2.11.11 - Denver/Tulsa

Tacoma!

Denver! This guy in the front row had nieces who live in Mendota Heights. That's so much win!

 As we left Seattle for Denver, I noticed this 787 chilling at the airport.

I guess Boeing tests all their fun toys at this airport. Neat!

Let's talk Denver. For whatever reason, I have been looking forward to seeing Denver more than anywhere else on this tour. I imagine it's full of beautiful scenery, beautiful people, and lots of fun stuff to do.

Well, it was cold, and uneventful. I did get to see my beautiful friend Laura though! She attends the University of Denver, so she showed me around campus, helped me do laundry (clutch), and we dinner-ed a couple times. I still felt at home in Denver. It's cool to imagine that my career could bring me to a point where I'll get to decide to live anywhere.

Laura and I successfully got a random stranger to take our picture on a really cool,

lit-up street in downtown Denver.

Peanut butter "bucket." So mega...

I finally made it to one of the restaurants featured on Man vs. Food named Duffy's. They do burgers. Weird burgers. Check out this video to see what Laura and I sank our teeth into:

I realize this blog is turning into a food blog, but deal with it, mmk? I figure, I'm traveling to all these cool places that have all this unique regional food, and who doesn't love to eat? Tell me I'm wrong.

Yesterday we split from the Mile High City and landed ourselves in Tulsa for a great show. The first thing I noticed about Tusla is that everyone was so nice! Each person I passed on the street outside the venue responded to my "How ya doin?" with a cheery comeback. What a great town! I asked one of the venue security guys what Tulsa's staple is, and he said "oil." Sure! He then proceeded to tell me about when he worked an Insane Clown Posse concert, and was soaked in root beer, as one of the lead guys dumped 2-liter after 2-liter over his head.

Everyone was pretty wiped after the show, but in a great mood. The plane ride was saturated with cheese platters, grilled salmon, and anecdotes from Adam Wakeman. What a fun bunch of dudes! When we arrived in Chicago, I quickly started my uploads from the night's round of shooting, and knocked myself out. Instantly.

 This is easily the nicest hotel I've ever been to.

They even wrapped this cord when I requested they make up my room.

Chicago's another place where I would just love to live. Only downtown, though. This place has tons to do all the time. I headed out on the town today with Adam Wakeman and Ozzy's assistant, Tony. We hit the mall to pick up a few things. I needed a pair of black pants (Adam looked at me funny and then corrected me: "trousers"), as I kept getting scorned by the crew for not wearing my "stage blacks." Whatever. Black pants: done.

  Winter Chicago streets. The cold feels more "normal" than sunny LA.

I'm done pretending it's not winter.

My eyes widened as I saw the Ghirardelli store. A lovely woman handed me a caramel-filled chocolate square at the door, and then I got an obligatory hot cocoa. Yes, it ruled.

Because I'm a forgetful ninny, I totally forgot to mention that a local newspaper in Minnesota wrote an article about my new gig! They called me up before a show to do an interview, and you can read the article here! <----click "here" you dummy.