Denver: Coors Field
Minute by minute, I'll keep holding on.
3:00 a.m. EDT: <alarm blares> OH FOR THE LOVE OF… <hits snooze button>
3:07 a.m. EDT: <alarm blares> I’m doing some quick but groggy math in my head and it looks like I’m starting this adventure on two hours of sleep. Let’s see if we can make it two hours and seven minutes. <hits snooze button>
3:14 a.m. EDT: <alarm blares> Two hours and 14 minutes? Please? <hits snooze button>
3:21 a.m. EDT: <alarm blares> There’s no use fighting this anymore. May as well get up. Run through the shower, finish packing my bag, out the door by 4. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.
4:01 a.m. EDT: I look out the passenger window of the Mazda 3 and it’s a full moon out there. Erin’s behind the wheel, taking me to the airport for my 5:30 flight to Denver. I want to be funny and charming, but I’m so tired. I worked a 14 hour day yesterday with an adrenaline rush at the end. That coupled with my excitement about this trip kept me up past my normal bedtime and way past when I should be conked out before an early flight.
4:15 a.m. EDT: I kiss Erin goodbye, grab my backpack and head for the TSA line.
4:18 a.m. EDT: Apparently when I changed all my flights because of my scheduling mishap, I neglected to fill in my info for TSA PreCheck again. So, since I don’t know my Known Traveler Number, I have to go through the longer security line and take my shoes off.
4:37 a.m. EDT: TSA was Midwest Pleasant in Columbus, but I definitely don’t want to do this later today in Denver. Erin’s going to have to dig up my KTN so I can amend my boarding pass and go through the PreCheck line. If you’ve never done standard security at Denver International, I don’t recommend it. Totally worth the $80 or whatever to save that hassle.
5:00 a.m. EDT: They’re calling my number to board. I badly need to sleep on this plane. Won’t have another chance to until the flight to Seattle 16 hours from now. Whose great idea was this again?
6:39 a.m. MDT: Wheels down, time travel successful. I managed to sleep – with the occasional turbulent interruption – for the nearly three hour flight. I wouldn’t say I’m refreshed, but nothing some good coffee can’t fix.
7:03 a.m. MDT: The terminal train at the Denver airport plays a jaunty little closing doors ditty that brings back my very first memory of the city. The first time I ever came out here was in 2008 for the Democratic National Convention. A dozen or so 20-somethings all shared a flophouse for a week while we slung Obama merch all over town. I get nostalgic for that experience so often. Cue the Madonna song…
8:10 a.m. MDT: The A Line train reaches Union Station, an architectural gem built in 1881 that still dutifully serves as downtown Denver’s bustling transit hub to this day. I’m hiking 3/4 of a mile to Syrup, one of my favorite breakfast joints in town.1 Downtown is eerily quiet compared to the times I’ve been here before. I generally visit Denver once or twice a year for work and occasionally just for fun. I legitimately love this city.
8:13 a.m. MDT: Am I sweating already? It’s 50 degrees outside and expected to get up to 80 by game time.
8:42 a.m. MDT: Syrup just laid the Cherry Creeker Benedict down in front of me: tender, juicy corned beef hash atop English muffins with perfectly poached eggs and hollandaise. Good thing I’m walking a lot more today. Corned beef hash is one of my favorite breakfast foods, and the places that serve the stuff that’s mushy and minced all to hell deserve a special place there. Big chunks, cooked low and slow is the way to go. Nice job, Syrup, per usual.
9:50 a.m. MDT: After a slow saunter back, to Union Station, I’m posting up to get a little work done before game time. My co-workers were in Las Vegas for a conference all week, and while I was very productive while they were gone, my workload is very heavy right now and I owe them some documents. Probably a bad time to jet set across the country for baseball games, but it’s too late to be wracked with guilt.
10:24 a.m. MDT: I want to do something I’ve never done in each of the cities I’m visiting on this trip, especially in places where I’m very familiar. It doesn’t have to be extravagant, just novel for me. In all the times I’ve been here, I’ve never just hung out on the plaza in front of Union Station with a coffee and people watched. Groups embarking on tours, dogs playing in the fountains, activists and evangelists trying to convert passersby, professional meetups, little kids chasing birds… it’s just nice to see society coalescing around public spaces as part of everyday life.
10:52 a.m. MDT: Dropped off my backpack with LUGDEN. Clutch service if you’re just popping in for the day like I am today. $3 an hour or $10 for the day, you leave your bag in a van outside Union Station and then pop back later to pick it up. Any hotel will usually do this for you as part of your room charge, but I’m not staying in Denver tonight, so this is extremely helpful.
11:10 a.m. MDT: Outfield gates open 2 hours before game time. Today is kids STEM day at Coors Field and the stands are PACKED. Not sure if they stick around for the whole game, but that may ramp up the atmosphere of a run of the mill Thursday day game.
11:35 a.m. MDT: Put on my sunblock like a smart boy and grabbed a $3 Banquet beer from the Silver Bullet Bar on the Rooftop deck2 and then moseyed around the concourses for a bit. When in Coors…
12:28 p.m. MDT: A couple from Seattle asked me about my old-school Mariners hat while we were all perched on the Rooftop deck. I told them I was headed there tomorrow. They’re in town to see Puscifer and Primus at Red Rocks. Now there’s one thing I’ve never done while visiting Denver: Red Rocks has a reputation as one of the country’s best live music venues and I’ve never seen a show there. Someday…
1:10 p.m. MDT: Game time. Colorado Rockies hosting the San Diego Padres. The Rockpile – the bleacher section in straightaway center field – is filling up. Never underestimate the power of a cheap ticket. The upper deck is full of STEM kids and they’re into it. They have no shame or reservations when the scoreboard says “make some noise.” You love to see it.
1:30 p.m. MDT: A guy in front of me is explaining the game to his buddy in gringo Español. Putting my kitchen Spanish to the test to try to follow along.
2:11 p.m. MDT: The game is plodding along and the Rockies look pretty bad – they were 6-19 coming into today’s contest – so I decide it’s lunch time. While I’m scoping out food options, Rockies first baseman Elehuris Montero hits a three-run homer to tie the game 4-4. I got the bacon cheddar brat from Biker Jim’s with spicy mustard and sauerkraut. Was angling for the elk sausage, but it sold out before I got hungry.
3:00 p.m. MDT: It’s raining. Just a little bit. Rockpile fans are scared. I’m not.
3:45 p.m. MDT: I’m starting to get nervous about my transit back to the airport. My flight has been slightly delayed, now boarding at 7:00 p.m. I make my way down from the Rockpile to the main concourse and stand in the right field corner behind section 113. The score is 9-4 San Diego, but no lead is safe at Coors Field! Behind some clutch hitting a shaky Padre pitching and defense, the Rockies put up six runs in the bottom of the eighth, then slam the door in the ninth for the victory. I bolt for the exit.
4:25 p.m. MDT: Just enough time to slam a Colorado Pale Ale3 from Westbound & Down’s taproom in the Dairy Block between Coors Field and Union Station. Erin and I stumbled on this place last fall and found it thoroughly charming. Time to grab my backpack from LUGDEN and get on the A Line back to the airport.
5:23 p.m. MDT: Arrived at the airport, caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and discovered that I got a little sunburn. I put on sunblock twice this afternoon, but no dice. SPF 30 is a joke.
5:34 p.m. MDT: Southwest help desk says there’s a discrepancy between my middle name or initial on TSA PreCheck vs. what my ticket was registered to, so they can’t add PreCheck to my boarding passes. I renewed PreCheck in March, months after booking these flights, and I must’ve made a mistake in there. I have two middle names: sometimes I use them both on official documents, sometimes I initialize both and sometimes I use just the first initial if that’s my only option. In this case, the confusion around my middle names will cost me 15 minutes in the standard security line vs. the faster PreCheck. Thanks Mom and Dad.4
6:01 p.m. MDT: I snake through the long Denver security line, step up to the TSA agent and discover that my boarding pass is no longer in the Southwest app. Remember when I said it was a full moon? Back to the help desk.
6:08 p.m. MDT: So when Southwest was messing with my boarding pass and looking up my TSA PreCheck status, they apparently checked me in and marked my boarding pass as printed, but they didn’t hand it to me. Now, with printed pass in hand, I’m headed back to standard security for a second round of waiting in line.
6:28 p.m. MDT: I’m finally through security for real. My flight is supposed to board in a half hour, so no time to grab dinner. I look at the snack selection in one of the news stands and decide I’d rather be hungry than pay airport prices for a bag of trail mix.
7:29 p.m. MDT: I’m sitting on the plane bound for Seattle, flight is still boarding, gonna be packed full. I have a window seat with no window. Damn you 737 Max.
9:45 p.m. MDT: An hour to go before we land. I read for a little bit, as is my habit on planes, then I tried to catch a little shut eye. The non-window window seat is more cramped than a middle seat. Can’t get comfortable. The plane is hot, my air blower barely works and I slept through snack and drink service. I’m agitated and irritated. I’m too weary to go back to my book, but sleep is frustrating and comes in fits and starts. I want to be off this plane.
9:45 p.m. PDT: Touch down (hard) at SeaTac. With the time zone change, let’s just pretend that last hour never happened.
10:00 p.m. PDT: It’s a 5 minute walk to the hotel through some very light mist, so I decide to go for it rather than wait around for the shuttle. That decision pays off as I overhear one of the front desk staff tell a person over the phone that there’s a 20-minute wait before the driver can pick up at the airport. I’m in my room minutes later and off to the land of Honk Shoo, finally, 22 hours after getting out of bed in Columbus.
11:30 p.m. PDT: Why the fuck can I not just fall asleep?
I know Snooze and Sam’s No. 3 and El Taco de Mexico and even the simple breakfast burritos from Santiago’s get plenty of well-deserved praise, including from me, but Syrup just sits right for what I usually want out of breakfast.
Generally I don’t like to give my money to macro beer conglomerates like MolsonCoors or Anheuser-Busch/InBev, but there might not be a better deal on beer in any ballpark in America, so I have to take advantage.
They won a World Beer Cup silver medal for this beer the night before, and it was well-deserved.
I kid, I kid.
I probably also have your known traveler # around here for future reference. Nice work grabbing the award-winning Westbound & Down beer!
Our daughter lives in Denver - the airport is always busy!! Looks like you're having a good time otherwise!