On Tour 2 - Boulder Colorado

Is this actually the same country?

I arrived in Denver from Bakersfield Ca (or was that Tx) after an awesome flight across Canyonlands and then the Rockies. I was met at the airport which was already an improvement on the last stop. Picked up a hire car and headed to Boulder. I have been in Boulder a couple of times before. It is an awesome little town on the edge of the Rockies, with lots of cool brew pubs and coffee shops and a really bohemian atmosphere. Lots of people with dreds and tattos and everyone drives a Subaru!

Met my host Paul who took me to lunch at the Alfred Packer Memorial Grill in the University. Packer was a frontiersman who ate all his colleagues and was eventually tried for cannibalism. When the University built the student centre in the late 1960s they let the students decide what to call the dining hall! They came up with the name and the slogan "have a friend for lunch!"

Gave my talk which went fine and then spent the afternoon meeting with students and going through some of their work. Some really interesting stuff and a great bunch of guys. Friday night Paul took me for a curry and a quick beer before leaving me to my own devices. Perfect.

Saturday I met up with Bruce Trudgill and his buddy Tom, at their local ski resort of Eldora. Its early season and there was only a few runs open but we got some turns in and had a good time. First trip out this season, it felt good to be back on a board. Saturday night I bought some new boots and then sampled the delights of one of the local breweries.

Sunday there was a load of fresh snow in Boulder so I was up early and back up to Eldora which had some fresh but not so much as down in the town. It was super cold (-15) and I lasted until 1pm before heading back to do a bit of work. It's a rock'n'roll life on the road, but at least I got out and got something done.

Boulder is great - I could live here... tomorrow it's off to the middle of Canada and I can only imagine it's going to get colder.