heat, "like chefs do in restaurants." I don't know what chefs do or if infrared heat is better or what...but I can tell you he read the manual and did well. We had elk burgers with Mama-San's Italian pasta salad. None of us had tried elk before but we all agreed it was tasty.

Wednesday

Mama-San and I started the day with pedicures. I love that we do this together when we can. With my ankle being bruised enough to see through my tattoo and some scrapes up my leg, the girl doing my pedicure was cautious. The color I picked for my nails is great for summer (it's a medium coral color) and we got to take our polish with us when we were done. Going along with our pedicure tradition, here's the after photo:

Then, like crazy people, we went to the Grand Opening of IKEA's new store in Centennial. It. Was. Insane. IKEA must realize their fans are nuts from previous store openings because, from what I could tell, they coordinated well with local agencies to keep traffic organized. That could have been a HUGE problem. (See that? That's the dispatcher in me talking.) There were tons of people there, TONS. It was hot...I don't think I would've made it out if it weren't for the employees handing out bottles of water. Mama-San and I have both been to IKEA before so we knew the general layout and kept moving. She was looking for storage ideas for the new house and found a few other things to take home. I couldn't justify buying anything since I would have to figure out how to get it half-way across the country.

I'm not sure if it was the heat, crowd or stuffed sinuses, but I had a serious need for a nap after that.

When Papi got home we went for a drive. Can you imagine just driving along in the country, amongst all the green, and suddenly seeing this?

Red Rocks Amphitheater is nothing short of amazing. Seating was cut out of the rocks and what seems like walls on either side naturally bounce sound around. I'm told the acoustics are phenomenal and all the big acts of the music world seem to have played here at some point. When not holding a concert, people use it for exercise. Looking out from there, you can see all the way to Denver.

I'm a little baffled by the idea of a tree growing out of a rock...but I guess it's possible.

We stopped for dinner at Fannelli's Amici's on the way home. Their meatballs are HUGE and I can't even begin to tell you how good everything was. I LOVE Italian food but their serving sizes are so big I didn't come close to finishing my meal.

Thursday

The dispatch nerd struck again and I went to see the Bounder County Communications Center on Thursday. They cover several agencies, like we do, but they're located in the city of Boulder and don't dispatch for them. Their center is much smaller than I'm used to but the atmosphere was awesome. I had the chance to get to know everyone a bit, something that would've been hard to do in Denver. I felt more at home there, more welcomed...of course, the fantastic view of the mountains didn't hurt at all.

Later, Mama-San and I met Papi at their storage unit to take a load back to the house.

On the way home we made a detour to Smashburger. It was good, but not great...not really worth the price if you ask me. I will recommend their malts though, they were fantastic!

More soon!

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Midge