Fair-Weather Skier

During a normal ski season, we would be enjoying the best snow of the year right now. The cold, dry conditions of late January and early February typically produce the light, fluffy snow that is perfect for skiing. Not this year. Western Colorado is just coming out of a solid month of single-digit temperatures, crystal-clear skies, and no wind. A temperature inversion had settled in and then refused to leave, preventing any new snow from falling and making skiers miserable.

I have skied only twice this season, and not once since December 30. I can't remember an entire January passing by without going skiing at least once since I started skiing forty-five years ago, at the age of ten. It occurs to me that I have become what is known as a "fair-weather skier." This is not necessarily a bad thing. One of the reasons I moved to Colorado from Wisconsin back in 1986 was so I could pick and choose my ski days, not be stuck with whatever conditions existed during annual week-long ski trips out west. My buddies and I would ski some of the most terrible conditions you could imagine, because that is what there was. Also, growing up skiing on Wisconsin's icy runs, we really didn't know any better.

Living in Colorado spoils a skier quickly. Now I won't go skiing unless the weather is good and the snow conditions are decent, even though I live less than an hour away from Powderhorn ski area. It's no fun to freeze your butt off on slow chairlifts to ski rock-hard, month-old snow. Why bother? But our frigid drought ended this weekend. While it was raining non-stop down in town yesterday, it was snowing hard up in the mountains. I just checked Powderhorn's snow report, and it showed seven new inches. Today would have been a great ski day, but there were things that needed doing. I'll just have to wait until next weekend to get up there. I may get to pick and choose my ski days now, but work still limits those choices to weekends only.

A note about the photo above: It's a picture of me skiing "Ozone" in the Bowl at Aspen Highlands, taken by my friend Dave Johns on March 8, 2003, almost ten years ago. The reason you can't see anything but blue sky behind me is that the run is so steep that the camera is pointed up at an angle of almost 45 degrees.

Crested Butte

Last weekend, I took a ski trip with friends Bryce and Brian to Crested Butte and Telluride. I can't remember the last time I went on a "stag" ski trip, but I was eager to go on this one because I would get to ski at Crested Butte for the first time.

Bryce had stayed once before at a remote lodge called The Inn at Arrowhead, located near Cimarron, Colorado and more or less centrally located for both ski resorts, so I booked it for both Friday and Saturday nights. It turned out that we were the only guests for the weekend, except for groups of snowmobilers who stopped for breakfast and lunch at the Inn's excellent restaurant, but host James was most welcoming. He even kept the bar open past its ten o'clock closing time for us.

Colorado is having a mild winter. Whole sections of Crested Butte were closed due to lack of snow, and the snow they did have reminded me of the "Hometown Ice" I grew up skiing back in Wisconsin. It was slick and fast, and it never really softened up, even though it was a bright sunny day, because the temperature refused to rise out of the twenties. Bryce had skied at Crested Butte before, so he directed us to some good intermediate terrain to start with and then we spent the rest of the day exploring, taking a ride on each open chairlift at least once.

After skiing, we headed into town for appetizers and drinks at the legendary Wooden Nickel. We were the only customers when we arrived, which we blamed on the relatively poor ski conditions. The ski mountain hadn't been very crowded either; we never waited more than a minute or two in any lift lines, and most of the people in line were local season-pass holders.

Back at the Inn, we ate steak dinners and then watched "Hot Tub Time Machine" on Bryce's portable DVD player. It's kind of a ski movie, or at least it has some skiing scenes, but mostly it's a crazy comedy (K-Val!). By the time it was over, it was past time for bed.

We stopped by my friend Kevin's house in Montrose the next morning to pick him up on our way to ski Telluride. The ski conditions there were no better than at Crested Butte, and it was a gray, cloudy day, so the visibility wasn't very good either. The only highlight was skiing a run in Revelation Bowl, but it is above treeline so there was nothing to give relief against the snow in the flat light. It was purely "ski by feel."

At last count, there are twenty-six ski resorts in Colorado. Counting Crested Butte, I have skied at sixteen of them. After being locked into skiing in the Aspen area for twenty years with a ski pass commitment, it is liberating to try new ski resorts. I have made it a casual goal to try to ski every one in the state eventually. Liking climbing the 14ers, it's a great way to see our great state.

Liberty Cap hike

On Sunday, in keeping with the spirit of Independence Day, I hiked the Liberty Cap trail with Rich, Wes and Rita, who were also on Saturday's rafting trip. It was only my third time on the trail, mostly because it is inside the boundary of the Colorado National Monument and dogs are not allowed. If I'm going to go for a hike, I want to take my dog Scout with me, so I normally hike outside the Monument.

One of the reasons I wanted to do the hike, even though it meant leaving Scout with Nan at home, is because I see the Liberty Cap every morning from my bedroom window and because it involves some unusual terrain. Near the top, there is a series of switchbacks up narrow sandstone ledges, which has caused me to refer to the trail as "the miniature golf course of hiking trails." It's like taking a regular hiking trail and compressing it down to its most basic elements.

The four of us got off to a fairly early start, leaving the trailhead off Wildwood Drive before 9:30. The temperature was already in the mid-80s, so I was glad I had my CamelBak full of ice and water and not just a water bottle. The distance to the top is two miles and we made it up there in about 40 minutes, stopping along the way to drink water, take photos and admire the view.

When we reached the top of the trail and were standing next to the Liberty Cap, which is a giant, impressive-looking petrified sand dune, I mentioned that some people take the hike to its natural conclusion and climb up the Cap itself. Wes and Rich immediately started trying to figure out how that could be done. The Cap is shaped like a breast, or like a rounded, lopsided cone, and the trail ends at the steeper side of it, which would be a dangerous free climb. So we all worked our way around to the less steep side to see if there was an easier way up. While Rita watched, Rich and Wes tested some foot and handholds, and I went back around to read the Liberty Cap's sign, which for some reason is a good 75 yards from the Cap. Screwed to the main sign was a smaller one that warned people not to attempt the Ladder Route up the Cap due to damage to the rock and rungs. This was news to me, that there was a named route up the Cap and that it had permanent rungs.

As I started to walk back to meet the others, Wes called my name and I looked up to see him standing on top of the Cap. He had discovered the Ladder Route on his own and risked the climb. When I caught up with Rita and Rich, they were on the back side of the Cap, on the other side of a big crack I had never jumped over before, and they were watching Wes carefully pick his way back down. I could see why the route was supposed to be closed, because there was only one rung left, it was more like a bent rod, and it was at least ten feet up. Wes had shoved his fingers into the holes in the sandstone left by the missing rungs and kicked his way up. Now he was using Rich's shoulders for footholds as he climbed back down. We took more photos, admired the views one last time and then made a hasty retreat as the biting gnats were making it uncomfortable to stand still and there was no wind to keep them away.

Happy Independence Day!

Whitewater rafting over the Fourth of July

I had so much fun whitewater rafting a couple of years ago with my friend Kurt Beereboom (Rafting the Colorado River) that when our friends and neighbors Rich and Diane Heintz proposed taking a rafting trip down Glenwood Canyon, I definitely wanted to be included. My enthusiasm must have been infectious because I managed to talk Nan into it, too. By this past Saturday morning, we were a group of eight: the Heintzes, Diane's daughter Bree and son Wes, Wes's girlfriend Rita, our friend and neighbor Mim, and Nan and me. We all met up at the Whitewater Rafting facility in Glenwood Springs and after a brief orientation, piled into a school bus with about 30 other rafters for a ride up to Carbondale. Apparently, the Colorado River is running dangerously high right now through Glenwood Canyon, with all the runoff from last season's record snowfall, so we would be doing a "three-fer" instead: the Crystal, Roaring Fork and Colorado rivers, for a total of about 18 miles.

I didn't know what to expect when we shoved off from the banks of the Crystal, but the water around my ankles sure was cold. Our guide Matt had us dig our canoe paddles in with gusto as we surged below the County Road 108 bridge and into the first set of rapids. Holy crap, I thought, as the raft disappeared into a big hole in the water and launched out the other end, thoroughly soaking Wes and me at the bow. After the shock of the cold water, all I could think was, Woohoo! We surged through subsequent holes at weird angles that had everybody else soaked and laughing.

The Crystal soon fed into the Roaring Fork, which was living up to its name and really moving. Matt had us dip our hands into the water to see that it was slightly warmer than before. Ever so slightly. We cruised through riffles, watching the bald eagles and herons that nest along the river and admiring the beautiful houses along the river that we could never see from the roads above.

We noticed a girl in one of the other rafts sitting on the bow and asked Matt what she was up to. He said she was "riding the bull" and he asked for volunteers from our group. Rich climbed up front and had the ride of a lifetime through the next set of rapids. Then it was Wes's turn and finally Rita's. After that, the river settled down again, and we started to wonder if that was it for the excitement. It was not. The river saved the best for last, and we were all thoroughly soaked again.

A little ways on, the Roaring Fork joined up with the Colorado River, which felt immense and heavy. The water was slightly greener and ever so slightly warmer, and it smelled lightly of dead fish. A few hundred yards later, we were at Whitewater Rafting world headquarters again. We pulled the raft out, handed in our paddles and wandered up the bank to the parking lot to retrieve towels and dry clothes from our cars. After changing, we met up in the photo room to see the photos Matt had told us would be waiting. Nobody remembered seeing any photographers on any of the banks or bridges, but whoever it was sure took some great shots. Mim purchased the photo CD, which is where the images in this blog post are from, and we headed out for an early dinner and some well-deserved beers at the Glenwood Brew Pub.

If you've never tried whitewater rafting, you don't know what you're missing. I used to think it was no big deal, but now I'm a convert. It's a blast!

Caucus in Colorado

On Super Tuesday, I attended my precinct's Democratic caucus at Scenic Elementary School. By 7:00 PM, there were close to three hundred people packed into an average-sized classroom, sitting at short tables on short chairs and standing three and four deep along the walls. Precinct captain Dan Robinson stood on a table to welcome us and get the evening started. He laughed as he told us that four years ago, during the 2004 election, only fifteen people showed up, so it was pretty obvious how important this election was to all of us. The smiles and nods all around confirmed his words and loosened up the crowd for what came next, an opportunity for people to speak on behalf of the Democratic candidates. Young and old, black and white, man and woman stood to declare their support for either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. The Obama supporters outnumbered the Clinton supporters about two to one. Situations like this have the potential to escalate into shouting matches, but to their credit, people were civil and supportive of each other.

When everyone had had their say, it was time to head to the gym and break up into groups by precinct number. Dan and our other precinct captain, Tom Acker, presided over our group. They began by handing out copies of the party's resolutions, which are worth presenting here in their entirety:

RESOLUTIONS OF THE MESA COUNTY DEMOCRATIC PARTY (Draft)

The Democratic Party has a long and proud history of hope, opportunity and progress toward a better life for the citizens of these United States. The Democratic Party is rooted in the ideas of our founding fathers as set forth in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. This platform builds on these foundations.

Continuing Resolutions

This We Believe:

1. A healthy economy is dependent upon hard-working men and women receiving a fair living wage for their labor.

2. Working people have the right to organize and bargain collectively without fear of intimidation or permanent replacement during disputes.

3. A strong public education system with adequate and equitable funding and independence from political whims is the core element of modern society.

4. The health of an economy is dependent on the health of its environment, and it is necessary to have a clean environment to attract and keep well-paying jobs.

5. A healthy economy relies on appropriate maintenance of our public infrastructure, including roads, bridges, water, sewer, and funding of police, fire protection and school facilities.

6. While violent criminals definitely need to be imprisoned, more resources need to be devoted to programs that prevent crime, provide rehabilitation and reduce recidivism.

7. A system of universal health care coverage is needed to repair a badly broken and ineffective system currently unable to provide appropriate health care to Americans.

8. National security should not be used to limit those individual civil liberties guaranteed in the Constitution and Bill of Rights on which this country was founded.

9. The constitutional guarantee to a right of privacy extends to decisions involving a woman's reproductive choices, and affordable and well-informed choices should be available to all.

10. Government support of community amenities including art and culture, parks and recreation, and historic preservation insures that they are available and affordable for all.

11. The integrity of the voting system and its accessibility must be preserved at all levels of government, with results being verifiable.

12. Freedom of speech and the press are the most vital of our constitutional rights. It is essential that we speak and write our concerns, regardless of current popular sentiment. We strongly oppose the concentration of our media in a few partisan hands.

13. The fundamental principles of freedom of religion and separation of church and state must not be compromised.

14. Social Security and Medicare reform must preserve benefits for current and future generations.

15. The right to equal treatment must be available to all persons regardless of race, creed, religion, gender, age, disability or sexual orientation/gender identity.

16. A grateful nation needs to provide its veterans with the best possible care, and, when necessary, rehabilitation.

Current Resolutions

This We Believe:

1. The proposed "Right to Work" initiative would destroy unions' ability to be a voice on behalf of working families in Colorado and would lead to more government interference in businesses and workplaces.

2. The costs to local government for supporting activities involving energy related mineral extraction must be ameliorated by a fair and equitable distribution of severance tax revenues. An increase in the severance tax rates to make them more comparable to neighboring states is long overdue.

3. The financial crisis in this state precipitated by the interaction of the Tabor Amendment, the Gallagher Amendment and Amendment 23 needs to be addressed.

4. Enhanced early childhood education and better identification of and programs created for gifted and talented students will benefit all citizens of the state.

5. In today's world, post-secondary education is critical in order to create the opportunity for success. Higher education must be available to all who seek it. Funding for higher education in Mesa County is not adequate and needs to be addressed by the legislature.

6. It is important that the borders of our country be secure. At the same time it is important to recognize that the undocumented immigrants seeking employment in the United States are for the most part responsible, hard-working individuals who deserve the respect afforded any person.

7. It is time for Mesa County to have a Recreation Center accessible to all.

8. The negative and misleading political advertising put forward by 527 organizations is abhorrent to all serious campaigners. We call for its elimination.

9. Democratic candidates should reject the abuse of power, violation of Americans' civil liberties, and contempt for the Constitution demonstrated by the current administration.

10. School districts must instill in our young people a community spirit by teaching and modeling fairness, tolerance and participation in the political process.

11. The development and use of renewable energy resources and technologies is essential to achieving lasting national security and energy independence. All energy exploration in Mesa County must be undertaken with the utmost regard for the continued protection of our health, our water, our air and our environment.

12. The future of our community lies with our young people, and their future is jeopardized by a lack of support services for children. The high rates of suicide, methamphetamine abuse and other self-destructive behaviors, and high rates of physical and sexual abuse of children in Mesa County speak to the importance of placing greater attention on the needs of our children.

13. The Women's Freedom Amendment should be added to the United States Constitution.

14. Automobile insurance needs to be affordable to all drivers, regardless of their economic status. Credit scores should be eliminated as a factor in setting rates since they most affect those who most need the insurance.

15. Economic development and jobs are important for the health and well-being of Colorado's residents, but we oppose subsidies and incentives that do not clearly result in the creation of new high-wage jobs. Furthermore, companies that move their manufacturing facilities offshore should lose any subsidies or tax breaks they may have received.

16. The No Child Left Behind Act has proven to be a failure, replacing teaching time with excessive testing.

17. The support of our troops in harm's way is compromised by the privatization of the armed forces instituted by this administration. Halliburton, Black Water and other friends of the administration have made obscene profits while shortchanging the young men and women serving our country.

18. Real science needs to be reintroduced to national health research in this country. Limitations placed on the use of federal funds in seeking advances in health care must be based on hard scientific facts rather than personal beliefs. New strains of viruses and antibiotic-resistant bacteria are potentially huge threats to the nation, and greater efforts at developing prevention are sorely needed.

19. Education vouchers and tax credits divert tax dollars away from public education and give them to unregulated and untested private schools, thus diminishing the financial support for Colorado's public schools.

With minor revisions, the resolutions were unanimously accepted. Finally, it was time for the straw poll. In my group of eighty-one, forty-six were for Obama, twenty-four were for Clinton and the rest were undecided. This worked out to five delegates for Obama, two for Clinton and one uncommitted. Hands were raised by those willing to attend the county caucus meeting next month either as a delegate or as an alternate. And then it was over.

I watched the primary and caucus results that night on MSNBC and was not at all surprised to see Colorado go for Obama by a two-to-one margin over Clinton, exactly as my precinct had. The results in other states were not so decisive, so the decision that Super Tuesday was predicted to render did not materialize. But Obama's better-than-predicted showing, as far as the polls were concerned, seemed to create momentum going into this past weekend that resulted in his sweep of all four state contests: Washington, Nebraska, Louisiana and Maine.

Tomorrow is the "Potomac Primary." Virginia, Maryland and Washington, DC will help determine if Obama is indeed riding a wave a momentum, or if Clinton really is the presumptive candidate. My guess is that Obama will take all three states but win narrowly in Virginia. That will tip the delegate count firmly in his favor heading toward Ohio and Texas, but what about the superdelegates? Do they stand to thwart the will of the people? Are we heading toward another 2000 election fiasco before we even get to the nomination? These are exciting times.

Packers vs. Broncos on Monday Night Football

Back in July, on the normally unlucky 28th, we were lucky enough to win tickets to the October 29th Monday Night Football game between the Green Bay Packers and the Denver Broncos. If you watched it on TV, you know it was a heckuva game. The Packers won it 19-13 in overtime on the very first play from scrimmage when Brett Favre launched a fifty-yard bomb to Greg Jennings, who took it the rest of the way for a touchdown.

We were up in the nose-bleed section at Invesco Field at Mile High, so it took a long time to work our way down the ramps after the game was over. The energy from the sudden victory was so high that all the Packer fans walking near us chanted "Go, Pack, go!" all the way out of the stadium. It was a veritable Packers lovefest.

Before the game, while I was up in our room at the Hotel Teatro getting ready, Nan took our dog Charlie, always a welcome guest of the hotel, for a quick pre-game walk. As they returned, Brett Favre's wife Deanna and her traveling companions were taking pictures in front of the hotel while they waited for their ride to the game. Charlie, who is a very friendly golden retriever, walked right up to them. It didn't hurt that he was wearing a Packers bandana around his neck. Nan joked that they should have him pose with them, but they were done taking pictures. Deanna petted Charlie for a few seconds and then the moment was over. The luck of this chance encounter surely must have rubbed off on the Packers later that evening. Go, Pack, go!

July 28

July 28 has historically been a bad day for me.

In 1987 it was the day I parted company with an employer and immediately started my own somewhat ill-fated computer business, which I ran for ten years and then sold to a former employee whose birthday was July 28. But the sale did not go smoothly and resulted in legal wrangling to reach a settlement.

In 2004 it was the day I founded my eBay business, shortly after being laid off from a great IT job at Aspen Valley Hospital. That business was a financial disaster, so I closed it down after a year to stop the losses.

Today it is July 28 again, and I am trying not to tempt fate. I was going to go on an adventurous solo dirt-bike ride between Gateway, Colorado and Moab, Utah, but Nan talked me out of it after I mentioned that July 28 has been unlucky for me. My luck may be changing though because I was successful, just a few minutes ago when they went on sale, in getting two tickets to the Green Bay Packers vs. Denver Broncos Monday Night Football game on October 29--probably our last chance to see Brett Favre play in person. How lucky is that?!

Election Season in Colorado

Given the current state of world politics, it is no surprise that this election season is one of the nastiest ever. Here in Colorado the governor's race and the House races have been especially dirty. The locally produced television ads are bad enough, but the tactics employed by the 527 groups are so over the top and deceitful they almost make me laugh.

One 527 ad portrays the Democratic candidate for governor, Bill Ritter, as having plea bargained an astonishing 97% of his cases as a state prosecutor, many involving illegal aliens. This is just 2% higher than the national average of 95%, and plea bargains by prosecutors are for guilty pleas, so what's the fuss? If he is successfully putting guilty parties behind bars, including illegal aliens, isn't that what he was hired to do? The ad makes it seem like these criminals are getting off easy and that the illegal aliens are being deported. Not so!

This ad is nothing compared to the ads directed by Marilyn Musgrave, the Republican incumbent from the 4th Congressional district, against her Democratic challenger, Angie Paccione. Each of Musgrave's ads begins with a clip of her saying, "I'm Marilyn Musgrave and I approved this ad," followed by a horrific personal attack. In one Paccione is accused of voting to approve college tuition breaks for illegal aliens ("Angie Paccione is on the wrong side of the border!"). In another, she is accused of being a deadbeat who has had financial difficulty as recently as two years ago ("Is this the kind of person we want representing Colorado?").

I find it unbearably grating when the first ads I see for a political candidate are negative. Instead of saying what they will do for us if elected or explaining their stands on crucial issues, they attack their competitors, trying to convince us that they are the lesser of two evils. If that's the best they have to offer, what's the point? It makes me want to vote for the other guy, just out of spite!

Nothing is more satisfying than to see these tactics backfire. Recent polls show the Musgrave-Paccione race to be a virtual tie, surprising when you consider that Musgrave's district north of Denver is predominantly right-wing conservative. But when you publicly make such unbelievably wrong-headed statements as, "Gay marriage is the most important issue that we face today," you deserve to go down in defeat.

Old Dog, New Tricks

Best powder day of the season, Sunday, March 12

When Nan and I first moved to Aspen almost twenty years ago, her first job was working at a hotel at the base of Buttermilk Mountain. After finishing work at my computer job in town, I would wait at the hotel's bar for Nan to get off work. Most of the bar crowd at that time of day was the après-ski crowd, winding down from a day on the slopes. One afternoon, as I was nursing a beer, a young lady on the other side of the U-shaped bar yelled across to me, "Hey, this guy says ski instructors are the best skiers. Is that true?" I immediately determined that the guy in question was wearing a ski instructor's uniform and that he was using the line in an attempt to pick up the young lady. Without thinking, I shot back, "Yeah, they're the strongest intermediates out there!"

As a long-time skier, my attitude has always been that ski instructors make pretty turns on groomed runs but can't ski the tough stuff. All that changed for me this ski season when I became a ski instructor myself. The business I had moved to Grand Junction to open last January never really took off, so by October I was looking for something else to do. I was also thinking ahead to the ski season and wondering if nearby Powderhorn Resort would fill the bill for me after twenty years of skiing in Aspen. I checked powderhorn.com for a trail map and ski pass rates, and noticed that the ski school was hiring. I thought, why not give it a try? It couldn't possibly be as competitive as Aspen, so I was pretty sure they would take me. And Nan said it was fine with her, so I applied.

I had no idea how the training would be structured. I thought I could just go in and say something like, "I've been skiing for thirty-seven years and I'd like to teach skiers who are looking for a breakthrough in skiing moguls, steeps or powder." I quickly found out that this is not how it works. Everyone starts at the bottom, teaching "never evers," people who have never ever skied before. If I stuck it out, I might be teaching breakthroughs in about three years!

We new applicants spent an evening session finding out what it's all about and then an all-day session learning about the movements involved in skiing, people's learning styles, and the progression that turns them into safe, competent skiers. All this took place before we ever hit the snow. On Saturday, December 10, when Powderhorn opened for the season, all the prospective ski and snowboard instructors were out there trying to impress the trainers with their ability. Most survived to ski or ride again on Sunday. Everyone who survived to the end of that second day on snow was accepted into the school--only about fifteen of us. Actual teaching began the very next day. As someone who had agreed to teach full-time, I was scheduled to teach the next seven days in a row.

Needless to say, this rookie instructor quickly gained experience in getting people, mostly kids, to progress from having trouble keeping their balance to riding a chairlift and skiing safely and in control down an easy ski slope, sometimes in as little as two hours. When it went poorly, it was frustrating, but when it went well, it was deeply rewarding. For example, I was waiting with a class of ten-year-olds in the lift line one day when I spontaneously yelled out, "Are you guys having fun?" They responded in unison with an enthusiastic "Yeah!!" It made me smile for the rest of the day.

While all this teaching was happening, I was noticing that some of the veteran instructors were extremely good skiers, much better than I would have expected given my past close-minded perspective. They were not only great skiers, they were also great instructors and they taught seminars to other instructors most mornings. A frequent topic was what I would call "new school" skiing, a concept I had been resistant to since the introduction of shaped skis almost ten years ago. My five-year-old, "lightly shaped" 191-centimeter skis were not going to cut it, so I bought some new 169-centimeter "R16s." What a difference! Instead of letting my edges skid slightly through short-radius turns, I could now stand on my edges and feel them carve all the way through a turn. Instead of my inside ski just being along for the ride, it was now an active component of the turn, tracking its own edge. With fine-tuning during the early-morning seminars, I felt my skiing move to a whole new level, way beyond where it had been stuck for the last ten or so years. And boy was it fun!

By the time the ski season ended on March 26, I had skied close to seventy days and taught at least as many lessons. I had also taken and passed my PSIA (Professional Ski Instructors of America) Level 1 certification exam, which entitled me to proudly wear the badge of a professional ski instructor on my uniform jacket. Was it worth it? Yes! Will I be back again next year? You bet! Did I learn anything? More than I ever would have believed.

U2 Concert in Denver

Nan and I were lucky enough to get tickets to see U2 perform on Thursday night in Denver. It was one of the best concerts we've ever experienced. The stage set-up and light show were absolutely incredible, and the full house of fans stood and sang through the entire 2.5 hour set of songs. Bono commented on how well-received they always feel when they come to Colorado. Afterall, this is where U2 recorded their live album "Under a Blood Red Sky" back in 1983 at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre just outside of Denver, in Morrison.

Bono used portions of the concert as a platform for his message of world-wide love and compassion, especially for the people of Africa. He asked people to use their cell phones to "text" their names in support of The ONE Campaign. There were also booths out in the lobby where people could sign The ONE Campaign's petition, so Nan and I signed it again even though we had both already signed it online at the ONE website (see my Monday, April 18, 2005 post). To learn more about the concert, including the set list and photos, please click here: U2 Concert in Denver.