Colorado

Denver 

12th of January

I got picked up by J Harmon and Keeli at 5 in the morning and we headed to the Memphis airport. After arriving we went straight into the airplane and that is where our adventure begins. We arrived in Denver a little early about 9 am. with the time difference being negative 1 hour compared to AR. After leaving our huge backpacks at the train station building we ate a big breakfast at the same place. After that, we had a lot of time before we could get into our accommodation at around 4 pm. So the first thing we decided to go to was the History Colorado Center. On the way there I got to see the State Capitol, downtown Denver and a coke truck haha. In the museum, we saw a lot of Native American equipment dug out by archeologists. I learned a lot about the history of Colorado and its past inhabitants, quite a lot about bison, hot peppers, and the history of skiing in the mountains enveloping the state. We continued walking around the city while at least I was quite winded because of the altitude. The air there was much thinner and drier compared to Arkansas. We walked about 15 000 steps on the first day and it was well worth it because the city is very interesting. I like it more than Memphis because it felt much friendlier and safer. After leaving our bags at the house we relaxed for a little while and then headed for dinner at a local Mexican restaurant to meet up with their daughter Chloe who studies at the University of Denver. During my time in the USA, I fell in love with Mexican cuisine, mainly chips and salsa. Also, I think that no one can make fun of my tolerance towards spicy food anymore because I got used to it. The first day was very eventful however, the following day was going to be filled with even more activities.

13th of January

 We woke up at 7:30 and hopped in Chloes' car. She also got us some breakfast that we ate on the way to the Rocky Mountain National park. After about two hours we were relatively close and stopped at a rental place where we rented spikes, boots, skates, and hiking sticks. We also met up with two of Chloes' friends from her university, Emma and Caitlin. I took off my regular shoes and put on the snow boots. Right after that, I put on the spikes, they help you keep good traction.  We hoped to skate on the frozen lakes, however after asking the guide he said that some people broke through the ice that morning and that it is not safe. Based on that information we left the skates in the car. Then we set out on the adventure. Unfortunately, after a while we separated into two groups, me and the girls and the other one James and Keeli. We wouldn't see them until we went back to the car later in the day. In spite of that we had a lot of fun that day. We walked the whole trail and saw Dream lake which was the first one out of 3. As we continued walking and struggled not to bury ourselves under the snow we emerged in front of the second lake. The Emerald lake. This lake was brutal. Not only that it was much bigger than the previous one it also formed a "bowl" with mountains on the outside. The wind with ice shards suddenly hit our faces and we had to flee behind a big rock. After we were safe we worked out a plan. We decided to walk across the frozen lake since it was needed to get to the last one. We were struggling, the snow was at places up to my knees. We pulled through and managed to do it. We took some photos and turned around. On the way back the weather was much better. I even met some people that spoke German as I walked by so I started a conversation and found out they are in the same position as me - they were exchange students! Only in college. We talked for a short while and I realized I completely forgot German. It took us much shorter to get back since we went downhill. After arriving at the car and reuniting with the others we drove back to return the rentals and ask about a good place to eat. After arriving at the restaurant I ordered a bison burger. It tastes a little different than beef. it is also leaner and darker. Then we just drove back through a beautiful road near a city called Nederland. The road goes in between a canyon which is really exceptional. As we got back to Denver we chilled for an hour at the house and then left for the college hockey game. The University of Denver hockey team won the NCAA league last year. It is the best college league in the world. They played against Miami (Ohio) and won 7-0.

14th of January

We slept for a long time and at around 10:30 left for the rodeo. I don't know much about rodeos and this was my first one ever. So everyone had to explain to me the discipline that was happening and what was the goal. I saw everything ranging from a man riding a bull, wrestling a calf or a child riding on a sheep. It was entertaining and certainly an experience. But the main attraction for me was happening in the evening. My first-ever NHL hockey game. I played ice hockey for about 6 years and fell in love with it. It was between the home team Colorado Avalanche and Ottawa Senators. We were incredibly lucky, everything and I mean everything about the game was perfect. There were two Czech players on the Avs team and one of them was the goalie - Francouz. It just happened that he was the goalie for the game even though he is a secondary goalie on the team. He played perfectly, the Senators didn't score once and the home team scored SEVEN TIMES. On top of that, there were two fights. It was just unbelievable. At the end of the game, my voice was gone from all the screaming. After the game, I went with the girls to a housewarming party and had a lot of fun. I got home late in the night with uber.

15th of January

This was possibly one of the things I was looking forward to the most. Skiing. We woke up at around 8 am. and drove for about 1.5 hours to the ski resort. The peak of Copper mountain was 12,313 ft or 3753 meters. Denver itself is about a mile above sea level so the air was not so much thinner, I was used to it by then. J Harmon dropped us off at the Center village and I went to pick up the rental skis. ski boots and a helmet. There were four of us - me, Chloe, Mia and Emma. We all skied together until about 1:30 pm. after that I was alone for about an hour. I decided to go down the most difficult slope called Sawtooth. It was a diamond black slope with an alpine environment, meaning that it wasn't accessible by a snow groomer. It took me good 15 minutes to get down because it was very long and the terrain was just terrible. After I got down I felt complete so I took the lift up one last time and skied down to the village to meet up with the others. We had a huge lunch and took off. Unfortunately, we got stuck in traffic behind 3 plowing machines. The drive usually takes almost 2 hours, however with this traffic jam it took us more than 4 hours. It was very exhausting but thankfully my ski partners were providing entertainment in the back of the car so it wasn't impossible to get through. All in all, the skiing was amazing, the snow was good quality and I am so happy the rental equipment worked perfectly too. After getting home at around 8 we fell asleep immediately.

16th of January

This was the last day we had there. We were supposed to go to a thing called Meowwolf and take my friend that has his exchange in Denver. After some changes in our plans, we decided to go to yet another NHL game!!! This time Avalanche was playing against Detroit Red Wings. James was so nice to take both me and my friend Sebastian there and once again we were extremely lucky because Francouz was the goalie and the game ended 6-3. It was an amazing game. Afterward, we were in a hurry so we hopped on the train in the city that took us closer to the airport. I said goodbye to Sebastian and hopped in the car with the others. We quickly got to the airport and made it just in time for them to tell us there is a delay haha. It wasn't that bad after about 40 minutes we were on the plane on the way home. Yes home, it felt like being back home when we landed in Memphis which is interesting :).

Appendix

I want to thank James & Keeli for making this possible for me. It was such an amazing experience and I couldn't be happier with the way it went. I am very grateful, thank you.

Ondrej