Burlington, VT on steroids? Lots of bikes, bike lanes and infrastructure. Plenty of good street performers. Unique shops, good food aplenty. Downtown is a stark contrast to the everywhere development surrounding our hotel just 10 miles south.
Gandalf the Grey
Grandpa Woodstock, in Boulder, CO. He is quite the character, and according to the mighty Google he travels about the country on foot, bicycle, and moped living in the woods and off the kindness of strangers. We chatted for a bit and he tooted his horn at everyone that passed, proclaiming his message of peace and love.
Everywhere, USA
We spent a few days ‘out west’ – Jen had client meetings and Ava and I got to play. We were staying in an exurb of Denver – and from the little exploring I did it seemed like this type of development stretched from the burbs of Denver nearly all the way to Boulder.
The shock of the new was something I didn’t anticipate. I guess I’ve grown accustomed to the history of the northeast. Everywhere we went on the main stretch of road was littered with retail and corporate developments. Housing was always off to the side – and the ‘town center’ was a retail conglomeration of chain land surrounded by acres of parking – I could have been anywhere. Local was nowhere to be found.
We were staying near the ‘Promenade’ – an outdoor mall anchored by a multiplex cinema – complete with canned music and canned history.
At the crossroads of the development was an inlaid compass – complete with distances that only reminded me that I was nowhere and everywhere – wishing I was in Rome, or NYC – both places that I’ve enojoyed, both places with history, with unique energy and with their own local sense of place.
