Boulder: Indecision and Glee

First, I must apologize for falling off the bandwagon of blogger and not writing a blog for the past two weeks. I've been making an effort to be more wrapped up in what I'm doing at the moment, than what's to come next; something that's easy to do in Boulder, CO. This place feels like home, and it's unclear as to why. Maybe it's because seeing old friends is one of the best things in the world, or maybe it's because Boulder has so much to offer.

Initially the plan was to stay for a few days, which turned into a week, which turned into another week. Having a free place to stay had a lot to do with it, but so did the openness of the people that dwell in this city. One of the first Boulder experiences happened in a Pizza place where I was introduced to a Yerba Mate and wheat beer concoction. It was a good choice. One person I was with saw some friends he knew and we sat, ate, and drank with two cool cats.



One told us a super intense story, about the military, going AWOL, and traveling around, something that would seem difficult to tell a complete stranger let alone an acquaintance. He let us all into his life so easily. After spending some time here and meeting so many great people, it became clear that while the cool cat's story is unique and amazing, his attitude is right on par with the people of Boulder. Even the skatepark, the best place in any town to find the sketchiest people, contained an element of politeness I've never seen at a park.

Let's talk about Marijuana. It's legal here for medicinal use, with dispensaries lining the streets like Starbucks in NYC. That may be a slight overehxagguration, but it's advertised as much as alcohol or rather the 3.2 beer they sell at the grocery stores. It's very prevalent. You can get whiffs of pot smoke while walking along Pearl street at night and gaze into the windows of the illuminated headshops in between the bars. Very different from the east coast, where if caught with marijuana, you can look forward to lawyer fees and a lot of unfulfilling job interviews.




The relaxed laws reflect the relaxed police force. They'll pull you over with a smile and without hostility. On nice days, they'll set up speed traps on motorcycles. The police will sit on the sidewalk with their motorcycles and radar the traffic going by. I was skating in the bike lane because the road was supa smooth, and one cop on the sidewalk literally said, "Pardon me, I know it's smooth, but could you please skate on the sidewalk? I'm sorry." I've never talked to a cop, even off duty, who was that polite.

Once you get out of the city itself ( a ten minute drive), you can drive up to Flagstaff Mountain, go bouldering, hiking, biking, or just plain chilling. If you're feeling adventurous, you can drive to Greeley and see a metal show! (They put on one hell of a show.) There's also Chataqua State Park or Boulder Canyon. This is Jacob on a dome in the canyon.




This is some perspective on how large that dome actually is.



Here's Colin at Flagstaff Mounain in front of a very difficult bouldering problem.




To continue on the climbing theme, Boulder is a hot spot for professional climbers and those who just love to climb. The world famous bouldering gym, The Spot, is five minutes away from the city center, and is so large, I can't imagine it ever getting boring, especially when there are real boulders lurking just about everywhere outside.

Unfortunately, snowboarding is not cheap, so I decided not go right now, and instead spend some time in California. Being outside every day was more than enough, even when it snows, it's just a beautiful place to be. Between the smiles of acknowledgment and the sights, Boulder is an ideal place to live. As of now, my intention is to come back and live here for some time. That, however, may change as there is still more to explore in the west. This place is sooooo laid back, that even though I planned to leave today, I'll be spending one more night and then heading down to Cortez, Co tomorrow morning to ride the legendary Phil's World. As far as self searching goes, well shit, things are getting clearer.

Peace and Love,

J


Oh yeah, we had festival of meats! (Insert dirty jokes here.)